Nordic Breeze | Iberian Seas

Buckle up because this is going to be a long post. In September, I spent a week in Barcelona for a fall seminar for my grad school program (SELECT). We were there to meet all of the other SELECT students studying at different universities and to attend a 3-day business school seminar at ESADE business school. Click here to read my post about the school portion of the trip. In this post I’ll share some of the fun things I saw and did in Barcelona in my free time.

Jump to a section:

1. Gothic Quarter
2. La Rambla and Mercat de la Boqueria
3. Food & Drink
4. Iconic Architecture at Night
5. Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC)
6. Park Güell
7. Casa Vincens & Palau Güell
8. La Mercé
9. Bookstores & Bars

Most of the people in my program opted to stay in Barcelona the weekend after the seminar to explore the city. I had visited Barcelona once before, in 2019, while I was studying abroad in Madrid. I was really excited to get a chance to explore the city more.

In my opinion, the most outstanding feature of Barcelona is its architecture. Many iconic buildings in Barcelona were designed by Antoni Gaudí and his contemporary Catalan Modernist architects. I do not have the energy or qualifications to write much more about Barcelona’s architectural history so I recommend doing some research if you’re interested. I think it’s safe to say that Barcelona looks completely unlike any other city and it is a delight to just walk around and see it all. Here are a few pictures of cool architecture I found while walking around the city in the less touristy parts.

Gothic Quarter

Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter encompasses the oldest parts of the city. The streets are narrow and twisty and fun to get lost in. The buildings are beautiful, although most aren’t actually as old as they seem. There are, however, some remains of Roman buildings that you can visit. The Gothic Quarter is very much dominated by tourism and it can be quite crowded and a bit tacky, but it’s fun to explore.

La Rambla and Mercat de la Boqueria

One of the most well-known attractions in Barcelona, the Mercat de la Boqueria is a food market located on La Rambla. You can find all sorts of delicious snacks here. It’s quite fun to walk around and look at everything but it did also just feel like a tourist trap. I’ve been told there are many other markets around the city where you’re more likely to find locals and enjoy some better food. It’s definitely worth a walk through but there are better places to grab a bite to eat and try Spanish cuisine.

Food & Drink

While I didn’t buy anything at Mercat de la Boqueria, I did get to enjoy some of my favorite Spanish food throughout the trip: patatas bravas, pan con tomate, pulpo (octopus), a gin & tonic, and, of course, churros and chocolate. I also got breakfast at a chain restaurant I loved while I was in Madrid. It’s called Rodilla and it’s a bit like Panera in the US. I really love Spanish café con leche and the absolutely incredible fresh squeezed orange juice that you can get almost anywhere.

Iconic Architecture at Night

One night after dinner we decided to walk around a bit and see some of Gaudí’s most famous buildings all lit up at night. We saw Casa Pedrera and Casa Battló (which are quite near each other) and then decided to hop on the metro and go see La Sagrada Familia. Unfortunately, none of us planned ahead enough to get tickets to visit inside the Sagrada Familia during this trip. I tried getting last minute tickets but it was entirely booked. I did visit during my trip to Barcelona in 2019 and it was absolutely stunning! I’m hoping to get back to Barcelona next year and I’ll make sure to buy a ticket ahead of time. We had a lovely walk around the city and I think all of these buildings are more beautiful at night than during the day, plus it’s free to look at them from the outside!

Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC)

This art museum was one of my favorite parts of this trip and far surpassed my expectations. The building itself is gorgeous and I was really impressed by the quantity and breadth of art in the museum. If you follow the recommended path through the museum, you start with a collection of Medieval Romanesque mural paintings and panel paintings from the 11th-13th centuries, the largest and oldest in Europe. This was really unexpected and incredibly cool. The rooms were designed to evoke the original setting of the murals. From there you move into Renaissance and Baroque art (16th-18th centuries). In the Modern Art collection, you’ll find a range of styles from the 19th and 20th centuries, with a focus on Catalan movements such as Modernisme and Noucentisme. There are also some really interesting furniture collections. I really enjoyed my time at MNAC and would love to go back again because there was plenty I wasn’t able to see in the time I had before I headed over to Park Güell. Click through the slideshow to see photos of the museum building and some of my favorite pieces of art.

Park Güell

Park Güell was conceived and funded by Eusebi Güell and designed by Antoni Gaudí. It was originally designed as part of a luxury residential complex but the project fell apart when it turned out that no one wanted to (or could afford to) live there. The park opened to the public in 1922. Gaudí incorporated nature into much of his work and that is especially evident in Park Güell. I ended up waiting a while for my friends to join me in the park and I really enjoyed sitting quietly, watching the hustle and bustle of all the tourists, and contemplating how the park might have looked and felt in its original purpose. Residents of the imagined neighborhood would have been shopping at a farmer’s market, enjoying a theatrical production, or perhaps spending a quiet moment outside in the beautiful setting, looking out at the sea just like I was.

Casa Vincens & Palau Güell

On this trip I was able to visit two more of Gaudí’s buildings that are a bit less well known: Casa Vincens and Palau Güell. His work is just stunning and everywhere you look there are small details to notice. I got an audioguide in both places so I was able to learn quite a bit about the history and design of the buildings.

Casa Vincens was Gaudí’s first major project. It was built in the 1880s and is classified as belonging to the Orientalist style with similarities to Neo-Mudéjar architecture. It has unmistakable signatures of Gaudí’s personal style and is a great example of how he incorporated nature into every aspect of his work. I also learned that he was very skilled in the practical matters of architecture such as guiding and using water runoff, keeping rooms cool, and letting light in in all the right ways.

Palau Güell is a private residential palace that Gaudí designed for Eusebi Güell in the late 1880s. The palace is much more grand and dramatic than Casa Vincens. Eusebi Güell was an industrial tycoon and patron of Gaudí (you might remember him from Park Güell). The building is centered around a main room for entertaining guests. Every half hour, they play a song on the organ in the room and it was amazing to hear how it filled up the space and brought it to life. Some other personal highlights from this building (photos below) were the brickwork in the basement, the stone stairs built into the main staircase for mounting and dismounting your horse, the original funky furniture, and the mosaic chimneys on the rooftop. I would highly recommend touring Palau Güell if you visit Barcelona!

La Mercé

We had the amazing luck to be in Barcelona during La Mercé, the largest cultural festival of the year. This “festival of festivals” is a week-long annual event in late September celebrating Catalan culture. It honors the the Virgin of Grace (Mare de Déu de la Mercè), patron saint of the archdiocese of Barcelona. I have also seen sources saying that the festival bids farewell to summer and welcomes the oncoming colder, darker months. There are about 600 free cultural events spread throughout the plazas, streets, museums, and parks of Barcelona during La Mercé. The three major components of the festival are castellers (human towers), gigantes (the giant parade), and carrefoc (the procession of the fire-breathing dragons).

Castellers, or human towers, are one of the most well-known and impressive aspects of Catalan culture. People climb up each other to form absolutely incredible human towers. On the last day of our seminar, we saw students at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) practicing in the courtyard! If you’re interested in learning more about human towers, check out this short film by National Geographic.

We were able to watch the gigantes, or giant parade, one evening in front of the Cathedral of Barcelona. In this parade, giant figures of queens and kings, nobles and saints march the streets of Barcelona. The giants dance on the streets and march around in circles, accompanied by the music of flutes and drums. The giant figures are moved very gracefully and they are mesmerizing to watch.

The giant parade was immediately followed by one of the most impressive fireworks displays I’ve ever seen. The fireworks were set off directly over the City Hall of Barcelona, across the plaza from the cathedral. I have never been that close to fireworks in my life and it was crazy. Ash and debris were raining down on us the whole time and we had to crane our necks up to see the fireworks. It was an amazing display and such a cool experience. It was so festive and everybody was having a wonderful time.

After the giant parade and the fireworks we headed over to a different plaza to watch the carrefoc, or procession of the fire breathing dragons. I thought the fireworks were cool but the carrefoc was even wilder. Fire-breathing dragons, accompanied by dangerous devils and other monsters march the streets and scare the people with lots of fireworks and bangers. The dragons shoot fire and sparks directly into the crowd so it is advised to wear glasses and clothing you don’t mind getting damaged. There are also different groups of people dressed as devils who wield pitchforks and light more fireworks into the crowd. They hold a separate, tamer, carrefoc for children a little earlier in the evening. The whole event reminded me a bit of Halloween, with elements of fantasy and danger and with having the whole community outdoors together at night. It was very cool to experience, if a bit terrifying. The dragons themselves were really impressive works of art and we got to see a few of them up close the next day as they were packed up to transport out of the city.

Bookstores & Bars

Finally, I want to share two more fun points in my trip that didn’t fit into any of the other categories. First, I found an amazing bookstore called La Central del Raval. In addition to a wonderful selection of books, they had the most amazing courtyard and café. It was a wonderful place to sit down for a bit and get a coffee and a snack. Of course, I also had to buy a book. When I travel I love to buy a book from a local author. I found this gorgeous novel called When I Sing, Mountains Dance by Irene Solà. In the evening of the last day, I went to a cocktail bar that my friend recommended to me called Bar Paradiso. The interior was designed to match Gaudí’s architecture. The cocktails were delicious and it was a great place to sit and relax after a long day of walking around the city. Bar Paradiso has actually been ranked the #4 best bar in the world! Oddly enough, the #1 best bar (according to this group), Sips, is also in Barcelona so maybe I’ll have to check it out if I’m here again next year. What’s even crazier is that I’ve actually also been to the #9 bar (Alquímico in Cartagena, Colombia) and the #10 bar (HIMKOK in Oslo, Norway). If I just manage to visit London, Paris, New York, and Mexico City I can visit the rest of the top 10!