Paella and Basilica of Sagrada Familia

We landed in Barcelona at 11:45 AM on October 30 after two legs of a flight. From Izmir we returned to Istanbul to clear immigration and customs before leaving for Spain. The Turks are amazingly efficient at moving people through the airport process. We had only an hour and 20 minutes before our second flight would depart and we got to our gate fine and our bags made it to our plane. Because we were flying a smaller carrier we had to check our carry-on baggage because you can only bring on board one carry-on item. The flight was about three hours but we gained two time zones and arrived in Barcelona that afternoon.

Karen had booked tickets from the airport into the city on the Barcelona Aerobus. From the bus stop, we only needed to walk 6/10th of a mile to our hotel. Barcelona is very walk-able and we used the opportunity to look for a bank ATM for Euros and a restaurant that served Paella. Check-in wasn't until 3 PM so we dropped off our baggage and continued exploring the hotel neighborhood. We found a nice cafe and stopped to get a couple of cappuccinos and some pappas fritas to hold us until dinner.

We also found, thanks to a recommendation by Margarita our hotel front desk hostess, a restaurant serving authentic Paella. We stopped at the El Cangrejo Loco (translated The Crazy Crab) in the Eixample District, two blocks from our hotel, where we made a reservation for 5 PM dinner.

Our first dinner in Spain was wonderful. We started by ordering a liter of Red Sangria from our waiter Pedro. The restaurant offers many different forms of Paella but we decided to go with the traditional seafood version with shells and bones, which included prawns, fish, cuttlefish (octopus), mussels, clams and some kind of small variety of lobster, not much larger than the prawns.

The special rice used for paella is Bomba rice, a short-grain Spanish rice known for absorbing a lot of liquid without becoming sticky or mushy. The most popular choice, also called "Valencia rice", is ideal because it absorbs two to three times its volume in liquid, meaning it can absorb the flavorful broth and spices without the grains breaking apart. It's also more forgiving and less likely to be overcooked. We thoroughly enjoyed our meal and toasted in memory of my mother. She would have so enjoyed our dinner that night.

After dinner we walked. Most Spaniards eat later so the night life of Barcelona was just getting started. The area around our hotel had everything you might need from drug stores, small neighborhood grocery stores, delis, cafes and restaurants. The biggest downer is the traffic noise. Many restaurants and cafes have outside seating but either the noise or the smokers made these venues less desirable. One exception being the city streets blocked off from the major traffic for narrow delivery access and pedestrian traffic. This is where we found outside cafe dining in a relaxing and quiet setting with fewer smoking areas.

October 31, Halloween Day. would be our only full day to explore Barcelona so we walked next door to the espresso cafe for two more cappuccinos and a chocolate Croissant before walking to the nearest Hop ON Hop OFF (HOHO) bus stop.

We have been able to get a great perspective on large cities using these tour bus companies. The ticket includes headphones for the audio guide which covers the main historical features and information about the city. The tour allows us to 'hop off' when needed to explore favorite landmarks or find bathrooms (haha), saving our legs for the specific points of interest that are highest priority.

Barcelona is massive and we would like to come back and spend more time here in the future. Karen and I would love to find a place for a month and experience more of the culture, food and history. Karen has wanted to spend time in a Spanish speaking country for an extended period of time to become fluent speaking Spanish.

Not far from Barcelona is the country of Andorra. This is were my maternal grandmother was originally from before her family immigrated to Mexico.

Andorra is a small, landlocked, independent European co-principality situated among the southern peaks of the Pyrenees Mountains and bounded by France to the north and east and by Spain to the south and west. It is one of the smallest states in Europe. The capital is Andorra la Vella.

Andorra has traditionally had a strong affinity with the region of Catalonia in northern Spain. Andorra’s official language is Catalan (Spanish and French are also spoken); its institutions are based in Catalonian law, and a large proportion of the Spanish immigrants (or their descendants) in Andorra are Catalan.

Andorra’s independence is traditionally ascribed to Charlemagne, who recovered the region from the Muslims in 803, and to his son Louis I (the Pious), who granted the inhabitants a charter of liberties. Charlemagne’s grandson, Charles II, granted Andorra to the counts of Urgel, from whom it passed to the bishops of Urgel. Andorra’s dual allegiance to two princes, one in Spain and one in France, originated in the late 13th century in a proprietary quarrel between the Spanish bishops of Urgel and the French heirs to the countship of Urgel. Andorra was subsequently governed jointly by representatives of the Spanish bishop of Urgel and of the French head of state, each of whom received an annual payment of a token tribute. This feudal system of government remained intact until 1993, when a constitution was adopted that greatly reduced the power of the co-princes and established separate executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government.

The one major sight we had to see in Barcelona was the Basilica of Sagrada Familia. Almost everyone makes a trip to see this massive, ornate structure. Why is basilica La Sagrada Familia so famous? The 'Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família', otherwise known as Sagrada Família, is a church under construction in the Eixample district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world. Designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926), in 2005 his work on Sagrada Família was added to an existing (1984) UNESCO World Heritage Site, "Works of Antoni Gaudí". On 7 November 2010, Pope Benedict XVI consecrated the church and proclaimed it a minor basilica.

There were huge crowds all around the basilica. We thought about getting tickets to tour the inside but none were available on the only day we were in Barcelona.

The Sagrada Família is not finished due to a combination of complex design, long-term funding challenges, the loss of original plans, and significant historical disruptions. The project was greatly slowed by the death of architect Antoni Gaudí, the Spanish Civil War, and the COVID-19 pandemic, which halted construction and damaged crucial models and drawings. The intricate nature of Gaudí's unique, non-repeating designs and the reliance on private donations for funding have also contributed to the century-long construction timeline.

We walked around and got a pretty good view of the "Sagrada Família" which means "Holy Family" or "Sacred Family" in English. The name refers to the church's dedication to the Holy Family—Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

From here we walked back to the HOHO bus stop to the north of the basilica to find a quiet place for lunch before continuing our tour of the city. There were so many places we would have liked to stop and visit but just didn't have the time, hence the desire to return some day.