Barcelona, Spain

After an easy train ride, we rolled into Barcelona where we grabbed some groceries, made new menorahs, and celebrated Chanukah. Very early the next morning, before sunrise, Dennis and Mira went to the airport to pick up Mira’s friend Maya who bravely took an overnight flight solo from NYC. 

We spent that first full day rambling along La Rambla, riding the ferris wheel, dipping into the old Jewish neighborhood (though we couldn’t find an open door for the synagogue), and walking through the Boqueria Market.  Before heading home we made sure to find the mosaic on the sidewalk by Joan Miró and Maya was the first to locate his signature in one of the pieces.  We called it an early night after Chanukah celebrations.  

The next day Dennis took the kids to play laser tag.  That’s it.  I honestly don’t know what happened to the rest of the day.  That night we went out to dinner and had a few traditional tapas but mostly the Cronin kids had hamburgers. 

Luckily, we made up for it the following day when we hopped back on the train to Figueres where we had tickets to the Salvador Dalí museum which was designed by Dalí himself and is considered his largest piece of surrealist art.  Maya described it best when she said it was like being inside a fever dream.  Dev loved the piece that looked like Minecraft and Johanna loved the illustrations for Alice in Wonderland.  Mira loved the room with feet on the ceiling, the green projection, some armor here and there (her description). 

Our day of Dali was followed by a day of Gaudi.  We took a small group tour of some of his major works — Casa Batlló, La Pedrera, Park Güell, and the still unfinished but amazing Sagrada Familia (over 100 years of construction!). After the kids patiently listened to the tour for over 5 hours, we celebrated with churros. We finished off the night with traditional Neopolitan pizza because, well, why not?  

For Maya’s final day with us, Dev and Dennis went to play a couple more rounds of laser tag.  When the older kids dragged themselves out of bed, we went up the hill to Parc del Laberint d’Horta, a large, walk thru labyrinth made of tall bushes – a Dennis favorite! Dev got through first and we all eventually caught up.  The entire place was beautiful.  Afterwards we went walking around Born and other shopping areas where we made important stops at (gasp!) Claire’s, the Vans store, and other classics.  We also finally had a proper tapas dinner (Johanna’s still not convinced).  Dennis and Dev braved the Museum of Nightmares where the staff gave Dev free gifts for being braver than most adults and completing the entire experience.

Maya left the following morning and we were all sad to see her go, especially Mira!  We encourage other visitors anytime;)  

Next up:  Istanbul!