Why I Love Barcelona

1.  Of course there is the regular tourist stuff that I did last year (La Sagrada Familia, Gaudi stuff like Casa Batllo and La Padrera and the Parc Guell, and flamenco dancing).  (Click on each name to see those posts.)  I would love Barcelona only for these things...but BCN has so much more!

2.  It's easy to be silly in Barcelona.  Especially when you can get sugared up at the Happy Pills store for one euro.

3.  Everywhere you go, there is unbelievable architecture.  Truly, the whole city is is just one big piece of art.  Here is the Castle of Three Dragons.  I promise I didn't make that name up!

Here's their Arc de Triomph (Victory Arch).

It has bats on it, which is is sort of freaky, but for Halloween, it seemed appropriate...

This stained glass balcony caught my eye and I thought it was just oh so lovely...then I read the fine print and realized it was the marijuana museum.  Haha.  Oops.

Even the pharmacies are beautiful!  Look at this one...

...and this one...

More beautiful buildings...

4.  The Art Nouveau that just seems to be everywhere.  Sometimes I went looking for specific places I'd read about ahead of time before our trip, like this place...

...and this place...

...and sometimes I just stumbled upon some...

5.  Barcelona can be so random sometimes.  One minute you're looking at this beautiful scene...

...and the next there's a giant blow-up woman who fell down a hole...

...or a dragon with an umbrella...

...or a mannequin in the window wearing a doo-rag...

6.  I don't know if I've had unbelievable luck, or the clouds are just always great in BCN, but oh man...check out these clouds!

 7.  So...there's this donut shop.  I really can't give the donut shop the same amount of leverage as all the other things on the list, but it's a good great example of why I love Barcelona.  You turn a corner, you stumble upon something awesome and delicious like a gourmet donut shop.  Where the decor is straight up crazy beautiful, and the guy is so nice to keep giving you free samples, and the donut is so yummy that you forget how long its been since you've had a Krispy Kreme (8 months, 3 weeks and 5 days, but who's counting?).

8.  The Gothic Quarter.  What's not to love?!

9.  The food.  Oh my, the food.  Paella, how I love thee, let me count the ways.  Tapas.  Irish pubs with nachos like nobody's business.  And cute little cupcake shops that also serve bagels.  This thing was legit!  Warmed goat cheese, sautéed eggplant, red bell peppers, and onion, drizzled with olive oil.

10.  Plus the new touristy stuff I did this year: La Palau de la Musica, and the Magic Fountain!  (Click on the titles to see those posts.)  Seriously...I love Barcelona.  I want to go back again, cause there's still more I want to see.  Who knew, after all these years in Europe, that Barcelona would become my second favorite?  (Who's number one?  Paree, Paree, I love me some good ole Paree!!!)