Life’s an ocean with too much commotion

Have I already said the hotel was excellent? We had free cable internet, air conditioning, a big room and a good bed. Suddenly, In the middle of the night around 4PM, the fire alarm went off. I didn’t take any risk, woke up my girlfriend, put on some clothes, grabbed some money and my passport (normally you should leave everything behind but what can you do in a foreign city without money and identification?) and we ran to the ground floor. Apparently we were almost the first ones downstairs. What could be the end of our vacation was just a false alarm. The fire alarm went off due to someone smoking in his hotel room.

In the morning I went with my girlfriend to drop her off at the university at La Rambla. From there, I took the metro to Passeig de Gracia to visit three famous houses.

• Casa Batllo: Near La Mansana de la Discordia. In this period (modernism) it seemed very typical that rich people wanted to come forward with eccentric design of their houses. Gaudi designed this house. The roof is the back of a dragon and the balconies are shaped as skulls of the dragon’s victims. You can also enter this house and view the museum inside, but I found it a little too expensive (16,95 euros). Instead of entering, I took a picture of it and included it here.
• Casa Amatller: Designed by another famous modernist, Puig i Cadafalch. The ground floor is public and you can find beautiful ceramic sculptures.
• Fundacio Tapies: Designed by, yes, another famous modernist, Domenech i Montaner. Entrance is forbidden so I don’t any details about it.

I was thirsty and crossed a Starbucks shop. I ordered a large American Coffee (this is the only one that tastes a bit like the coffee we ‘normally’ drink). I just sat down on a terrace and started reading in a book: Dinsdagland of Dimitri Verhulst.
After an hour or so, I resumed my journey and headed for the numerous small little streets between Portal de l’Angel and La Rambla. If you don’t want to spend too much money on clothes, this is the place to be. Although it was very hot, the sun didn’t ripple through these little streets, it was comfortably cool.
At noon we also ate at a small restaurant in these little streets, and stole a knife so I could make my sandwiches for breakfast next day (sshht!)

At 5PM, I picked up my girlfriend and we headed to La Sagrada Familia. Four years ago, the entrance was about 7-8 euros, and 2 euros for the elevator. Now it’s 10 euros entrance and 2,5 euros for the elevator.

Inside La Sagrada Familia, you can’t see much. They’re still working and it’s blocking the view. There was a very long queue for the elevator (about 45 minutes waiting), but once you’re at the top, the view is amazing! You have an overview of Barcelona, from the see to Tibidabo and Montjuic. Too bad you have to pay that much for entering La Sagrada, instead of just paying for the elevator. If you don’t care about the view at the top, I advise you not to go inside, it’s not worth it (yet). Maybe in 2030, when the construction should be completed.
After visiting La Sagrada Familia, we went to La Pedrera, another house designed by Gaudi. It’s famous for it’s ceiling and roofs. It’s closed at 6PM, we were a little bit too late to visit it. Maybe we’ll do it another day.
We took the metro back to Liceu (at La Rambla) and went to Les Quinze Nits. It’s a restaurant at Plaça Reial where you usually have to stand in a queue for eating. We queued for 15 minutes and had the best place we could imagine! You should order a bottle of Casa Cava (Cava of the house, approx. 6 euros). The food was very good and not pricey at all!