With a few weeks until our next big party (Sail Croatia), it was time to travel north through some key European cities – Barcelona, Paris, Brussels and Bruges.
Barcelona was our final destination in Spain and after visiting several of its smaller cities, we were keen to see how its biggest tourist draw stacked up.
Immediately we could see Barca is very different from the rest of Spain. Historically Catalonia is very distinct/nationalistic in its own right, and the locals are increasingly pushing for Catalonia to again be its own nation.
The city itself bears evidence of, and strongly celebrates, thousands of years of often-brutal history while also having a very modern vibe, courtesy of countless retail shops, beautiful beaches and overpriced restaurants and attractions for the hordes of tourists arriving from every corner of the world.
We started with a historical walking tour that included ruins of the old roman walls, the city’s beautiful gothic cathedral, and squares that hosted medieval executions, cemeteries and uprisings.
Later we would explore the weird, arguably wonderful world of Barca’s celebrated architect Antoni Guadi with a visit to Park Guell, as well as several of his famous buildings including Casa Mila, Casa Batllo and the Sagrada Familia.
Guadi is responsible for leading the controversial modernism style of architecture in the late 19th century and is considered somewhat of a Catalonian national hero.
Below is a selection of his work, including his most famous – the still unfinished Sagrada Familia (more beautiful on the inside rather than out). As our guide asked, “was he a genius or a madman? You decide”.
Our second night we travelled up to the tallest peak of Barcelona – Mount Tibidabo.
Behind the Tibidabo Cathedral del Sagrat Cor which looks down on Barcelona, you will find the most beautiful sunset.
It was a beautiful spot to soak up the views of Barcelona and crack open some red wine and sangria with our friends.
Other Barca highlights include basking on its lovely beaches (still got nothing on the Gold Coast), wandering the windy old streets in the gothic quarter, visiting the Magic Fountain light and sound show, and admiring the hundreds of mega yachts berthed in its marina (including one named Nirvana we googled to learn it cost $1million per week to rent 😧).
We found it an enjoyable city, but certainly one more built around tourism than Madrid or Valencia.
On a side note, it was very sad to visit the large vigil placed at the top of the Las Rambla tourist district in memorial of the 17 people killed by a terrorist attack on the street only two weeks before our arrival.
Leaving Barcelona we flew to Paris.
This was our second visit to the City of Love, and after seeing many of its main attractions in 2015, we were keen to simply soak up a bit of Parisian culture, food and scenery on this short stop.
We walked around the Montmartre region and visited the Bascilica of the Sacre Cour…
….pretended like we knew something about art at the Musee D’Orsay…
… and spent an afternoon having a cliched romantic picnic / public drinking session under the Eiffel Tour.
Our last day in Paris was spent visiting some other beautiful sites, including Saint Chapelle, Luxembourg Gardens and Canal Street.
We then took a bus from Paris to Brussels and immediately began wandering its streets to become acquainted with Belgium’s capital and the unofficial head of the European Union.
You could say Brussels is a little bit Paris, a little bit Amsterdam, but that would be selling it well short.
The city has its own thing going on, not only the monuments, unique museums (Automobile museum and one dedicated to musical instruments) and old town streets, but think waffles, chocolate and frites (fun fact – French fries weren’t created by the French, but the Belgians), as well as a love of comics and in particular Tin Tin.
After two nights in Brussels we took a train to Belgium’s highly rated ‘not so secret anymore’ town of Bruges.
The preserved little medieval town, which was once the richest city in Europe, didn’t disappoint. Quiet(ish), charming and beautiful, many parts of Bruges appear to have been taken straight out of the 14th century.
We explored such sights via a boat tour around its many canals.
It was in Bruges we also sampled two more of Belgium’s specialties: a big bowl of mussels (yum!) and of course Belgian beer.
Earlier in the day we took a tour around Bruges’ most famous and authentic family-owned brewery – De Halve Maan Brewer – very interesting and great beer.
In the evening we were joined by our new Belgium mate we met on our Morocco tour – Henri De Jonghe, or “Henry the Young” in English.
Henri introduced us to aforementioned mussels, and he and Tom decided to sample as many Belgian beers as humanely possible in one night.
Such a venture ended up in the only logical place – a hidden jazz and blues club at 2am. When told we’d missed the live music Tom and an English lass named Vicky, who has a lovely voice, decided to do three or four tunes of their own.
Special thanks to Henri for an awesome night in Bruges. Nursing a nice little hangover, we were off on a bus to London where pubs, west end, and more guitar-related fun awaits.
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