SIN-MXP-BCN by 77W and a revieW of W Barcelona

[9V-SIA]

Port Vell



Rambla de Mar connects La Rambla to Port Vell
Tower in the background is my cable car stop



WTC cable car stop.
Continues to the foothills of Montjuic..



Mare Magnum
Shopping and dining for the cruise ships



Multiplex with English language movies...



...with IMAX and L'Aquarium de Barcelona in the background



Signs of gentrification of the harbor... pleasure craft. Lots of them!



The only time I had paella in BCN was at Port Vell.



Problem is that the minimum order for paella is 2.
And Mrs 9V-SIA was saving her calories for our dinners..

[9V-SIA]

Breakfast at La Boqueria

One of many memorable breakfasts in BCN...



Entrance to La Boqueria



Breakfast counter



Veal cheeks..



Close up.. yum..



Spanish omelette..



Sausage..



So visit this man when you see La Boqueria!

After breakfast, we walked around the market.



Fruits



Look at the chilli!



Suites... if you can't afford the real thing..



Lobster in the foreground was trying to escape!



PS The seafood is so fresh.
I reckon sushi must be very good in the Japanese restaurants of BCN.
Has anyone tried?

[9V-SIA]

Walk along Passeig de Gracia

North of Placa De Catalonia lies the middle class area of Eixample.
The shops and restaurants reflect the type of residents.. stylish and high end.
Passeig de Gracia (PdG) is the main thoroughfare.
Las Ramblas, in comparison, caters to tourists.

Some landmark Gaudi buildings can be found on PdG.



PdG from Placa de Catalonia
Thank you N_Architect for the inspiration to stand in the middle of the road to take this shot!



Look at the intricate street lamp..



..and Gaudi-esque public bench.



Gaudi's Casa Batllo, part of the Manzana de la Discordia.
ie The Block of Discord, comprising 3 Modernist buildings by 3 different architects.

This house is typically rich in Gaudi symbolism. It was inspired by the image of St George slaying the dragon.

Can you see:

1. The dragon's skin / back?
2. St George's sword plunging into the dragon?
3. The dragon's mouth with human bones inside?
4. Human skulls eaten by the dragon?

PM me for the answers!



For comparison, St George slaying the dragon. In the Cloisters at the Catedral.

( St George is the patron saint of Catalonia )



Manzana de la Discordia

Remember the name of the other 2 architects? No?

Moral of the story: Have a simple name!

They were Lluis Domenech i Montaner ( Casa Lieo Morera ) & Josep Puig i Cadalfalch ( Casa Amatller ).



Casa Mila, the other Gaudi building on PdG.
We stayed a block from here during the second half of our stay.
Very nice shopping along this street.



Hotel Omm, our hotel in Eixample.
( white building taken from junction with PdG )
It's just a block up from Casa Mila.
We were recommended this hotel by a friend who'd stayed there.



The reception to the right of the entrance as you enter the hotel



The lobby sitting area / bar..
Very, very hot place at night because of the disco in the basement.
Beautiful crowd..



The bar counter ( behind the brightly column, left of picture ) and coffee house in front of the entrance.
Follow the light at the end of the corridor to the hotel restaurant Moo.

[MEL-World]

Best TR I have read for some time. Keep it coming. I will definitely have to add BCN to my long list of places to see before I die..

Tks 9V-SIA

[9V-SIA]

Best TR I have read for some time. Keep it coming. I will definitely have to add BCN to my long list of places to see before I die..

Tks 9V-SIA

Glad you are enjoying it. There is a lot of work put into these TRs.
It's always nice to see some words of encouragement.




The reason we were staying at Hotel Omm..
The 1 Michelin star restaurant Moo at the back of the hotel
Note the skylight and the bamboo backdrop. My room overlooks it.

Hotel guests at Omm are guaranteed a seating.

We had dinner there, then lunch a few days later..

It is easier to get a table at lunch ( and a cheaper lunch set menu ).

Dinner at Moo

Sorry about the picture quality. Very dark!



Both meals started with two amuse bouche.
This is one. For the other, see Lunch at Moo in next post.
Right: Black pasta with garlic mayo
Left: Salmon eggs on couscous





The "Gourmet Menu" at dinner.. Golden Egg.
Chef has encased an egg yolk, amongst other things, in an ultra thin shell
Look how thin the "shell" is. You can see through it!



Smoked pigeon carpaccio with juniper ice cream



Foie Gras Soup with Lychis



Red mullet with samfaina and green pepper



Suckling pig with honey and soya
Their specialty..



Coffee bean. It's coffee ice cream..

[9V-SIA]

The Room




The room is not as nice as the W,
but we weren't expecting it to be.
We were paying for location

Door to loo/bidet by the entrance.



But it had a balcony.
Entrance to shower/bath by the balcony.



The balcony..



.. looks onto skylights above Moo.
Note the chef's herb garden on the roof of his restaurant

Lunch at Moo




The other amuse bouche. Same as dinner.
In addition, there was a cream soup.



Ceps with foie gras
Translation: slab of foie gras, sitting on a mushroom, encased in a terrine



Rice with sea weed and black sausage



Suckling pig with tupiambur and chestnuts stew



Chocolate and herbs

[9V-SIA]

Barri Gotic

BCN is 2,000 years old. It was a Roman town.

And one thing the Romans appreciated was property.

More importantly location, location, location.

Look at this Air Map...



The Pyrenees blocks access to the Iberian peninsula from Mediterranean to the Atlantic.

Any Northern European (in Roman times) wanting some sunshine, beaches, topless sunbathing
or Iberian Ham had to pass through BCN.



The old Roman walls of the city...

Vestiges can be found in the Barri Gotic, the old town of BCN.



① on map = Placa del Rei ( behind the Catedral ), where archeological digs of the Roman city continue underground



② on map = Centre Excursionista de Catalunya ( which was closed on a Sunday ) where...



... 4 Corinthian columns are all that remains of the Roman Temple of August.

They are 2,000 years old!

I love ancient sites.

I can transport myself back in time to imagine the scenes around me through time..



Barri Gotic

BG, like many medieval cities, is characterized by a maze of narrow streets that open out into bright squares.

Narrow streets...





Bright squares...



Placa de Sant Jaume



Placa de Sant Felip Neri

What's different from Venice that I visited in June, is that the city is alive with locals.

People both live and work in the Barri Gotic.

Boutiques co-exist with global brands. And it's great!

My favorite breakfast in BCN was in the Barri Gotic..



In this cafe..



Churros dipped in Hot Chocolate.

Chocolate so thick they give you a spoon to eat it .

This is the low cal version.

I saw locals get it topped with a mountain of whipped cream!

To the right of the cup is Ensaimada, another favorite.

[N_Architect]

Great TR, thanks for sharing.

[9V-SIA]

Great TR, thanks for sharing.

Thanks. Your pictures are my inspiration!

Parc Guell & La Sagrada Familia

If you like Gaudi, you must see Parc Guell (PG) & La Sagrada Familia (SF).



Parc Guell

Park Guell was meant to be the good class bungalow(GCB) area of BCN.
Only a few GCBs were built and the city bought the land and turned it into a park.
Expectations were low as to how much I'd enjoy a stroll through the park
but Mrs 9V-SIA was keen to see it so we went.

I'm glad I did because:

1. The uphill walk through the bohemian (and hilly) village of Gracia to get there was worth it
   
2. I didn't know Gaudi could also do landscape architecture.
   
3. There are beautiful views of the city.

Gate House: where inevitable gift shop is found. Entrance to Parc Guell



View from the Entrance.
THE blue mosaic lizard, the original one, that is found in all the souvenir shops in BCN, is found here.
It's between the two staircases behind the bushes..

And gift shop is to the left of the picture, where the "No Entry" sign is.

The columns in the background support...



...Placa de la Natura.

The famous Gaudi wavy mosaic benches can be found here.

Can you see the gift shop and entrance to the park?



Orientation..



Musicians perform around the park. They're very good too.
One was using a wok like a Caribbean steeldrum!



Gorgeous arches support a walkway.
And provide good acoustics for a guitar player
See his guitar? He's having a siesta..



Museo Gaudi now.
Gaudi's house before.
He lived here for a short while..
Check out the views!
Look closer and you can see Montjuic & W Barcelona in the distance

Worth a visit. Each room contains Gaudi-designed furniture
donated to the museum from the Gaudi homes that dot BCN.



Early MP3 player in Museo Gaudi
Mechanical piano . Look at the cabinet behind.
The piano rolls are stored there!

[9V-SIA]

La Sagrada Familia

I left the best for last.

Interesting trivia about La Sagrada Familia:

1. They have been building it since 1883.
2. It is only 50% complete.
3. It is one of the major tourist attractions not just of BCN but of Spain.
   I can think of no other icon that draws such crowds before completion.

I love it!!
For it's organic beauty and stone work rich in symbolism.
Dan Brown may have got his inspiration here for his books!



And here it is... KLCC. Oops, I mean La Sagrada Familia.
Knock off the outer two Bell Towers.
It does bear a resemblance to Malaysia's twin towers don't you think?

Three facades are planned. Two are complete:

1. Nativity Facade tells the story of Jesus birth and childhood.
2. Passion Facade, the last three days of his life and Resurrection.

Not yet designed..Glory Facade.



Incredibly, the impressive Bell Towers will be dwarfed when Sagrada Familia is complete.
And this is what it'll look like....in 2025.



And this just one view from the Bell Tower of the Passion Facade.

Go early when it opens at 9am otherwise queues stretch round the block.
The portable audio guide is worth renting.
Then take the lift up the Bell Tower.

Actually the views from the Bell Towers of the Nativity Facade (also served by a lift) are even better, but I didn't know that till I got home.

This is the view of the inside of the Bell Tower.



...looking up..



... and looking down.

It's too narrow to house conventional bells (the type the Hunchback of Notra Dame rings).
It was designed for Tubular Bells (the type Mike Oldfield rings).
The "gills" were designed to spread the sound in all directions.
IMHO The Bell Towers can be described as the world's biggest speakers .


Nature's Work

Gaudi was a sickly child and missed a lot of school.
Result:

1. He thinks outside the box
2. He'd spend his days just observing nature. Nature has thus strongly influenced his work.

Take a look at the following pictures..



The interiors.
He wanted to convey the feeling of a devotee seeking communion with God in a forest.
Look at the columns. They branch like branches of a tree at the top.
Some "leaves" are moulds, some are the windows to the outside.
And these appear to shimmer as the Sun streaks in.
Awesome....



After taking the lift up the Bell Tower, you have to walk down.
As you near the base, the staircase resembles a snail shell

We spent 3 hours here. You mustn't miss seeing the museum in the basement.

[KeithMEL]

Thanks yet again for the amazing pics, especially of the W Barcelona.

[zhoux]

thanks for the TR, the photos bring back some memories of BCN which I visited last year. Lovely city and amazingly beautiful, especially the La Boqueria market..

[Dent@SUB]

I miss Barcelona so much....
Thanks for bring my memories back from years ago....
(didn't have time to re-visit this beautiful city last month... )
Awesome pictures....
Thanks 9V-SIA...

[9V-SIA]

Thanks yet again for the amazing pics, especially of the W Barcelona.

Very welcome!
TripAdvisor reviews aren't great.
But it's only opened since 1 Oct so I'm reserving judgement.

thanks for the TR, the photos bring back some memories of BCN which I visited last year. Lovely city and amazingly beautiful, especially the La Boqueria market..

Yes it is beautiful. Glad you are enjoying this TR.

I miss Barcelona so much....
Thanks for bring my memories back from years ago....
(didn't have time to re-visit this beautiful city last month... )
Awesome pictures....
Thanks 9V-SIA...

Thanks.
We plan to bring the kids.
And your own recent TR very accurately describes the new BCN terminal shape... like a sword.

[StarG]

Thanks for sharing your seemingly enjoyable trip with us, 9V-SIA.
I think Barcelona is a great city to visit.