The first thing to remember when you visit Barcelona, Spain is your camera. This beautiful city is full of photo opportunities and you can put together wonderful albums to share with friends and relatives, as well as make a wonderful keepsake for yourself. If you are the artsy type, you can make beautiful photo compositions of the sites of Barcelona.
The next thing on your Barcelona list is a good map. Get a map that shows all of the tourist destinations such as museums,art galleries and parks, as well as the cities and towns around Barcelona. There is so much to see that you want to make sure you organize yourself well so that you can see it all. Barcelona’s weather is usually warm, but sometimes it can be too hot or it can be rainy. Plan your sightseeing around the weather, so that you spend the days that are too hot or are rainy indoors at the many museums or art galleries. Get all of your indoor pictures on these days and save outdoor pictures for the sunny days.
Make sure you make time to see all of Barcelona’s wonderful architecture, especially Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia. This is a prime example of the new architecture he introduced, using materials such as iron and glass in unusual ways. This harmony of design can also be seen in some of Gaudi’s other works, such as La Pedrera or the Block of Discord. These works are unusually modern looking for the era. If you don’t have a lot of confidence in your photo-taking abilities, you can just buy post cards, to make sure you have lovely pictures of these beautiful sites. They are sold in news kiosks all over the city. If you are taking pictures of some of Gaudi’s work, make sure you us good film since the colors are so bright and intense. Or use a digital camera that will capture these colors.
On your outdoor picture taking day, be sure to stroll down the lovely Ramblas promenade. It is a veritable paradise of flowers. Parc Guell has many more of Gaudi’s masterpieces, and this is a perfect place to be introduced to the modernistic style of this avant-garde artist. His sculptures, so original and exuberant, are placed throughout the park. Other “must-sees” in this city are the Port area, the Olympic stadium and the Barcelona Football stadium, home of the 2005 champion team the Barca. In addition to Barcelona, the rest of Catalunya has much to offer. Short day trips, either to the coast or inland, can bring you to some interesting places to visit, and there are lovely hotels everywhere. The town of Sitges, for example, which is close to Barcelona, offers wonderful views from high cliffs, or you can just stroll around this medieval village.
Even as you approach Barcelona’s airport, The Prat, you will want to start taking pictures. The Costa Brava seen from the air gives you an overall view. Barcelona not only has great tourist sites and hotels, but also wonderful restaurants to enjoy. Lunchtime is the time for the big meal of the day, and then leisurely dinners are served late at night. Make sure you try the specialty of the Costa Brava, zarzuela. This is a delicious seafood stew made with the local fish. Another specialty that you should try when strolling the streets of the port area at night is “tapas”, light small dishes of all kinds of different foods.
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