Elle’s in Europe 2025 - Day 4 - Taxis, Subways, Funiculars, and Cable Cars
This morning, we decided to wake up closer to work day, given that Jenn is starting the work portion of her trip tomorrow. We set an alarm for 9 AM and were downstairs at breakfast a little before 10. We typically skip breakfast, but with Elle, we wanted to make sure she got something in the morning. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a bust. Elle usually loves eggs, but wouldn’t touch them. The pastries were all stale. And so what sounded like a good idea was a quick exit. We started to walk with Elle along the beach when we ran into some of Jenn’s coworkers. Elle started to get tired, so Jenn took her back to take a nap, and I went to grab coffee. I landed on Matienzo and got a cappuccino that I drank near the water, listening to my book (A History of Loneliness).
When Elle woke up, we immediately were back out, grabbing a taxi to take us to Casa Milà (also known as La Pedrera), the last residence built by Gaudí. It was the perfect afternoon to walk and see the beautiful architecture. From there, we walked to Casa Batlló, another stunning building by Gaudí.
From there, we went straight to the subway, where we boarded the L3 to take us to Montjuïc Castle. We rode a brand new subway car about five stops before exiting the subway station, only to realize that we could reach the funicular within the station. We bought another subway pass to let us ride the funicular about halfway into Montjuïc Park. From there, we bought tickets on the cable car to take us up to Montjuïc Castle. It was quite the whirlwind of modes of transportation, but eventually we made it. Elle was having a blast, especially in the cable car that let us see over all of Barcelona. She was giggling the whole way up. We happened to arrive at the castle a little after 3 PM on a Sunday, which, for some reason, is when it’s free to get in. After getting our free tickets, we explored the cliffside castle, which was originally built in the 1600s. There wasn’t much to see outside of the tremendous 360 views of Barcelona. We only spent 30 minutes there before taking the cable car back down to take a taxi back to our hotel for Elle’s second nap.
Elle got a good nap in and was well-rested to go back out to dinner at 8 PM. After a lot of back and forth, we landed on having dinner tonight at Calabrasa. The weather was starting to turn, and it looked like a summer thunderstorm was approaching. But as we arrived at the restaurant after a 30-minute walk from our hotel, it appeared to have passed us, so we sat outside. Jenn started with a glass of wine, and I had a beer. We split ham croquettes and an oxtail donut. Jenn preferred the croquettes, and I liked the oxtail donut. There was a long wait between our tapas and main entrees, but Elle did amazing. She ate some of our oxtail and croquettes and munched on goldfish. When our entrees arrived, it started to rain just a bit, but we were able to enjoy our steak and duck without getting too wet. When we finished, we walked Elle around the nearby streets, paid the bill, and grabbed gelato and a crepe from a nearby store.
We finished the evening with a beautiful walk back to our hotel, avoiding a massive party/concert happening at our hotel’s pool before calling it a night. Elle was such an angel all day today. She had no issues going through all the different modes of transportation, or sitting down for a nearly two-hour meal. We got really lucky with her.
