Barcelona must be one of the best cities in the
world to just wander. Just wandering is not always pleasant with children
getting bored and tired, but central Barcelona is a living, indeed thriving,
residential city, with ample parks and squares with playgrounds and drinks
appearing every couple of blocks. We went over New Year, when it was pleasantly
warm but far from oppressively hot. The streets are in a grid structure, making
it hard to get lost. The boulevards are wide, with broad walkways well away from
the traffic. This was a bit like one of those pre-children city-breaks when we
just used to wander from café to café in a strange place, only we had children
this time, and managed to find a pace of exploration that was to everyone’s
liking.
And whilst food for travelling children can be a
bit tiresome, Spain has Tapas. Within an hour or two of landing, we had dumped
our bags in the flat that would be our home for the next few days, and nipped
round the corner to the nearest sunny square for January outdoor dining. The
great thing about sharing Tapas is that amongst the dozen or so little plates
between the 5 of us, each child will try most of them, and generally end up
fed. Simple basics like patatas bravas are really a take on chips and ketchup
(well – that’s what we told them), croquetas de pollo are rather nicer than the
chicken nuggets in British fast-food outlets. With the added optional reward of
churros y chocolate, we all ate well.
Our flat was close to the Sagrada Familia,
Gaudi’s monumental cathedral which seems to be a perpetual building site.
However, children and adults alike will gawp dumbstruck at the building as it
stands now – the images and stonework are like no other church we have seen.
The scale is breathtaking now, its hard to imagine that the even larger central
spire representing Christ is still to be built. Every city has a gothic
cathedral of some kind; indeed Barcelona has a rather fun one with palm trees
in the cloisters, but the Sagrada Familia is absolutely something else. And
although that’s probably the highlight, it sets a high bar for standards of
architecture across the city. A little planning on the wandering took us past
plenty of buildings that were just that little bit more crazy than necessary.
The famous Casa Mila and Casa Batllo are well know, but wander past Casa Calvet
and Bellesguard for some unexpected interested buildings dropped into otherwise
quite normal areas. And although there is now an entrance fee for the more
famous parts Parc Guell, there is still plenty to see and wander through in the
free bits.
The excitement of the city makes it easy to
forget that Barcelona is actually a port and also has a beach. My various
beachy blogs demonstrate that children and sand are a fantastic combination,
they can be amused for hours. Barcelona beach has the added panache of CableCar
from the beach up to the Olympic Park up the mountain on Montjuic. Whilst the
Olympic park is a pleasant diversion, the views from the CableCar really should
not be missed. During our visit, we also saw the Three Kings arrive by sea to
celebrate Christmas, generally observed by Catalans over Epiphany. The
children (in reality just our younger one) went onto the boat to see the Kings,
and get some sweets and cakes, a fantastic tradition to witness.
If that was her highlight, the highlight for the
boys was a trip to Camp Nou to watch Barcelona play Elche. Unlike Premier
League games in the UK, the stadium is vast enough to service season-tickets
and visitors alike, enabling us to watch the finest football club in the world,
admittedly playing one La Liga’s lesser known clubs, for only EUR 19 each! The
architecture of the stadium means that even the cheap seats like ours are
closer to the action than most large stadia, with the big name players clearly
recognisable below us. An injured but recovering Messi tantalising warming up
but sadly not playing, however Fabregas, Iniesta, Sanchez were all working hard
to show us why they are worlds best. We had given the tickets to the boys as a
surprise Christmas present a week earlier, but I don’t think they really
believed it was happening until kick-off.
City
breaks with children have the potential to be quite tiresome - the things that
adults look for are often different to what children enjoy, However, I think
Barcelona has the right combination of sights and experiences for everyone
enjoy together. The relaxed atmosphere, plenty of space to run around, and easy
food choices add to the combination that any family can enjoy their time there.
