Exploring Barcelona (part 1)

Honza (my husband) and I have been casually taking photos on our phones, as we go out and about exploring Barcelona during the various COVID preventative measures.

Part 2, is about my everyday observations.

Monuments, art and street art

Barcelona – a city for the locals

The streets that once thronged with tourists are now easy to manoeuvre around and the historical sites are jostle free. Even so, Barcelona is still really big, busy, smelly, gorgeous, exciting, friendly and creative – the street art and work in the galleries keep blowing my mind!

My new art studio

 A new oil painting – Café con leche

It always takes me three months to start making art again after a studio change (I’ve learned not to fight it). I’ve finally got to grips with my new art studio and arranged all my art materials and tools on shelves, so everything is to hand and I’ve started painting again – which makes me really happy! Cafe con leche oil painting is available to buy on my web shop.

Our new home

Settling in

As you can see from the photos, I got rid of the chocolate coloured walls and turned our new flat into a bit of an art gallery! The flat has scrubbed better than we could have expected. We love it,  especially as it’s easy to clean because it’s all on one level.

Friends

I’ve got a couple of old friends here and we’re gently making some very cool new friends – we gather on each others roof terraces.

Views from the city to the sea

Barcelona hills

We’re aiming to climb all the hills that surround Barcelona, as we familiarise ourselves with the city and enjoy looking down over the places we can identify. The decorated spires of the magnificent Gaudi cathedral poke up through the grid of low rises, lending us a clear navigation point to try and recognise where we’ve been exploring.

La Sagrada Família⁩ – how some of the locals feel

I’ve been listening to some of the locals speak about Gaudi’s greatest creation – the word on the street is that they don’t like it! It makes them angry. Here are some of the reasons why:

1. It represents the church’s oppression of the people
2. the craftspeople are expected to work for free, in their spare time
3. by financially support the building work, rich people pay to get into heaven, which means what for the everyday working people?

However, entrance is for free if you go to mass early on a Sunday – which we intend to do!

Stumbling

We’ve been coming across loads of Barcelona’s gorgeous old romantic plazas and art nouveau architecture, while searching out the plentiful supply of excellent art shops. There is amazing quality tat that is left next to the bins too!

‎⁨Parc Güell⁩

Sunday morning at Parc Güell

It was a beautiful day and seemed as if at least half of the Barcelonesses had joined us for a stroll around. We got in for free using our library cards. We sat down twice to listen to the classical music performed by buskers – I felt very cultured. We looked closely at the mosaic work and the views down to the sea through stone cladded viaducts. All a stones throw from our home, via the steep hills we’ve become accustomed to.

It’s all starting to feel like home

Barcelona is a whole new adventure and I’m enjoying it more than I could have imagined – I’m starting to fall in love with this city!

Art newsletter

Thank you for reading! While you’re here, take a look to see what’s in my gallery and if you haven’t already, feel free to join my art mailing list to keep up with my latest creations and arty adventures.