Another HOT day of walking the city streets, admiring the architecture breathing in the smells of fresh fish in the market and gorgeous flowers at the 24 hour flower shop Navarro.

We had walked over to La Pedrera (Casa Mila) Gaudi’s Modernista private commission that Rick Steeve’s describes as “a much photographed roller coaster of melting-ice-cream eves” yesterday. A sight not to be missed! So today, we went first to the Placa de Catalunya, and from there made our way to the “Block of Discord” to follow Rick Steves’ audio tour of the Eixample (expansion). The newer, section of the city that showcases the homes of the wealthy who hired modernista architects to design their extravagant homes.

The Block of Discord features 3 distinct homes by 3 very different architects of the day: Casa Batllo by Gaudi, Casa Amatller by Josep Puig i Cadafalch, and Casa Lleo Morera by Lluis Domenech i Montaner. The exteriors are so very different it is hard to pick a favorite. But my favorite INTERIOR courtyard was Casa Amatller! The Amatller were the premiere chocolatiers in Barcelona and we sat in the courtyard and I enjoyed the most wonderful liquid chocolate to sip and dip my strawberries into!

We struggled with the heat both days. While the temperature was only about 80F, the sun and humidity made it feel much warmer. We would step inside a store to hope to find a little air conditioning and a little reprieve, but the locals are more use to the heat and less inclined to use AC. We could actually pick out the locals because they were often wearing sweatshirts!

One of the delights of the Eixample remains all the forethought put into its development. “In (Cerda’s) vision, each block-square district would have all the services its residents would need: hospital, park, market, schools, and day care centers.” So even today, the neighborhoods of the Eixample are very community centered.

Dinner found us eating paella down near the port we would leave from the next day and close to the church where we had tickets for a classic music performance by a string ensemble and soprano. Such a lovely way to end our time in Barcelona.