Sagrada Familia

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I was saving the Sagrada Familia for my last day, but I got an appointment with an osteopath tomorrow so off I went this morning. It was spectacular, of course, especially the inside.
This is what I looked like most of the day:

Gaudi designed the Cathedral to convey the peace of quiet old forests with the structures and the light. It’s pretty obvious, and even with hundreds of other people milling about, you can feel the calm. Notice the columns branching like trees at the top:

The stained glass windows are being slowly installed, since 1999.

The …

Gaudi Park

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Today was the cut-off I gave myself for my knee; if I could not walk normally without pain by today, I needed more rest before going to Pamplona to start walking again. And Im happy to say that I just confirmed a room in a pilgrim’s hostel in Pamplona for Saturday night! And I’m planning to start really slowly, maybe 5 k a day. There are enough hostels open in Spain that I can be much more flexible and stop when I need to stop. It still bothers me a little when going downhill, and …

Walking in Barcelona

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Yesterday I walked my way over to the Picasso Museum (which is free after 3pm on Sundays) and on the way saw a Roman wall, a 1,000 year old church/monastery, and one of Gaudi’s buildings. It wasn’t very impressive from the outside, but it costs a bundle to get in and the line was ridiculous.

Sant Pau

Roman Wall

Gaudi Palace

I also stopped for some overpriced tapas, but the people watching was worth it:

Duck Kebab with marmalade and rose petal jam

Papitas Bravas (classic potatos with spicy sauce)

Goat cheese and tomatoes
I had to wait 40 minutes to get in …

French tortilla?

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A quick post (since I wrote so much yesterday!!) so far nothing today has gone as expected! When I got up for breakfast Maria was already out but she left a mug, orange juice, and some muffins out. I didn’t have any coffee yesterday so I really needed it this morning. I finally figured out that there was a jar of instant coffee on the counter (disappointment #1) and then, under further inspection it turned out to be some kind of fake caffeine free instant coffee (disappointment #2!!)!
When Maria came back she offered to …

Highs and lows

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Yesterday I fell asleep on the bus out of Toulouse, France. When I woke up less than an hour later, it was the most beautiful countryside outside!! I tried to take some pictures but it was through tinted windows and it was still raining outside… But this region outside of Narbonne France is someplace I’d like to come back to, with hilltop castles, wind whipped cypress, and vineyards upon vineyards. I’m even more jealous of Diana now, who will be walking through it!

I got in to Barcelona around 8 pm and walked just across the …