La Pedrera and Casa Batlló: Barcelona, Day 3

Day 3 in Barcelona: La Pedrerea and Casa Batlló

By day 3, we were tired; long travels and lots of walking in the previous days wore us out.  We spent lots of time walking the streets of the city on day 2, so we stuck with a couple of tourist sites on day 3 and called it good enough. 

Of course, La Sagrada Familia is Antoni Gaudí's most famous work, but there are plenty other marks he left on Barcelona that are worth seeing, so we set off to tour La Pedrera (AKA Casa Mila) and Casa Batlló.

Admittedly, when I saw photos of Gaudí's buildings before our visit to Barcelona, I didn't love them; his style seemed a little over-the-top for my taste.  But when touring his works and learning more about the inspiration behind his designs, I gained a true appreciation for his genius and his unique contribution to Barcelona and the world of architecture.  Nearly everything he did was inspired by nature.  He is quoted as saying, "Nature is a large book that always lies open and which you must try to read."

La boqueria and the gothic quarter: Barcelona, Day 2

Day 2 in Barcelona: Gothic quarter, La Rambla, La Boqueria market, Barcelona Cathedral, and Ciutadella Park

My favorite way to get a feel for a new city is to dive into its streets.  The streets are where life happens and culture is formed.  All kinds of people are on the streets, mixing and living, buying and communing.  Our second day in Barcelona was filled with exploring the city on foot - streets, parks, and a market were all on the itinerary.  There are so many nooks and charming alleys in this city; you could walk around for weeks and still find something new and interesting.  It certainly was our most exhausting day. 

We got off the metro and made our way to the well-known La Rambla street, stopping first at Plaza Reial for a coffee and some churros.  We made our way to La Boqueria market - a bustling place with an appetizing variety of foods, meats, spices, and drinks.  We picked up lunch at the market with a plan to picnic at Ciutadella Park, but we got hungry before we could figure out our way, so we ate on the side of the street instead.

Making our way to the park, we roamed through the gothic quarter of the city, admiring the streets along the way.  We came across the Barcelona Cathedral and decided to go in - a digression definitely worth our time.  We finally made it to the park, which we circled, and then walked to the Arc de Triomph on our way to the metro.  Once we made it home, we crashed from all the walking, but I think you'll see from the pictures that it was all worth the energy.

La Sagrada Familia and Park Güell: Barcelona, Day 1

Barcelona! It's the city everyone who had visited raved about, so when Eric had a conference there for his PhD, I jumped on board.  After telling my Mom of our plans, she jumped on board too.  And so we toured the city together with Leo in tow.

We just returned last night from our time in this lovely city.  Here is how we spent our days:

Day 1: La Sagrada Familia and Park Güell
Day 2: Gothic quarter, La Rambla, La Boqueria market, Barcelona Cathedral, and Ciutadella Park
Day 3: La Padrera and Casa Batllo
Day 4: Gracia, El Raval, and La Rambla
Day 5: Barceloneta and Labyrinth Park

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Day 1: La Sagrada Familia and Park Güell

Before Eric's conference began, we had to tick off the most famous of Barcelona's landmarks - La Sagrada Familia.  I heard many wonderful things about this masterpiece of a church, Antoni Gaudi's seminal work, but I was still unprepared for the amount of awe I felt during our visit.  My first words upon entering were "holy crap."

From the astounding trunk-like pillars to the minutest of details in the doors, everywhere you look in La Sagrada Familia, you'll fine something at which to marvel.  The structure, the light, the symbols - it's all fascinating and you can easily spend hours in wonder at this gem of a landmark.

After our tour, we grabbed lunch across the road (Eric and I tried the local favorites of paella and tapas) and then we attempted to make our way to Park Güell, another of Gaudi's famous works.  We got a bit lost along the way and by the time we arrived, tickets had sold out, so we couldn't enter the most well-known areas.  We were also in a hurry to get back, so we just strolled around the outside of the park for a few minutes.  I do wish we had more time to spend at this site, but Eric needed to attend his conference and our energy tanks were running low from a long day of travel the day before and a morning full of standing and walking.  We told ourselves we would return to Park Güell, but there was much more to see in Barcelona and we never made our way back.

From the garden: arugula pesto

Pesto is one of my favorite go-to ingredients when I want an easy and delicious meal; but it wasn't until I moved to Uganda and went a couple of years without it, that I realized how it easy it is to make from scratch. My garden is shady, so leafy greens are the best things to grow, and pesto is also a great way to use the my herbs.  I often make a double or triple batch and then freeze what I don't immediately need.  Pairing basil pesto with my home-made sun-dried tomatoes never disappoints.

Basil pesto is certainly the most common, but you can make pesto from any variety of herbs or leafy greens.  Last year I had a huge amount of arugula in my garden, so I used it to make arugula pesto.

Here is the recipe I use, which can easily be adapted.

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Ingredients:

About 1 cup of packed basil/arugula/cilantro/kale/whatever you want
1/2 cup of pine nuts (walnuts are a great substitute)
1/2 cup of olive oil
3 cloves of minced garlic (but I like to use more)
1/4 tsp of pepper flakes (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

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Directions:

1. Blend all your ingredients except the olive oil until they are ground together in a thick paste

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2. Slowly start adding the olive oil and continue to blend.
3. Add salt, pepper, and pepper flakes to taste.

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4. Pour into a container to serve or store.  If you're not using it within a couple of days, pour your pesto into freezer bags to freeze and use for later.

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Here are a few other recipes to use with pesto:

Turkey, pesto, onion, cheese, and poppyseed sliders
Pesto and cheese stuffed chicken
Roasted garlic chicken pesto pizza
Pesto ranch crock pot chicken thighs

Ingredients:

About 1 cup of packed basil/arugula/cilantro/kale/what you want
1/2 cup of pine nuts (walnuts are a great substitute)
1/2 cup of olive oil
3 cloves of minced garlic (but I like to use more)
1/4 tsp of pepper flakes (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Blend all your ingredients except the olive oil until they are ground together in a thick paste
2. Slowly start adding the olive oil and continue to blend.
3. Add salt, pepper, and pepper flakes to taste.
4. Pour into a container to serve or store.  If you're not using it within a couple of days, pour your pesto into freezer bags to freeze and use for later.

Cappadocia, Turkey

Cappadocia was our last stop in Turkey and was, by far, my absolute favorite.  We budgeted 3 nights here, which was hardly enough to enjoy its splendors.  This area is most well-known for the fairy chimneys, rock homes, and ancient churches carved into rocks.  There is so much exploring to be done among the cliffs and in the town of Göreme.  We hiked through the valleys, poking around in the old homes dug into the rocks, climbing up the fairy chimneys and giggling at the phalic-looking rocks in "love valley."  The Göreme Open Air Museum is a must-see, with amazing churches and paintings found inside unassuming cliffs.

One of the most popular activities in Cappadocia is a hot air balloon ride, which I'm glad we splurged on.  It was such a grand experience, I honestly expected a proposal during the ordeal, but alas!  Eric left me waiting another couple of weeks!  But even in the absence of a turn-of-my-life question, the hot air balloon ride was incredible, providing awesome views of the awesome landscape.

For another dose of fascination, we toured the Kaymakli underground city - a literal city built entirely underground nearly 5,000 years ago during the Hittite times.

While in Turkey, you really must see a show of the great Turkish dances, so we checked this box while in Cappadocia.  There were a variety of traditional dances, but among my favorite were the hypnotic whirling dervishes and a very talented belly dancer.

If I were to return to one place in Turkey, this would be the one.  Cappadocia certainly will not leave you disappointed.