Hitting The Streets – Barcelona Cathedral – Barcelona, Spain

It’s our first full day in a new city, and our first full day in a new city usually starts out the same way – with a morning run around town. We’re currently situated in a residential neighborhood of Barcelona, just a few minutes away from the Gothic Quarter, which is home to a labyrinth of narrow alleys and old buildings dating back to Medieval times. This sounds like the perfect place to go exploring by foot before the city wakes up.

It’s not difficult to get lost in the Gothic Quarter. All of the streets start to look alike after awhile. Every so often there will be a square, or plaça, where anywhere from three to six streets converge. This quickly becomes a game of “pick a direction and see where you end up.”

That game eventually led to this massive church – the Barcelona Cathedral. Antoni Gaudí’s most notable works are located in Barcelona, so this isn’t even close to the coolest building in town…but Gaudí aside, it’s pretty awesome as far as Gothic building architecture goes.

We often get asked how we’re able to get pictures like this. Well, 99% of the time they’re taken on morning runs when everyone else is sleeping. Just a few hours later, those steps and the square in front of the cathedral were packed with selfie stick touting tourists. We’ll take the emptiness and silence over the crowds any day.