When (when, not if) you go to Barcelona make sure you have more than two days or you will leave planning your next trip there! I am already plotting to spend a few more days in the second biggest city in Spain in order to really soak up everything it has to offer. It is a large city first of all, so there is a lot to see, but it is also home to some of the most famous, and beautiful, sites in Spain. We went with a tour from school (about 50 people) so we were on a pretty tight schedule most of the time and didn’t have a lot of free time to choose what we wanted to do, so I guess that next trip I will leave myself more “wander time.”
We started out our trip at 5:00 in the morning (Groan) and bussed to Barcelona, which is about 5 hours to the southeast of us; we arrived midmorning and were immediately treated to a driving tour of some of Gaudi’s famous works and the modern architecture that has helped land Barcelona on the map. It was interesting to see all of his work juxtaposed with regular buildings and shops, because in many ways it seems entirely out of place with the rest of the city. Or maybe the new buildings and shops are the ones out of place…
Next, we went to Park Guell, which was one of my favorite places in Barcelona and a sure stop on my return trips. This gorgeous park is filled with mosaic style decorating covering everything from buildings to steps to fountains to ceilings. All of the bright colors and unusual patterns make such a beautiful contrast against the green foliage that also permeates the garden. The abundance of trees here (and Spain in general) is amazing and I found out that they import trees from all over the world in order to have one of the greenest countries in Europe. (At my University, there are over 100 different types of trees; at least one from 5 of the continents.) But the buildings looked almost Hansel and Gretel-esque, with their gingerbread style roofs and bright spots of color sunk into white “frosting.” It was beautiful in this park, and of course, in typical Spanish fashion (or maybe European fashion) there was an accordion player lifting spirits with a lively polka, a bassist dressed in medieval clothes and a white wig, a trumpet player blasting the blues, and street vendors with blankets full of “cheap, cheap, so so cheap” necklaces, scarves and bracelets to sell. I love that kind of atmosphere where there is a lot going on, mood music, and lots of people enjoying the same thing.
After Park Guell, we made a quick stop at Sagrada Familia, which is one of the most famous cathedrals in Europe and is currently under construction. The cathedral was started around the 1500’s but then Gaudi (the architect) died in the middle of the construction and left behind a work crew without a single blueprint or design to follow so construction was stopped for quite awhile. Now, construction has resumed (under some controversy) and there is hope that the Sagrada Familia will be finished within the next century. Unfortunately, we were crunched for time and didn’t get to tour around inside the church, so this will be stop number one for my return trip!
After ditching our bags at our hostel (this was one major perk of going with a tour, we scored an amazing place to stay), we headed out for lunch (typically Spanish – late and large)! We found several restaurants by the water that specialized in seafood and ate a three course meal including mussels that were to die for, tasty salmon, ice cream, bread, and sangria (which is even cheaper than water in most parts of Spain). The food was so good and gave us a bit of energy to keep exploring! Next, we headed to the Picasso Museum, which houses more of his early works than anywhere else in the world. Picasso was born and raised in Barcelona, so many of his early paintings (around age 5-14) depict things that we had seen in Barcelona or were named after places in Barcelona, so that was neat. The most amazing thing about the Picasso Museum was looking at some of those early year pictures – he was painting full scenes and portraits of professional quality when he was only 7 years old. It was fascinating to see that this amazing ability at such an early age is probably part of what pushed him to reach farther into the abstract painting styles, because he has already mastered capturing real life. The paintings were amazing and I especially enjoyed one series of paintings (I think 40+) Picasso did using Van Gogh’s La
as inspiration. Picasso took elements of Van Gogh’s painting of a drawing room and broke them into smaller pieces or recreated the entire scene in a cubist manner. It was really interesting to see how many different paintings were produced from the same stimuli. After the Picasso Museum, we wandered around the Barrio Gotico, where many of the famous older buildings and churches are. My favorite tidbit of information was that we were able to see one church in which Christopher Columbus received his blessing to set out on his explorations (that would eventually lead to America). Incidentally, there is also a huge statue of Columbus (Cristobol Colon, in Spanish) near the harbor that is supposedly the exact spot from which his boat first sailed. Barcelonans are very proud of these two famous men and you can find Picasso or Columbus merchandise around every corner.
The rest of the night consisted of wandering around the streets and tasting different foods – two of my favorite things to do! We didn’t get quite enough time to explore the streets before all the small shops and restaurants closed down, but that is why I am going back! We had heard from a friend’s friend about an Ice Bar in Barcelona that was supposedly made entirely of ice: the cups, the ceilings, walls, seats, etc! We tried to go check it our but there was a waiting list for about an hour and a half so we decided to hop next door to another groovin’ bar and dance the night away there instead. We had a lot of fun and even ran across the beach to stick our toes in the FREEZING cold water, just to say we touched the ocean while we were there. Girl’s dancing nights are always the best, although I am planning on tying to go back and visit this ice bar…if there is a waiting list that long, it has to be pretty neat inside!
In the morning it was up-and-at-‘em for a tour around Monjuic and the site of the 1992 Olympic Stadium. The stadium itself was closed because it was Sunday (and EVERYTHING is closed on Sunday here…gas stations, bread shops, grocery stores, and malls included) but we were able to walk around and see it and explore several gorgeous parks around the stadium. After that, we visited the Modern Art Museum, which was interesting – but after Picasso, well, it just doesn’t seem that much like art. It was interesting to see, but I think Modern/Contemporary Art is just not my cup of tea. Unfortunately, at the art museum, the dreaded pickpocket warning came true and one of the girls one our tour was robbed, so they had to spend the rest of the day canceling credits cards, etc. So, wear a body strap on our purse, hook it to your belt, and always keep your hand on the zipper! One of the best parts of the trip for me was wandering around Las Ramblas (the main street cutting through the old part of the city) where clowns, animated “statues,” and musicians showed off their talents to the crowds of people that come to walk on Sunday afternoons. It was so refreshing to be able to meander through small booths and take time to look at sidewalk paintings or stare at the “statues” and wonder how they hold so still. I love being able to soak up a city like this, and I feel like this in particular is why I want to return to Barcelona. Just to be able to really drink up more of the feel of the city, not necessarily to view more famous sites. All in all, a worthwhile trip, but like I said, if you only plan a few days, you will already be plotting to come back at your earliest convenience!
I know there are a lot of pictures of this one – but I just couldn’t decide which ones to put in!
