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Yet another Barcelona review... long, I'm afraid :)
To sum up our week: amazing. Spectacular, delicious, exhausting, amazing. The weather was gorgeous the whole week, and all the famous sights were, surprisingly, not too crowded and easy to get into.
Day 1. Monday morning arrival, an easy trip to Pl. Catalunya by Aerobus. Half-asleep, dragging our carry-ons (early check-in was unavailable), wandering down the empty Rambla, zigzagging all over the old town. Finally, home: Casa de les Lletres - great location, comfy apartment, nice view from the 5th floor. Evening: a performance at the awesome Palau de la Musica Catalana - folksy regional dudes having jolly good fun 
Ate at very tasty but nameless places all day.
2. The classics: Sagrada Familia, Parc G?ell, Casa Batllo. Confirmed: modernism is my favorite style ever, and Gaudi is my idol Also, very glad we got tix to Sagrada in advance! Dinner at Cafe Catalunya - nice, though not mind-blowing. Got a cute dress at Desigual!
3. Up to Montju?c. Fundaci? Miro - great if you love him, fun even if you don't Teleferic up to the castle, taking in the views; then, wanted to take another one down to Barceloneta, but turned out, it was being repaired - bummer... To make up for it, a yummy dinner at Paco Meralgo - come at 8 if you want to get seated!
4. Day trip to Montserrat, by train and cremallera. Breathtaking! Especially from San Jeroni (1,236 meters! How did we even get there?! Saw La Moreneta; at the museum, most rooms were closed (=reduced admission), but there was a lovely Russian icon exhibit. Returned to town and had some pintxos at Golfo de Bizkaia.
5. Picasso museum - liked it a lot. Chocolate museum - cute sculptures, yummy souvenirs. Parc Ciutadela, then the Maritim stroll, then beer and tapas at Vaso de Oro. Evening - spontaneously went to a flamenco at Harlem Jazz Club - excellent.
6. Day trip to Figueres and Girona, by train. Enjoyed the mad/happy creativity of Dali Theater-Museum, then the charming views of Girona from the old town wall. Back home, had... udon! (Noodles and fun
7. Cava and wonderful salty snacks for brunch at Ca l'Estevet. Went to La Pedrera and spent an hour taking pictures on the roof. Tried to shop, but quickly realized that pretty much everything is closed... had to get our turron at duty free the next morning. Evening - a Tap Ol? performance at Auditori - these guys (and gals) are real virtuosos. If they ever tour wherever you are, go see them!
Whew. And the next morning, we flew home, and I am done
Re: Yet another Barcelona review... long, I'm afraid :)
sounds like a great trip!
clearly, my two days in barcelona was not enough!
So you have an excuse to come back
I hope we will come back, too, maybe put together a Costa Brava or Basque Country trip next time...
ha! good point
during the same trip when i visited barcelona, i also visited paris, rome, florence, monaco, and some other cities i can't remember....and barcelona is probably one of two cities that i want to re-visit.
Thanks for the review and insights. We're headed to BCN in about a month for 4nights/~3.5 days and I cannot wait!
Btwn Casa Batllo and La Pedrera (I know there was a post about this a while back), but if you were to chose only one to go into, which would it be?
Was your day pretty busy to do to the "classics" together in one day? (Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell and Casa Batllo)?
What day of the week did you go to Montjuic?
(I'm trying to work on our rough itinerary! If we're only planning on going in one of the Gaudi casa's; do you think it'd be too crammed to try to fit into a partial day trip to Montserrat or Tarragona and a cava tour on one of our full 3 days?)
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Hi hz, sounds like you have an amazing trip ahead of you!
If I had to choose, I'd say Casa Battlo, but only because it's more colorful, and I am very attracted to all things bright
You really cannot go wrong with either building.
Our Gaudi day started at 10 am - I picked this slot when booking tix online - and we had plenty of time to explore the temple, grab a bite, climb to the highest peak in the Parc, eat again, and walk around Passeig de Gracia before going into the Casa
Didn't feel rushed or too busy.
Montjuic was on Wed, and re: the last day, you are right, it was Sunday - living in NYC, one forgets that things may be closed on Sundays
Re: day trips, I can maybe picture Tarragona or a cava tour as a half-day (though we haven't been), but not Montserrat, unless you go super early and skip long hikes? Not sure. GL with your planning!