The plan was to visit the Parc Guell which is a Antoni Gaudi designed park. Gaudi is most famous for the Sagrada Familia basilica in Barcelona.

The park started out as an estate and then became a public park. It is very interesting with lots of outlandish buildings and structures.

We decided to do run tourism to get to the park and it was quite the jog. Basically the whole run was uphill and some very steep hills. Since we did not time it correctly, we had time to kill and ended up doing one of the hills twice. It was a fun and interesting run but challenging.

On the way, we saw another Gaudi designed house, the Casa Vicens Gaudi. Another imaginative building.

After the tour of the park, we headed down to a neighborhood that was quieter and found a plaza and had lunch. We had our paella, a very traditional Spanish dish of rice and seafood. It was fantastic. The restaurant was Bar Nou Candanchu. We had a nice bottle of Albariño as well. The weather was great so we sat outside and felt very Spanish. The waiter/owner was very amusing and super nice to us.

After a siesta (so Spanish), we headed out to have some tapas and wine and just enjoy a quiet Sunday evening in Barcelona.

We found one bar (Secret Tapas) and I had a glass of Cava. Jen wanted to try Vermouth and had one. She said it actually tasted like flat Coke. Jesse had a glass of Rioja. This bar was not the greatest but it was good for a start.

We then moved on to Bodega Joan, which was a more traditional tapas bar. We had Iberico ham, chorizo, Spanish tortilla, boquerones and other authentic tapas. We had a nice bottle of Tempranillo. It was a great place with lots of character.

After that we walked across the street to Vertical, a wine bar Jen had scooped out before. We had a fantastic bottle of Priorat. It was one of the best wines I had had. The bar is just one big wall of wine refrigerators filled with wine. It is amazing. The whole experience as great!

The main post picture shows two of Santiago Calatrava works. The Olympic television tower and one of his bridges. I am a Calatrava groupie and always want to see his works when I am in Spain and elsewhere. It was fun to add another two of his projects if even only from a distance.

All in all it was a fun day in Barcelona with lots of fun activities that catered to many of my interests – running, wine, architecture, visiting new places and doing new things, food, good company. There is not much more that you can ask for.