Barcelona Part Two

We had incredible weather when we were in Barcelona. Originally it was forecasted to rain half the time we were there but it really only rained Thursday night. The great weather made for some pretty great photo opportunities. 

Below is a photo of the Columbus Monument. It is located at the end of La Rambla at the port and Columbus is pointing out to sea. 

Speaking of Columbus, below is a photo of the spot where Columbus met King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella after he returned from his now famous voyage.

Friday and Saturday morning we got breakfast at the Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria. I ended up taking so many photos because it was so incredible!

We tried mango-coconut and mango-pineapple juices. The mango-coconut one was super good.

I loved these convenient packages of sliced fruit that come with a little plastic fork for easy consumption of your fruit. 

I couldn't believe how big these cow tongues were! They really sold everything at this market. 

So many different kinds of seafood, and all of it was super fresh. 

We tried a couple of these alfajores, which were really good. We both preferred the dark chocolate one over the white chocolate. 

My favourite from this empanada place was one with an exterior like a thick corn tortilla and it was filled with potatoes and cheese. 

Even with all the amazing architecture in Barcelona, I think my favourite site was the Arch of Triumph at the Ciutadella Park. I really liked the design and the colours of the bricks used. 

We made sure to find the statue of St George slaying the Dragon since St George is the patron saint of England. It was a lot smaller than I thought and we missed it the first time we went to Plaza Sant Jaume.

Below are photos from the Barcelona Cathedral which is an example of Catalan Gothic architecture from the 14th century. 

I love how ornate the outsides of the buildings are. Even on the sides of buildings there are beautiful patterns or artwork carved into the stones. 

We saw loads of Christmas Markets and decorations throughout Barcelona. One unique Christmas tradition in this part of Spain is the Caganer. They have elaborate Nativity scenes that show the entire town of Bethlehem and what people were doing at the birth of Jesus. The Caganer (roughly translated as "the crapper") had the misfortune of doing his business and has been immortalised in this position in Nativities in all of Catalonia. Originally he was a peasant with a red hat but as you can see from the photo below, you can get all kinds of Caganers now. 

Along those same lines is the Tio de Nadal. This is a log that children sing to and threaten to beat with a stick until it poops out presents. Seriously, we saw this outside the Barcelona Cathedral. There was this nice lady sitting by the back end of this giant log and she led the children in a song and they all hit the giant log with sticks. Then she lifted up a blanket that is over the back end of the log and gave each of the kids candy. Below is a photo of a variety of these logs that you can purchase for your home. 

I also loved the Santa Maria del Mar Basilica (Saint Mary of the Sea). It was built in the 1300s. 

The inside was really simple and beautiful. It was not as ornate as the Barcelona Cathedral but the arches in the ceiling were incredible. The stone was also almost white, which made it really bright even through we went after the sun went down. 

During our walking tour of Las Ramblas and the Barri Gotic area we stopped for some treats at Sweet Dreams. This cafe looked like the inside of an Anthropologie store. It was really cute. 

Warren got a brownie sundae and I got a cheesecake with raspberry and blackberry compote. Both were good, but the brownie was amazing! I would highly recommend it. 

Below is a photo of the remaining columns of the Temple of Augustus from when Barcelona was a Roman city. 

Another food that I liked in Barcelona were these churros and chocolate. A friend of mine recommended this place, Xurreria, near La Rambla. We went Saturday night but there was a line down the street! So we came back Sunday morning and got some. We tried the original churros and we also got some chocolate covered ones for the plane ride home. Both were really good but the chocolate covered ones were incredible!