We have been putting together a list of sights that we may visit while we are in Barcelona for three full days before our cruise. Some of the sights we have visited before, so they may become secondary sights in favor of seeing something new. The only exception is a visit to the Sagrada Familia Church, which is a must do, or redo in this case.
We have visited Barcelona three times before, once in 2008 on a one day cruise stop, once in 2013 when we stayed in Barcelona for a few days before a Transatlantic cruise, and then once again in 2016 on another one day cruise stop. We toured the Sagrada Familia twice before, but since it was not and still is not yet completed, each time we visit we get to see how much more has been built since the last time we visited. On the last trip to Barcelona in 2016, we did not visit Sagrada Familia. We were on a cruise and only in port for the day so on that trip, we opted to do our own excursion to Montserrat, and that took most of the day. So, the last time we actually visited the Sagrada Familia was in 2013, and it has probably changed a lot since then, good reason for us to make sure we visit there on this trip. We were amazed how much more was completed between 2008 and 2013, so we should see even more dramatic changes this time.
Two other sights that we want to see and have never visited before are the Parc Güell and the Tibidabo.
Parc Güell
According to ne online resource the Parc Güell is explained as follows:
Located right on the edge of Barcelona Parc Güell is a beautiful park full of bright colors, interesting architecture, lush greenery, and more!
The park is named after Eusebi Güell, a rich entrepreneur, who commissioned Gaudi to build a luxury residential complex. When the project was abandoned, Gaudí designed a park. Created between 1900 and 1914, Park Guell has been open to the public since 1923.
In 1984, it was declared as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The park was made following the architectural style that made Gaudi famous: Catalan Modernism. Spread across 19 hectares, you will find rounded forms, undulating lines, and structures covered in rainbow-colored mosaic and iron gates come together to create a space that is magical in every sense of the word.
For anyone wanting to learn more about this park, the official website for Parc Güell can be visited here.
Tibidabo
According to Wikipedia, Tibidabo is described as follows:
Tibidabo is a hill overlooking Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. At 512 metres, it is the tallest hill in the Serra de Collserola. Rising sharply to the north-west, it has views over the city and the surrounding coastline. The summit of the hill is occupied by the Sagrat Cor church and adjacent Tibidabo Amusement Park.
We have seen the cathedral on the top of Tibidabo on other visits to Barcelona, but had never researched the sight to see what was really there and how to get there to visit. It is a little bit of an effort to get there by public transportation, it will take about 45-60 minutes from our hotel, but certainly doable in half a day.
We also would not mind going to Montserrat again since the last time we were there it was quite cloudy, and not very photographic. Plus, most of the tops of the mountains accessible by the Montserrat funiculars were totally obscured in clouds, so we did not even bother to attempt to ride to the tops of those mountains for better views. If we know we will have a completely sunny day, we may go back, but it takes the better part of a full day to get there, visit the various sights and then return to Barcelona. We will have all of the information we need to plan a trip there just in case, but we will just have to see what we have time to do and how the weather is for our stay.
There are a few other more common sights to see in Barcelona, but the included tour with Viking Cruises on the Friday after we overnight on the ship visits most of those sights, so we will just plan on taking that tour to see those. We can also plan on doing some type of sightseeing after we check out of the hotel and board the Viking Neptune on Thursday morning, or just opt to board the ship a little later and do something that morning before check-out time and just store our luggage at the hotel until we are ready to head to the ship. However, we may be able drop off the luggage at the ship fairly early on Thursday morning and then just head back out to do some sightseeing.
A lot will depend on the weather, and we certainly won’t know that until we get there, or a day or two ahead, but we will basically have some time for sightseeing Monday after we arrive in Barcelona, all day Tuesday and Wednesday, and some portion of the day on Thursday. Plenty of time to plan our adventures in Barcelona.