Tag Archives: travel photography

Fun Photo Friday — Barcelona Favorites 2


Street Café scene

Here is Part 2 of my three-part Fun Photo Friday favorites of Barcelona:

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Filed under Fun Photo Friday, Photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel, vacation

Barcelona — A Bullring to Venice to the National Palace


Today we’re back on the Red Line. In this case we’re going to look specifically at the area (see image below) that centers on the cluster of sights depicted along the far western edge of the Red Line route map. Here there is a lot to see, and all these sights come within moments of each other, so get your camera ready. The pictures today start at 2:17 p.m. and end a mere twelve minutes later, at 2:29.

We’ll begin with a piece of statuary from famed Catalan painter and sculptor Joan Miró. This is Woman and Bird on Carrer de Tarragona:

Woman and Bird by Joan Miró

Don’t put your camera down for even a moment, because coming up quickly is an old, repurposed bullring. This next image is Arenas de Barcelona on Plaça d’Espanya. This incredible structure, first opened in 1900, now serves as a shopping mall:

Arenas de Barcelona

And just beyond that you’re going to think you’ve been transported to Venice as you enter Plaça d’Espanya with its Venetian Towers:

Plaça d’Espanya
Plaça d’Espanya and Arenas de Barcelona (background)

Pass between the two Venetian Towers and continue south. Here you’ll stumble across the unimaginably impressive Palau Nacional. Palau Nacional has been home to the National Art Museum of Catalonia (Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya) since 1934, some five years after it served as main site for the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition.

National Palace

But we’re not done with the National Palace quite yet. Our City Sightseeing bus swings around this area, and soon you’ll get this view:

National Palace domes

Come back for more Barcelona favorites on this week’s Fun Photo Friday.

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Barcelona — More Sightseeing aboard the Blue Line


Last week began a four-week series on Barcelona. During this series I will concentrate on what you’ll see when taking City Sightseeing’s Red and Blue Line double-decker tour buses, as they provide a wonderful way to see the city and take in the sights. And, if you sit on the upper deck during nice weather, you’ll get some great photos as well.

A building with eyelids

And last Wednesday I highlighted the sights along City Sightseeing‘s Blue Line, as well as a trek into the Gothic “Old Town” Quarter of Barcelona. That article as located at this link. But, in case you need a refresher of the Blue and Red Routes, here’s City Sightseeing‘s route map (the Green Line only runs in summer):

City Sightseeing Routes

Today I’m going to continue with the sights you’ll see as you travel the Blue Line as you ride atop that double-decker bus.

Nice street scenes from an elevated viewpoint

One of the scenes you may recall from last Wednesday is the beautiful, ornate La Rotonda on the corner of Passeig de Sant Gervasi and Avenue Tibidabo in Barcelona’s Sarriá-San Gervasio District.

La Rotonda

The rest of today’s photos will take up where that article left off. I will include a time stamp so that you may gauge the intervals between the following locations. For instance, this next image was taken at 12:54 p.m., approximately fifteen minutes after the La Rotonda image above, at the corner of Carrer del Bisbe Català and Plaçe de Pedralbes:

Pharmacy located in a typical Barcelona-style building

Also taken at 12:54 was this magnificent building, the Conventet de Pedralbes:

Conventet de Pedralbes

Time for another elevated street scene, this one taken at 1:28 p.m. on Av. Diagonal approaching the Plaça Cinc d’Oros obelisk:

Barcelona street scene

Some three minutes later, at 1:31, we went by a building that appeared to have a sundial imbedded in the façade of the ‎Church of Our Lady of the Angels‎ (Església de la Mare de Déu dels Àngels) on Carrer de Balmes:

Ora Et Labora — Pray and Work

Wednesday we’ll backtrack on the Red Line and look over the area around Arenas de Barcelona, Plaça d’Espanya, and Palau Nacional de Montjuïc.

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Filed under Photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel, vacation