Edna on the Road

Monday, September 21, 2026

Gaudi, Gaudi, Gaudi

Barcelona

Today we went up to the Eixample neighborhood and saw a lot of Gaudi

La Pedrera

We started the day with a “sunrise” tour of La Pedrera (thankfully a bit later than actual sunrise!)

The roof was the best part!

We also toured the attic, 4th-floor apartment, and some courtyards on the main level:

Attic

Building model in the attic

Garage door (cars drove through the internal courtyard to get to the garage.

Sagrada Familia

Gaudi #2 was the Sagrada Familia, whose towers are finally finished.

Sunday Sardana, Museums, & Food Tour #1

Barcelona

Sardana

First stop today was the Sunday morning traditional sardana dance in front of the cathedral. The dancers are accompanied by a cobla, a traditional Catalan ensemble with Catalan shawms and other instructions. (Wikipedia article on the cobla)

Cobla de Cambra de Catalunya

Palace of Catalan Music

Barcelona

Palace of Catalan Musix

We visited the Palace of Catalan Music the same day as the Picasso Museum (see previous post), but I took so many photos that it gets its own post.

A very interesting history: the hall was built in 1908 as the home of the Orfeó Català, an amateur chorus founded in 1891. **Built for an amateur chorus** — as someone deeply involved with amateur (i.e., unpaid) community choruses in the US, with their shoestring budgets, this amazed me almost as much as the building itself.

And now, since it’s past my bedtime, here is a photo dump of this incredible building:

Picassos, Churches, and Food

Barcelona

First stop today was the coffee shop down the street, where I got this yummy pastry for breakfast:

Picasso Museum

Next stop was the Picasso Museum, which is housed in a series of five adjoining medieval palaces.

One of the Els Colomins (The Pigeons) paintings

El Piano

Hola Barcelona

Barcelona

After a long day with very little sleep, Ralph & I made to Barcelona! He's been here before, but this is my first visit. To make sure we didn't fall asleep, we went for a walk right after we checked into our hotel. Las Ramblas is unfortunately under construction, so not quite as picturesque of a stroll as we had hoped, but we still enyoed the walk. Here are some of the sights: