The first thing my daughter and I did on arrival in Barcelona (after dropping our cases off at the hotel) was to join a free walking tour starting from Plaça de Catalunya and finishing at the waterfront. Of course a free walking tour is not exactly free, you are expected to offer a donation at the end of the tour, which in this case was well worth it.
We wandered around the many back streets and the Gothic Quarter a stone’s throw from La Rambla and believe me there are so many narrow alleyways that when we tried to find some of the places later on by ourselves, we got completely lost.
Just about every shuttered doorway is covered in murals and graffiti and I was frantically snapping shots as we moved on.
Barcelona is a shopaholic’s paradise as well as being full of historical buildings and art. I was fascinated by these tiled murals that decorate the walls in this narrow pedestrian street, Carrer Petritxol, in Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter. It runs from Portaferissa to Plaça del Pi, not far from La Rambla. The murals tell stories of past events and famous residents or visitors.
There are several art galleries along this street as well as shoe shops, soap shops and chocolate shops!
The end of the tour was at El Cap de Barcelona from where we headed down to the beach and the Makamaka restaurant for cocktails and some food.
(The header photo is the balcony detail on the Casa Pia Batlló, which is located on the corner of Rambla Cataluña and Gran Vía de les Corts Catalanes. The building is in the Modernist style, built between 1891 and 1896 by the architect Josep Vilaseca i Casanovas.)
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