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Visit with Family in Barcelona

Posted: October 11th, 2012 by Courtney

My second cousin, Ken and his family moved to Barcelona four years ago and since Scott and I loved visiting Barcelona in 2004 we just had to go and visit them (and just in time because they are moving back to the States this month).

Our journey to Barcelona from Toulouse started off a bit rocky when our plane was canceled.  The airline offered to take us by bus, which they said was 4 hours.  Instead of trying to work our accommodations on the fly we decided to take the bus.  Little did we know we would be on a bus for 6 hours and not arrive in Barcelona until about 2am.  Not a great way to start off.

But after some much-needed rest and some local tips from the family, we were off to explore Barcelona.

One of the things we were most impressed with Barcelona when we visiting in 2004 was the great architecture by Gaudi.  We were keen to go back to a couple of this buildings as well as see the impressive La Sagrada Família. Work started on the church in 1883 and it is still under construction today.

As you can see, it’s still under construction.

When we saw it last, the interior was still completely open to the elements. Now they’ve completed the interior and this is what it looks like.

It is impressively massive inside.

We also got to spend a day enjoying Ken and Nicole’s local town, monastery, and shopping.  Nicole even cooked us up some local cuisine for dinner.

Back in Barcelona we joined a tapas walking tour, which stopped by the local market so we could learn a little bit more about the local specialities.

Oh yes, there was all the jamon we remembered from last time.

On the last day, Scott, Nicole and I took a cooking class where we learned how to make romesco sauce, cod and red pepper soup, paella, and crema catalana.

 

Courtney’s beautiful and delicious Creme Catalana