Category: Barcelona – Gaudí, Goals, and Golden Light

Our last morning began fittingly at the Columbus Monument—on Columbus Day. The 60-meter column, built in 1888, honors Christopher Columbus’s return from the New World, which he reported to Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand in Barcelona. The monument points toward the sea, symbolizing Spain’s historic spirit of exploration and connection across the Atlantic—an interesting link…

Sunday was for slowing down. We spent the morning at Platja del Llevant, one of Barcelona’s newer beaches, where families gathered to swim and play in the soft autumn sun. Even in October, the Mediterranean was inviting, and the city’s skyline gleamed beyond the waves. That night, we joined nearly 80,000 fans at Camp Nou…

We started our morning at Park Güell, another of Gaudí’s masterpieces. Originally planned as a private garden city, it became a whimsical public park filled with colorful mosaics, curving benches, and sweeping views of Barcelona. The kids loved the lizard fountain at the entrance—El Drac, one of the most photographed symbols of the city. In…

Barcelona welcomed us with sun, song, and the sparkle of Catalan creativity. Our first stop was Casa Batlló, one of Antoni Gaudí’s most imaginative works. Its rippling façade of glass and tile looks like a dragon’s scales shimmering in the Mediterranean light. Inside, the curves and colors seem to flow like water—Gaudí famously said there…