Barcelona

I decided for the week inbetween yingying’s departure and Dawn’s arrival that staying in paris would be such a waste of time so about i booked a weekday trip down to Barcelona!!

I wouldnt say i always wanted to go Barcelona but it was the shopping that really attracted me there first. i knew there were some pretty sights there but i had only a vague idea.

My 4 days in barcelona! well spent..i love the city, the weather, its vibe and its arts and culture. The visuals are stunning in Barcelona.

What looks like a gingerbread house!!

Gumdrops for windowsThis is the 2 entrance house for Park Guell(Gu-well) works by Antoni Gaudi.This is an art trip on its own, i love the different art nouveau style here called modernisme. Leading this style is Antoni Gaudi, several of his works in barca are world heritage sites.

I am very inspired by the raw beauty of his art, the very natural forms and of course, i love the colors~!!! His almost anti cubism approach to designs is very appealing to me. i never like straight lines and hard edges and points. haha





I went to park guell twice and it was raining the first time. lol the rain got into my lens
 


A sunnier better day!
So i headed off to Casa Batllo (baiyo) which is an architectural design commissioned to be design by Antoni Gaudi. i love the exterior sculpturing.
Another great modernisme style.

The inner stair well. Antoni gaudi’s works are often inspired by nature and for example this stairwell is almost like look up from underwater.

The main living room.
The pillars are often styled to look like bones, shells or overgrown plants.
The swirling shell like ceiling
Me on the rooftop where his works of art go freerange.

check out the dragon-like designs and colorful tiles!!




Here a view of Barcelona city below, you can see sangrada Familia on the right of the picture…near the statue! its almost like the equivalent of effiel in paris.
Which bring me to tell you that i saw the effiel tower from my plane right home at night…pretty amazing to spot it
The city square fountain near La ramblas

Street lights

just framed certs in rooms of La Pedrera.
La Pedrera

One of antoni’s work as well, was build as a multistorey apartment house to let out.

The light well in the middle of the house. its beautiful

Old luggages from the rooms of La Pedrera

The enterance stairways leading up to a temporary exhibition in La Pedreda
Lucky for me, the exhibition happened to be on the works of achievement and arts by mariano fortuny…the guy who set women free from corsets!! 1909!! haha with his delphos pleats which in real life is pretty amazing for his time! i cant imagine how small thsoe pleats where and he had to dye the fabric at least 15 times to get a unique shimmering color!!!
Other works include his large textile business in venice and several of his paintings. I didnt know he was involved in works outside of fashion and it was quite a marvelous discovery.
i couldnt take pictures of the exhibition but it was fascinating.
On the roof tops of La Pedrera are these shell like structures with an amazing view of barcelona
lol hilarious…i was in one of the wind tunnels haha!

much better now. (Again u can see sangrada familia from afar)

and here it is upclose….forever in some form of construction.

Sangrada Familia
my camera aint good so it cant capture how truely amazing the enterance is! all the details and stories this is telling.

This is their national art museum that host a view rivalling that of montmartre in france!
The beautiful stairs leading up to the museum

the view from the top (yes its a repeat..but i’m lazy to include a new one)
I wish i could up load alll my pictures here…but they are on facebook! so you can view there.
I just think Barcelona is an inspriational and amazing trip for me.
XOXO
Natalie
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Barcelona has several of singapore’s favorite mid range brands like Mango, Zara, Pull and bear, Bershka, women’s secrets etc…

My so-called shopping trip turn out less of wat i expected. Firstly most of the prices are similar to paris just that there are more local brands like Lefties, Oysho, Uterqüe, Stradivarius, C&A and Blancoint.

Of which almost half of it are sister companies to Zara. They cater to the beachy summery barcelona and the colorful teens. As for my shopping buys, surprising most are from teh smaller locally own shops in Barcelona.

I went down the street of carrer de tallers and found some really cool vintage shops selling cheap and nice items. i bought a sweater and top from this vintage shop in the street called Holala, a nice pair of old vintage pink strap heels in another shop! haha i love my heels.

another thing to look for is Lefties in barcelona, which sells all the past season stocks from zara, mango and oysho etc… its super cheap like i got a zara skirt for 3 euros but do look out cos some of the items may have been damaged (therefore the low prices).

Theres another major cheap shopping outlet in barcelona at Diagonal Mar Centre commercial , i cant remember the name but its like the equivalent of New look.

Prices for zara here is simple, go to zara in singapore and look at the euro pricing. thats the orginal price here. so its about 20% to 40% cheaper. mango doesnt have such significant difference. There is also H&M here.

Eating:

eating in barcelona is much cheaper then in paris, food is(to me) yummier and more affordable and probably more “asian” then paris. Try out the sangria and paella at least once. Good places to go for these is by the coast, many stalls sell paellas.

The one i had was like a major restaurant (in blue)by the beachfront for 11 euros they served: Sangrias, HHUUUGGEE Paella, bruchetta, salad and a lemon sorbert 🙂 totally full.

For cheaping living cost options you can always eat the kebabs there or falafell which is about 3 euros onwards. Or if youre really a starving traveller then go to macdonalds and select from their 1 euro burgers/fries/desserts. I usually eat the happy meal which is about 3.65 euros but serves burger+fries+drink+dessert. quite filling. haha!

Living:

I stayed out of the city and in a quiet neighbourhood. booked in Hostelworld.com and i chose gardenhouse feet up hostel. Nice quiet place to return to and has a rooftop where u can watch the city lights at night. 🙂 very clean and organized too, people are friendly.

You could always stay in hostels in La ramblas or the city area but its usually quite noisy and full of parties in the hostel or out and surrounding!! which is pretty cool depending on what you seek.

Night life in Barcelona is pretty fun, theres plenty of activities at night, like a 80s vintage party or a light show followed by dance music on the steps of the art musuem…harlem jazz clubs and the other full range of pubs and clubs. Some cost about 10 to 20 plus euros or free depending on where u head out to 🙂

Places to check out:

Sangrada familia 11euros
Casa Batllo 17 euros
La Pedrera 11 euros
Park Guell free (but gaudi museum inside is 5 euros)
Mount Tibidabo ( has a theme park but i didnt go)
Pablo Espanyo (has a popular club inside but also its a old spanish artisan village)

Walk along:
Barcelonta beach
La ramblas
Passeig de Gracia
Mount Montjuic

Metros are easy to get around in Barcelona, alot like singapore/paris and you can by the T-10 tix for about 7 euros plus which is alot cheaper then the individual.

If youre plain lazy and or still have no idea where to go then just buy a tix on the hopon bus call “Barcelona Bus Turistic” which will bring you to most of the stops

I nearly missed my flt returning cos the trains from barca to aeroport comes infrequently and the freaking easyjet check-in desk are FAR FAR FAR FAR away. I felt like i ran for amazing race. so really,leave about 1.5 hours (before checkin opens) i left 1.5 hours before check in closes haha..

umm tats it i suppose!! anything just ask on my email/tagboard

Category : barcelona, travel