Barcelona, Spain – August 3

Casa Mila

40 degrees, blazing sun

We started the day with another great hotel breakfast. Today’s plan was no tour or anything particularly organized. The one thing on my Barcelona to-do list was to visit the Joan Miró museum. Because this was our third time here we have seen the major sights. This takes a bit of the sightseeing pressure off and

Miro museum

we can take our time to see particular things we are interested in…for me it was Joan Miró museum.  

This place was a bit of a hike from the hotel…technically only 3.5k, but it is at the top of a hill and in this heat, we said NO to the walk. The hill is enough of a hill that it is accessed by funicular. We decided to take the subway and then

enormous

the funicular. The funicular is a normal part of the Barcelona transit system – the hill must be big. I always like taking transit in a foreign city…makes me fell like I’ve accomplished something. Anyone can call up a cab (now that they are working again) but figuring out how to get there via transit…an accomplishment. Plus, on the way to the subway station we passed one of Barcelona’s iconic buildings by Antioni Gaudí Casa Milà. It is interesting that this building is just in the middle of the city

The museum was a nice break from the heat and wasn’t

museum sculptures

particularly busy, so not busy that we were alone in some of the rooms. We decided to splurge on the audio guide, which is always a good decision. When we were done, we had a beer in the museum courtyard and were again on our way. Back down the funicular and on to the subway.

We decided to get off the subway near the Sagrada Familia church. We visited the inside this church on a previous visit, so didn’t need to go inside. It was interesting just to wander around the outside.

another sculpture

sculpture

For dinner we found a local, typical Barcelona place where we sat inside – this is rare for us. There really wasn’t anywhere outside and really, outside, while interesting to see the world go by, is a bit exhausting…hot and

smoky. We opted for tapas. The waitress recommended padron peppers, which were very good. They are small green peppers that aren’t at all hot. We did a bit of research before they arrived and read that they can be hot depending on how they are cultivated, but the waitress said none were hot and she was right. They seem

to be eaten a bit like edamame…

Sagrada Familia

hot with salt and eaten with fingers. 

dinner...see the peppers??

Tried some 'aperitivo' chips today, not sure what 'aperitivo' means for a flavour...salt and vinegar is what they taste like.