Back to the USA- Sagrada Familia and Sitges

Thursday, Sept. 24 – Today is the day of Virgen de la Merced, the Patroness of Barcelona.  It was 51 years ago today when I met Marvin.  Rather than going downtown and joining the celebrating crowds, we chose to go visit the Sagrada Familia, the 3 of us were looking forward to it.

This church-school was behind our apartment, I could see it from the balcony

We walked the few blocks from our apartment and first stopped at a churreria and got some churros for breakfast. Yum!

We sat on a bench in front of the church and had our first glimpse of the church thru the trees.

There were lots of people and tour buses. It reminded me of the many times I took tourists to see Sagrada Familia, it seemed so long ago. We got on one line to go inside and we were lucky it was the line to go to the crypt where Gaudi is buried; it was a place I always wanted to see.

The chapel of San Jose

We also tried to go inside the main church but it was all full for the day. The girls decided they would try to get tickets for Saturday.  We walked all around the church and stopped to buy some Gaudi things at the Gaudi Museum.

After we got home, we changed and took a taxi to my cousin Ferran’s home. He had invited us for lunch; his wife’s name is Mercedes so they were also celebrating her name day. He greeted us at the door with the recording of The Star Spangled Banner J

We had a nice time with them, his daughter Gloria and granddaughter Patricia were also there. We had a wonderful meal of paella de carne, and a delicious dessert.

Afterwards he drove me to the apartment and then drove Sandy and Lizzie to Parque Guell. I didn’t go because my foot was hurting and I knew there would be a lot of walking. I stayed at the apartment and watched TV and read.

When the girls came home they brought delicious ham sandwiches and we watched the Merced festivities on TV. 

Fireworks set to music, beautiful! Nice ending to a fun filled day.

Friday, Sept. 25 – I woke up early and went to the doctor to have my foot checked. I was glad to hear that it had healed and it was fine, although still pretty sore.

                            We were going to Sitges today. We stopped to get some breakfast

                                     then took a taxi to the train station in Passeig de Gracia.

We arrived in Sitges and it was another beautiful day. 

We looked around a little and looked for a place to have lunch. 

We decided on the Restaurant El Sunset de Sitges.

I had gazpacho, calamares a la romana and flan de coco con helado, and champagne sangria.

Very good!

 

We walked by the beach and went to the church area and walked around Sitges, a beautiful town.

We took the train back to Barcelona and spent some time at Passeig de Gracia looking at another Gaudi masterpiece, Casa Batllo and the house next to it Casa Ametller  by another great Catalan architect Puig i Cadafalch 

We took a taxi back to the apartment and  later we decided to go to Rene Restaurant for some tapas and drinks. 

We sat outside and had a good time eating and drinking.

Another fun day in Barcelona and Sitges!

TO BE CONTINUED