Great picture from Tibidabo..
Well we slept in relatively late and got a slow start around 11ish. We walked down Las Rambla to head into the center of the city to get lunch. Since it was Palm Sunday, there was music playing and some small festivals all over the streets. This following picture I took on Las Ramblas while we were walking towards Plaza Cataluña.
For lunch I wanted to take Dad to this bar-restaurant called Els Quatre Gats, which was a legendary place where Picasso and his friends used to go to. This is a very popular tourist destination, and I had some drinks there one night with my friend Axel. Although it is a bit pricey, they have great Catalan and Mediterranean food, and the place is uniquely filled with art as well. Here are a few photos from inside the restaurant.
Here are a few photos from walking up the bottom of the mountain...there are many businesses, government buildings, and very nice houses up on Tibidabo:
We stopped half way at a bar-restaurant which had an amazing view looking over the city of Barcelona...
After a few snacks and drinks, we decided to continue our hike up Tibidabo. We walked up through the Parc de Collserola, which is a 16,000 acre natural park of wild forests and winding paths. It was a great hike, and we couldn’t have asked for better weather. Here are a few pictures from the park...
The Torre de Collserola was in sight, which is the photo that is below. This is a telecommunications tower designed by a British architect. The top of this needle-shaped tower is the highest point in Barcelona at 560 meters (1,836 feet) above sea level. They say that on a clear day you are able to see Montserrat and the Pyrenees as well, which was pretty cool.
These next few pictures of Dad and I was when we were almost at the top of the mountain...
We finally made it up to the top, and eventually realized that there was a Funicular which went directly up to the top of Tibidabo. The amusement park was nothing compared to Great American or Disney World…but it was over 500 meters on a mountain which made it very cool to see. Here are a few pictures of the amusement park...
This next picture is of the church located on the top...you can literally see this from almost anywhere in Barcelona from the distance. One is able to go to the top, but we were extremely tired and the children running around everywhere was quite overwhelming. We found a bus that was headed down to Plaza Cataluña, which was perfect because we planned to stop at the hotel, and then head to my house to meet my family!
We arrived to my house around 6ish or so and stayed until 8 or something around there. Of course I was the translator because Dad doesn’t speak any Espanola but it was fun. We had some fun conversations about many different topics, and I was really happy Dad had the opportunity to meet my family here. I know that Anna and Casi were really looking forward to meeting my Dad as well, which was fun! They are going to Anna’s parents’ house in the mountains for the following weekend, so it will be nice for them to get away. I believe that my family only takes vacations once or twice a year...which is during Christmas, Holy Week, and sometimes during the summertime. Anna loves seeing all of my pictures about my trips I go on, and she has never been to Rome so she is very excited to see my pictures and have me explain everything to her about Italy. I will definitely need to get them something nice from Roma!!
After we left we went back down to El Gotico and had a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant that we passed the other night. We enjoyed some pretty good wine, great pasta, even better dessert, and of course some delicious cappuccino to finish the meal. We headed back to the hotel to “try” and get a good night’s sleep, but I was too wired from all the café I had, so I was up all night…like always. Our flight was to leave from El Prat at 11:45 and arrive in Italy around 1:15ish!
