This past weekend, I traveled to Barcelona with the UConn in Granada group. It was my second time there as I went for a day and half two years ago with my exchange family in Burgos. When I went with them, we did not have any time to visit the any of the Gaudi attractions, so I was very excited to see them this time around. It was a rainy weekend, and we were outside for most of it, but we made the best of it. An interesting thing to note about Barcelona is that the people there speak Catalan ( a mix of Spanish and French) and most do not consider themselves Spanish, but instead prode and identify themselves as Catalian. They even wave a different flag... I only saw one Spanish and one European Union flag in the city. Many people in the city want Barcelona to be its own county, seperate from Spain.
We arrived via plane Thursday night, and I stayed in to be ready for the day ahead. Friday we a break in the weather, and had sun for the part of the trip I was most excited for: Park Guell which was designed by Gaudi. To get to the top of the park you have to take outdoor escalators (and obvious first for me) and then make your way through and to the bottom of the park. The top of the top has a cross and from the cross you can see some amazing views of the city. As I walked through and down to the bottom plaza of the park, I felt like I was walking through a Dr. Seuss book. Take a look below for your self :)
Next, we went inside the Sagrada Familia, which is one of the largest cathedrals in the world and the most visited tourist attraction in Spain. Barcelona as a whole is the most visited city in all of Spain. Once again, Gaudi's style of architecture is unlike anything I've seen. I think the best part about visiting the cathedral was that we've been learning about it in my art history class, so I was able to recognize some of the details and differences between the different facades of the church.
After the Sagrada, we went to lunch as a group and then had free time until the next morning. I went with one group of kids to the fountain show in front of the Palacio Nacional. Its set to music and once it gets dark there's lights that make the water change colors. That night I went to a club called Opium, which was really fun but I liked Kapital in Madrid better. Opium got too crowded at times and only had one floor. But my friend and I made some lovely friends from London, and who could be mad about that.
Saturday was a very rainy day. We went to the Casa Mila - La Pedrera. It´s a house designed by Gaudi. We were able to tour the attic and the dormitories but were not able to walk on the roof as it was closed due to rain. This was dissapointing as the roof is the coolest part. The roof has huge statues and looks over the city. You´ll see in my window shots that I attempted to get pictures of the statues. The attic, was more so a museum the explained Gaudi´s motives and goals for all of his works including the park and the cathedral that we had visited the day before. After La Pedrera, we talked down a market and shop street called Las Ramblas, saw the outside of a cathedral that was there, and then walked to lunch. At lunch we had the best guacomole and hummus I have ever had in my life. Although this could be skewed because I love both but haven´t had either since leaving the states. After lunch, I went with a group to the National Art Museum of Catalan. It was full of artists soley from Barcelona. Many of our art history projects are on some of these artists so it was very cool to see some of the works from class up close in real life. The building itself was gorgeous and I loved the bright colors in the ceiling of the main dome of the building. Saturday night I went to the Barcelona Casino with one of my friends who taught me how to play Rouet. My friend was much better and riskier than me and he made 15 euros. I´m not much of a risk taker and lost 4 euros total...but I was fine with it because we were there for 3 and half hours and I had a blast playing :)
Sunday, we had a free day to ourselves. A few of my friends and I attemped to go to a famous open market called La Boqueria, but it was closed because it was Sunday so that was a bug bummer. But across the street there was a Museo Erotico that was open so we did that for a bit. From there I left the group and went to the Castillo de Montjuic. I´m so glad I went because the views were amazing. The best part was that I splurged and took the air gondala up to the top of the castle so I could see views of Barcelona from above the tree tops of the park that the castle is in. I had been warned that the castle itself wasn´t impressive but the views were amazing. Totally worth it as the views were phenominal (I got some great pictures) and the entrance into the castle was free. It was also nice to have some time to myself. I love our group, but by the end of our weekend trips we´re usually a little sick of each other.
Overall, Barcelona was a fun and beautiful city.
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