I began this year with a short excursion to Malaga, where we walked all day, for 2 days... The rest of the time, I was driving in both directions, or our way there, and on our way back home... I filled my camera with hundreds of photos and as much as I wanted to create a post about it (while the memories are fresh), I couldn't focus on organizing all the photos as it would take days... So, I will take my time to do that in the following weeks... Until then, let's warm up with another SUMMER walk!
This time, I will take you on a short walk through Barcelona, the part around the Plaça d'Espanya (Plaza de España)...
Our regular pit-stop at the gas station BEFORE entering Barcelona
This trip happened in July 2023, on the first day of our 3-day road trip... Our son went to Barcelona a few days before that trip, and we went there to pick him up... We have been living in Spain for over a decade and every year we pass by Barcelona, but this was my first visit... I don't like big cities, and when I don't know them, I hate to drive a car in the city... In Europe, a lot of capitals have different parking rules and contamination rules, and sometimes, you are even prohibited from entering a certain part of the city with an older car!
Because of all that, we parked in the underground parking, close to where our son stayed for the previous few days... That part of the city is close to, already mentioned, Plaça d'Espanya, FC Barcelona stadium, and L'Hospitalet de Llobregat... Most tourists are not coming to that part (except if you go to watch a soccer match), as the main attraction is Basílica de la Sagrada Família, which we didn't visit, as we had to continue our journey...
Unfortunately, the weather wasn't good for taking photos as there were clouds, with a lot of humidity, and it was looking as if it would rain... Luckily, it didn't...
If you would go to Barcelona, you can consult the transportation options from the map above... :)
If someone would drop me into the city without saying where I am, I suppose my first guess would be Valencia! These ordinary streets, and even the Mercat d'Hostafrancs, municipal market from 1888, remind me a lot of Valencia, which is a big city, but it is somehow, more acceptable for my "taste"... 😃
I suppose that the Plaça d'Espanya was the most important landmark on our walk that day... It is a mix of different landmarks, a huge roundabout (probably a square in the past), where in the middle you can find a Fountain Three Seas (Font Dels tres mars/Fuente Tres Mares)...
The second part of this square is a Plaza de Toros de las Arenas (bullring), opened to the public in 1900... Over time, it was also used as a music venue... It's interesting to notice that the last bullfight was held in 1977 when in the same year, it hosted some big world-famous guitarists, Carlos Santana and Paco de Lucia!
Unfortunately, today it's converted into a shopping mall... 😒 The only good thing was that we could go to the top of the building where I took the next few photos...
What you can see on this photo is Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (Catalan National Museum)... I did a zoom-in of this building as it wasn't that close to the place where we were (at the top of the bullring!)...
In this photo, we can see Venetian Towers, which are 47 meters high! They were built for the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition... Almost 100 years old now!
And a bit better look at the fountain in the middle of the roundabout...
I was curious to see how the city looks on the "other side", so I went and took photos of an "ordinary" part of the city, where you can see residential buildings...
We tried to find Mr.Wonderful, but there were many pretty people, so couldn't know which one was Mr. Wonderful 🤣
This was awkward to see as I had no idea why these kids were lying on the floor... There was nothing, not even a playground for children... lol... 😂
It was more obvious when the projection screen went on, with different creatures (probably from some game) dancing around and kids were trying to catch them... 😃
And now, something that many of you can recognize... A Bitcoin ATM machine! Well, it was more a "crypto wending machine", as you could buy not just BTC, but also ETH, LTC, or USDT... This was July 2023, and the numbers are off... Firstly, 1 USDT was worth 0.90 EUR, and the rest of the prices are valid, but in USDC... I suppose that the "ATM fee" was around 10%... Would you buy BTC for 30K today? 😃 This was only 1.5 years ago and the Bitcoin tripled in price!
On our way back to the car, I found this interesting to take photos... These towers are part of the park (Parc de l'Espanya Industrial) with an artificial lake in the middle...
And that was it! Maybe next time when/if 😃 I go to Barcelona for more than a couple of hours, I can share more landmarks of this huge, world-famous city!
Thank you for your time,
--ph--
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