A Short Barcelona Tour on Passeig de Gràcia

Hello dear travel lovers. Today I invite you for a short walk in Barcelona. I started my walk here on Passeig de Gracia Street. I left Plaça de Catalunya behind me. I approached the LEGO store on my left side. It is actually not a bad store at all for those who want to buy various building sets. Sometimes queues form here, but everything was quite calm that day.

The fountains in Plaça de Catalunya are not working, but the fountain next to Zara and H&M on Passeig de Gracia is working. Let me remind you that this is a shopping street. Alongside all kinds of stores here, many tourist spots of the city are also located here.

This is one of the most beautiful streets or rather one of the most beautiful boulevards. You can see how people relax on the carved benches here. Many people think Antoni Gaudi designed them, but that is not the case. The architect of these benches is a completely different person named Pere Falques i Urpi and I mentioned them before. I also mentioned El Nacional restaurant located across the street. It is visible a bit further ahead.

I kept walking forward. For football fans the official store of Barca football club is here. It was not very crowded. But in general while walking, of course you sometimes encounter crowds of tourists.

I passed many stores and now I approached the block called Block of Discord. Right here you can find very beautiful facades of buildings built in the Catalan Modernism style at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. There is a store on the ground floor. The display windows of this store are always decorated very nicely.

The chocolatier Casa Amatller and Casa Batllo are worth seeing. The chocolatier's house is decorated with sculptures depicting Saint George defeating the dragon. You can go inside and wander around the ground floor. There is very beautiful lighting here. Once again the dragon motif is found in the decor. On the floor, there are original tiles that are more than 100 years old. When I went, there was a group tour here. You can visit this house, walk around its rooms and see the interior. Seeing the inner courtyard is free. It also has a nice stained glass ceiling.

Once upon a time, there was a very interesting mechanism here. The car would go onto a circle, the circle would turn with a special crane mechanism and the car could make an exit. Because back then, cars did not have a reverse gear. And this place was literally a parking lot. That is why for the car to get out again, its front had to face the exit. A special platform was made that allowed turning the car. The driver would get down, turn the crane and the car would turn.

You can buy chocolates from the chocolatier's house. Souvenirs are expensive here, to be honest but very cute. Also, there is a small cafe here where you can grab a bite and drink a glass of hot chocolate.

I returned to Passeig de Gracia. As usual, there were many people next to Casa Batllo again. They sell local souvenirs, fridge magnets and hand fans on blankets. I entered inside Casa Batllo, into the area that is free. Here you can buy souvenirs related to Gaudi's house, his biography and his works. For example, there are interesting models of his house here. You can buy a Casa Batllo model as a keepsake. Coming to the price of souvenirs, for example a vase souvenir is 40 euros. You can buy a lizard brooch or earrings for 13 euros, keychains are 16.50 euros, which in my opinion is not very cheap for a keychain. Magnets are between 8 and 11 euros. In this store, there are many original souvenirs that you cannot find in ordinary souvenir shops. That is why I definitely recommend anyone looking for souvenirs to drop by.

I went out to the street and continued my walk on the avenue. Let me give information about that building on whose roof it looks like someone forgot a ball of wire. Actually, this is an artwork named Flying Chair. From here I could only see the backrest of the chair, but when moving straight ahead, the chair is visible more clearly.

While walking, I could see how the fluff or flowers of the plane trees were flying around. There was almost endless dust flying in the air. Many people coming to Barcelona in spring or summer start sneezing and do not understand what is happening in the city. Here, these are the sole culprits.

Under our feet were tiles designed by Antoni Gaudi. If you pay attention, it consists of an intricate pattern. The tiles need to be laid out to form sea shell, flower and floral patterns. In some places, tiles were laid incorrectly. For example, a piece of the sea shell does not match up. So it should always be sea shell-sea shell-sea shell, flower-flower-flower.

An interesting detail, tourists used to take these tiles and bring them home as souvenirs. Now you can find many souvenirs in the shape of this tile. There are magnets, soaps and even actual small tiles. You can hang them on the wall. they also print them on t-shirts and on bags. So this Barcelona tile, like the Barcelona flower, is one of the most popular patterns if you are going to buy a local souvenir from here.

There are a lot of taxis in Barcelona, but they are expensive. It is not a budget-friendly vehicle of transport. As you go up, the stores become even more luxurious. We passed in front of Hermes. There was a queue in front of it. Fendi and Versace are also here. Across the street is Prada. Again across the street, I reached Casa Mila, La Pedrera.

They take tourists around in tuk-tuks like this. It is a very new type of transport and sightseeing tour. I think it appeared about a year ago, maybe a little longer. Before, there were no such tuk-tuks in the city.

There is a very cute street where tourists usually do not drop by. This street is located right across from Casa Mila. It is very green and calm. Cars do not pass through. There are restaurants inside where you can enter and sit comfortably. For example, if you are touring around Passeig de Gracia and want to rest and grab a bite in silence, you can turn into this street and do it all there.

Anyway friends, that is how it was. I walked a bit in Barcelona. See you soon