Barcelona Day 4: Sunday

Eric located a branch of the church in Barcelona and obtained their meeting schedule. The meeting place was near Tanner’s hotel so we thought we would get him to come with us, but he had other plans with the team.

We love attending church in the different places we travel.  It is like a home away from home.  The branch members were so friendly.  Most of the missionaries were from America so I could converse with them.  The one that was a Spanish native shared his struggle with learning the Catalan language.  That made Eric smile.  We met a few couples that were travelling and got to share our experiences and adventures. 

We had taken the metro to church, but decided to walk along the Mediterranean Sea to get back to the hotel as we had not explored this part of the city yet.  It was beautiful.  The beach was pretty steep and crowded AND European (be careful to not look at the pictures too long or you might see something you don’t want to).

We thought this was a safer beach view.  The water felt GREAT!

We knew that on Sunday the City’s Historic Museum in the Gothic quarter was open to the public on Sundays for free.  So we started walking that direction ( It was a little farther than we thought, so we took advantage of the fun sights along the way). 

Eric on the Ramblas, with the street behind him that leads toward our hotel.

City Center:  The palace behind us looking toward its city and the sea.

Finally we ended up getting on the metro for the last several blocks.  As part of the museum tour we were able to walk under the Palau Reial Major, the royal residence of Isabella and Ferdinand and the courtyard where Columbus presented them with his findings of the New World.   

We took a step back in history to the first Iberian settlement through current-day Barcelona history all layered on top of one another.  We were able to look at the ruins of a Roman city, beautiful tiled floors,wall murals, and decorative columns.  

Each layer of the ruins told a different story of Barcelona’s past, its inhabitants, and its industry. Under the buildings and courtyards we had walked of the Gothic quarter there was a whole Roman City. being excavated.

Romann ruins under the Natural History Museum, the Palace and its courtyard.

Intricate Tiled Floor

Columns, Carvings and Headstones

After seeing all that history to walk out on the streets of the Gothic quarter you could be easily transported into another day and age.  There was a street performer that was dressed as a leper and did a great job portraying what it must have been like for them during the times of the Roman Empire.

There were also very talented musicians nestled in corners around the Gothic quarter.  Their music was beautiful and the ancient stone walls provided great acoustics for their performances. 

We saw all sorts of talents and amazing things being shared.

It was very fun to be walking in a city that had such an ancient history and see evidences of cultures that up to this point I had only been able to study in books.

We took the funicular (tram) back up Montjuic to see the closing ceremonies of the World Junior Championships.  We were so proud to see Tanner among team USA representing our country abroad.  We said our goodbye’s to him and sent him off with the team.  

International Friendships

Back at the hotel we bumped up the air conditioning and fell onto the bed with our feet propped up while we planned out our next two days of touring.  There was so much to see and do and not a lot of time left to do it in.