Barcelona Timing.....Help

Hi Jenny, I'm not familiar with 2 of the Churches you've listed, but La Sagrada Familia is really an awe-inspiring experience and I'd allow at least a couple of hours to see it all (there's a 'museum' beneath it that I would hate to have missed). And that's just going through and round it- I didn't go up in the lift.
And also I think you need a little while to let the beauty of it sink in.

A lot depends on how you visit churches. Do you just take a look around or do you get a guide and read about the interesting items in the church? We climbed to the roof of the Cathedral. Other than that we spent about an hour looking around at the chapels and displays. This Cathedral enforces a dress code, no knees, shoulders, or midriffs showing. They have the only easily understandable dress code sign, out front, I've ever seen. Inside Santa Maria del Mar is fairly plain. I'm not sure you could spend an hour there. We only viewed the outside of the Modernist sights, but still took a full day walking from Placa Catalunya up to Block of Discord, Parc Guell and back down to Sagrada Familia. If you tour each interior, you will be pushing your time limit. Use a taxi to save time unless the metro gets you there without a connection. Barcelona metros often include some really long walks between connecting lines.

Brad,
Thanks for the insight! Im really interested in the architecture, so I did not plan on doing any audio tours, instead, just planned on touring the interiors. I figure I can read about the structures themselves in the plethora of travel guides and websites devoted to Barcelona. So, do you think with this additional info, it may be doable? Thanks :-)

I think if you keep each visit under an hour, you can do it. To keep from getting lost and save time, you should probably rely on taxis to get to at least the first church. The Cathedral and Santa Maria del Mar are probably a quarter mile apart - but it's in an area where it's easy to get turned around and waste time. You could taxi to "Jaume I" square and stop at the TI there for a map and advice - make sure all the metro lines are working, what the current fare is, etc. La Pedrera (also known as Casa Mila) and Casa Batllo are in another area, about three blocks apart. Between the Cathedral and Santa Maria del Mar is a yellow line metro at "Jaume I" square that goes directly to "Passeig de Gracia". When you exit the metro you will be right across the street from Casa Batllo. You will need small bills (ten or smaller) or coins to purchase metro tickets - this is one of the few places that requires a chip and pin credit card and the machine won't take 20 euro bills or larger. From there you can walk three blocks up the main street, Passeig de Gracia, to Casa Mila. After Casa Mila, you'll be next to the "Diagonal" metro station. Take a blue line directly to the Sagrada Familia station, you come out right next to Sagrada Familia. At this point you can decide if you have time to go inside. Afterward, I'd use a taxi again to get back to your ship (9 hours sounds like a cruise stop). Yes, I think it's doable, check with the TI to make sure everything I'm telling you works. We spent four days in Barcelona, so I didn't squeeze it in the same way you need to.

Brad,
Again, THANK YOU Soooo Much!!! :-) That is all EXTREMELY Helpful info, esp about the diff stops and smaller bills needed!! Im actually flying in from Rome and training out to the San Fermin in Pamplona (Running of the Bulls)....I just have a one day/night stay over in Barcelona in between the two. Thanks again! Any other pearls of travel wisdom, esp for Barcelona would be greatly appreciated!! Jen :-)

The other thoughts that come to mind is the Airport Express bus and the T-10 card on the metro. We planned on taking a train/metro combination into town from the Barcelona airport, but passed the Airport Express bus on our way so decided to take that. It worked well. It makes a few stops on the way to Placa Catalunya (TI in the SE? corner) but didn't take more than 20-30 minutes. Taking a taxi straight to the Cathedral or Santa Maria del Mar would be faster but probably cost three times as much. You don't say how many of you there are, but if you will come close to needing ten metro rides, get a t-10 card. It's ten tickets that can be shared and will save a little money, and the time to stop for tickets each time you ride. Even if you end up with a couple left over, it's still worth it. From Placa Catalunya to Jaume 1 on the metro requires a change from red to yellow, but not too long of walk between the two lines (some have reeeaaally long tunnels to connect). It's too far to walk on your schedule so metro or taxi will be your best option. Barcelona is notorious for pickpockets (we personally found Madrid to be much worse). Make sure you keep track of your stuff any time you get into a crowd or tourist area.

Regarding San Fermin, have fun! I hear it's a non-stop (literally 24 hour) party. We visited Pamplona in April so just saw the places but the town is very low-key outside of San Fermin. If you don't already have your lodging figured out, Olite is pretty close. You can save a ton staying outside Pamplona (50 euro rooms go for 450 during Fermin). Olite has a great castle that once belonged to the King of Navarre (part of Spain and France). It was in the running for our favorite castle visit in Spain (and we visited a lot of really great ones).