{"id":4353,"date":"2011-06-24T09:43:00","date_gmt":"2011-06-24T09:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/travel-trends\/summer-in-barcelona-for-the-first-timer\/"},"modified":"2018-10-25T06:42:43","modified_gmt":"2018-10-25T10:42:43","slug":"summer-in-barcelona-for-the-first-timer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/summer-in-barcelona-for-the-first-timer\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer in Barcelona For the First Timer"},"content":{"rendered":"

The list goes on, and on of Barcelona\u2019s many attractions. You can even add the Spanish city\u2019s street lights to that list for they appear like works of art, dangling in the same fashion as earrings.<\/p>\n

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Barcelona is not short on things to see and do. However, for the first timer, the city can seem daunting with so much on the agenda.<\/p>\n

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Last summer, I felt a tad overwhelmed by Barcelona for the first time. I quickly found the city is not to be overwhelming, but rather embraced slowly and subtly.<\/p>\n

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If you are visiting Barcelona<\/a> for the first time this summer, don\u2019t miss these slower travel experiences.<\/p>\n

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Park yourself in Parc de la Ciutadella<\/strong>\u2014Right in the center of the city, Parc de la Ciutadella is almost a different world. Enter the grand park through the red Arc de Triomf and you can start counting the ways you will love this space by the park benches. What seems like hundreds of perfect perching benches can be found in one of Barcelona\u2019s main green spaces. Originally a fort built by Felipe V after the War of the Spanish Succession, the space received a facelift by the 19th century. Don\u2019t forget to marvel at the Cascada, a dramatic fountain with mermaid-tail colored waters. With the help of Antoni Gaud\u00ed and a little inspiration from Rome\u2019s Trevi Fountain, you can thank Josep Fonts\u00e9re for its compelling design. Parc de la Ciutadella also throws in an assortment of activities such as row boating and the city\u2019s zoo.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Visit during a summer festival<\/strong>\u2014If there is one thing Barcelona does well it is having a good time. You can\u2019t walk far without hearing music or some sort of action taking place. If you are lucky, you just might stumble upon one of the city\u2019s festivals. Some of the neighborhoods of Barcelona will put on their own shows, like the Gracia neighborhood does in August. The Gracia Festival calls for each street to create a work of art, composed of whatever locals can get their hands on from Legos to wood chips. For a few days in August\u2019s heat, you can wander these streets enjoying song, dance, drinks and street art composed by the locals themselves. If you don\u2019t make it for Gracia\u2019s good time in August, there is bound to be some festivities on every street corner in Barcelona.<\/p>\n

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See the work in progress La Sagrada Familia<\/strong>\u2014When most think of Barcelona, La Sagrada Familia no doubt comes to mind. While I have heard mixed opinions on going inside the church, get to Barcelona to see one of the few tourist attractions that is still a work in progress. Watch history in the making as cranes continue to work despite the crowds snaking outside. Those first moves of construction on this Gaudi designed structure began on March 19, 1882. For over a hundred years, this intended symbol of faith is just a giant sandcastle to some, but well worth seeing just for its endearing unfinished quality.<\/p>\n

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Get sand in your toes but not in your tapas in Barceloneta<\/strong>\u2014After a long day of sightseeing, it might be time to cool off on one of Barcelona\u2019s beaches. The main area surrounding Barcelona\u2019s connection to the Mediterranean is Barceloneta. If you want to people watch, this is the place to be to marvel different definitions of \u201cbeach chic\u201d. After strolling the promenade, duck in for tapas at an eatery on one of Barceloneta\u2019s lonely and quiet corners. A local haunt is no doubt lurking.<\/p>\n

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Flickr:\u00a0Bert Kaufmann<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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—<\/p>\n

What experiences do you recommend to Barcelona first timers?<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The list goes on, and on of Barcelona\u2019s many attractions. You can even add the Spanish city\u2019s street lights to that list for they appear like works of art, dangling in the same fashion as earrings.   Barcelona is not short on things to see and do. However, for the first timer, the city can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-travel-tips-intel"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4353"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98898037,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4353\/revisions\/98898037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}