DAY TWO
What to do and where to eat?
Still easing into the time change, we wandered the streets and enjoyed people watching – and building watching – and then wound up at the Museu de la Xocolata (Chocolate Museum, Carrer del Comerç, 36), housed near a 13th-century convent. Your entry ticket is made of chocolate (you eat it when you’re done), and the museum is filled with kid-friendly sculptures, crafted from chocolate. After the tour, we ate chocolate croissants, drank espresso (for the adults), and sat at the museum cafe, talking about which sculptures were our favorites. Our kids recommend the Chocolate Museum to everyone we meet! Cost: Youth (under 7) Free; Adult $7.
KidTripster Tip: You don’t need to buy tickets ahead of time online. However, be prepared for your kids to clamor to buy a piece of chocolate or a treat from the museum chocolate shop and cafe, since the sculptures will whet their appetites.
Or if you have the time, I’d strongly suggest taking a family or kid workshop, where you’ll actually create your own treats while learning about the art of chocolate making, instead of the museum. If you have wee little ones, sign up from one of the sensory classes, where they can actually finger paint with chocolate! Here no one minds the cleanup! Classes are typically an hour long. Cost: $8.50 to $20/person.
For lunch and dinner, we ate tasty, inexpensive tacos and empanadas with two big thumbs up from our young diners at Taco Alto (Carrer del Portal Nou, 62) and La Fabrica (Carrer del Call, 19) in the Gothic Quarter.
DAY THREE
What to do and where to eat?
On the third day, we were ready to launch into full sightseeing mode with a focus on Barcelona’s mind-blowing architecture, thanks in large part to Antoni Gaudí.
We bought tickets (including the tower tour) to perhaps Gaudí’s greatest work, the incredibly beautiful Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Familia (Carrer de Mallorca, 401). We walked the 30 minutes from the Gothic Quarter to the cathedral. The church, both inside and out, made the kids forget about the long, hot walk, as they marveled at the architecture. Once again, fun facts that we found online came in handy. The cathedral is not yet done, and now our once-hesitant travelers are talking about returning to Barcelona to see the masterpiece, when it’s complete.
KidTripster Tip: Buy Sagrada Familia tickets online and buy early, because it can sell out. Don’t forget to check out the 100-year-old school house built for the children of Sagrada Familia’s construction workers at the base of the cathedral. The kids liked seeing how schoolrooms looked around the turn of the century and insisted on sitting at the desks for about half an hour answering math problems that we gave them, just for fun.
Not far from the cathedral, you’ll find one of the most unusual buildings in the world, Casa Batlló, where Gaudí pairs colors and shapes from the sea with eerie skull-shaped balconies. The augmented reality audio tour here is outstanding! For even more of an experience, plan your visit for the evening. Cost: Youth (7-18) $22; Adult $25; buy tickets in advance online; don’t bother buying the Fast Pass.
A few blocks away, you’ll find La Pedrera (Casa Milà), another out-of-this-world creation from the mind of Gaudí. Tours are available here too (buy tickets in advance online), but if the kids are getting tired, I’d suggest just looking at the outside.
