3 Days in Barcelona: An Artist's Disneyland

I have wanted to visit Barcelona for a very long time but never felt like it was money I should spend. After a spell of ill health and leaving a job that exacerbated that illness, I decided using my last teaching wage to visit Barcelona was the perfect way to celebrate a new phase of my life.

I planned this trip as much as I could ahead of us going. I booked all our tours and hop on hop off buses. The Sagrada Familia and Park Güell definitely need booking ahead of time and they are always fully booked (and having visited them I’m not surprised).

Arc De Triomf

Our first stop actually wasn’t planned (I didn’t even know it existed but my husband spotted it while scouring the map). The Arc De Triomf stands on a lovely stretch of path trimmed with greenery. There are so many details to zoom in on and the Venetian brick colours are typical of a lot of the significant architectural elements of the city.

From there, we went on what we thought would be an easy walk to the Sagrada Familia (we ended up walking over 35,000 steps that day).

Sagrada Familia

Our first planned stop in Barcelona was Sagrada Familia - perhaps the ultimate collaborative project. The brain child of Antoni Gaudi and continued by various, sometimes controversial, architects, this impressive ongoing build is full of story and details and designed to represent all people and creatures.

It blew our mind that it only opened as a working church 13 years ago. My favourite part of it was the stained glass and how the colours spilled in and moved around with the changing light.

You could probably visit the Sagrada Familia ten times over and see something new - from the bugs and flowers tucked in amongst the bronze foliage doors on the gothic Gaudi facade to the stories throughout the architecture and nods to holy places around the world.

Everything is so tactile too and you are encourage to touch the walls and columns to get the full experience. We had a tour guide who pointed out lots of the symbolism and told us about the history of the build and how Gaudi’s other builds and designs informed elements of the Sagrada. If you decide not to use a tour, the museum underneath the main building is a wealth of information and they even have a workshop where they made scale models to send around the world.

Park Güell

Park Guell was my absolute highlight of the trip. Thankfully, I had booked the hop on hop off bus for day 2 so we could rest our feet and take in some other sites on the way there.

Again, we had a guided tour (the woman who lead it was so passionate and you could tell she loved what she did). The tour was awesome. We just took it all in and then went around again to take photos and look more closely.

The use of recycling in the mosaics (all done by Josep Maria Jujol) was really ahead of its time as was the ingenious water saving process where water that landed in the social square was collected and funnelled down inside the columns underneath that took it to an underground water tank.

Hidden all around the park were animals and celebrations of nature. Perhaps the most famous one is the lizard that adorns the staircase heading down to the front gate. The first time I came across Antoni Gaudi’s work was at high school in the late 90s when I saw a photo of this guy so to finally see him in reality was really amazing.

We were in Park Güell for about 4.5 hours. We did a lot of walking, ate in the cafe and I sat and sketched while my husband took photos. It was total bliss. There were still bits of it that we probably missed but I fully intend on going back and enjoying it again when my daughter is older.

Casa Batllo

This amazing day was topped off by finishing the tour bus loop and going into Cash Batllo after a yummy meal of Iberico ham steak and chips.

I knew very little about Case Batllo other than vaguely what it looked like from the outside. Its curvy facade and colourful mosaics really make it stand out on the Pasage de Gracia. Designed and built for the Batllo family, this gorgeous home is stiffed full of innovations and nods to the sea. The staircases feature carved curvy balustrades and quirky 3D tiling, the lighting is warm and makes the most if natural light, there are sky lights that mimic turtles and the mosaics on the patio are stunning. Josep Maria Jujol (who worked on elements of Park Güell) worked his magic on the frontage, the wall planters and balconies adding splashes of colour and pattern throughout and resting tiles, pottery and glassware discarded and rescued from other properties.

We accidentally picked the perfect time to visit. Entering at around 7pm (October - check closing times as they vary throughout the year) so, by the time we got to the roof terrace, the sun was beginning to set and the colours from the dragon scale roof glinted under the twinkling lights.

As we walked down the stairs, we were treated to a modern artist’s celebration of Gaudi’s love of all thing curves followed by the most incredible insight into his brain - a 3 minute presentation created by scanning in all of Gaudi’s designs and photos of buildings and using AI and machine learning then playing it on screens that covered the walls, floors and ceilings. It was so overwhelming that (and the cocktail I had with dinner may have had an effect on this) I nearly fell over following the images. It was mind-blowing!

Juan Miro Sculpture

Day 3 was a mish-mash and a little slower (we needed it).

We hopped on the other loop of the tourist bus and went to see the Venetian Towers and the Magic Fountain (sadly the drought meant that all fountains were switched off so we watched a video while we were there). Next we crossed the road to grab some food and see the Juan Miro woman and bird sculpture - absolutely mammoth!

Park De La Ciutadella

After that we headed to the Parc de la Ciutadella.  I had read that it was a lovely place to take a break. As soon as we entered we were greeted by an impressive monument atop a fountain. Around the corner was a giant sculpture of a mammoth and from there we could hear screams and laughter. As we followed the path around, we came to the lake filled with little boats and kids having the most amazing time. It was quite a spectacle and soundtracked by local singers.

The Beach

It only seemed right to finish the trip off with a trip to the beach. Even at 6pm it was warm and the Balearic Sea was crystal clear. After a plodge, I sprawled out on my towel, pulled out my sketches and splashed some colour on my Park Güell sketches. I also did a quick painting of the sea line.

Barcelona is an incredible place to visit. An amazing mix of gothic and modernist, colour and natural stone, city and sea and hills. I highly recommend a visit and will definitely be heading back to submerge myself in it’s beauty again.

If you have any questions about where I went, apps I used or who we toured with then pop them below.