Hola Barcelona, España

When hoping on board my flight to Spain, I was pretty excited. I really wanted to just lay on the beach and relax all week. Not that the rest of the places I've gone to were not relaxing (by no means whatsoever!), this time it was spring break. A much deserved break if you ask me! Sure I am in Europe, but my entire time is not just traveling. I do have school too. Once we landed in Spain I really had no idea what to expect. Sure I'd heard of all of the traditional stuff about the culture, such as the bull fighting and what not, but I really had no idea what I actually wanted to do in Barcelona other than relax on the beach.

 This was however my very first time touching the Mediterranean Sea! As to be expected the first couple of days were beach days. We sat on the beach and relaxed, well for as much as you could relax. On this beach there were people all over waiting to sell you something, anywhere from a hair wrap to a massage. This activity is also illegal in Spain because these people aren't paying for the right to do business there, and frankly its really annoying. Most of the time I just told them "No hablo español"! Some were persistent though. I just don't want people getting in my face and selling me things on the beach.. not relaxing if you ask me! Aside from that the view was spectacular, and although I was expecting it to be in the 70 degree range I still got burnt the first day. It was hard to get much color when it is in the low 60s and you are wearing a towel around you to stay warm...

 The second evening we were informed about this so called 'Magic Fountain'. Now because we went at night I couldn't tell you exactly what this was in front of but it was pretty neat to see. I have to admit I was a bit skeptical seeing as I have seen my fair share of musical fountain shows. The best thing about this was that you could get pretty close to the fountain, other than that it changed to some very nice colors and did some intricate swirls with the water, but other than that I was not necessarily in awe by it. It was cool, but there is one in Grand Haven! The back drop was pretty neat though and my picture doesn't do it justice.

 After the "15 min walk" from where we were staying to the Magic Fountain my legs were so sore and tired. From all of the delicious foods I end up eating I walk it all off everyday because to get ANYWHERE it takes over half an hour! The metro in Barcelona was pretty swift, they had it down to a science. You would scan your ticket and wait while there would be a timer counting down to the next metro that would arrive and they were so accurate too it blew my mind! Something else that was nice was the cheap food, the steak in the picture on the right with all of the patatas bravas (fries basically) was only around $10! And it was seasoned so well too!

On the beach! Deceiving picture because it was maybe only 63 degrees!

 Barcelona is also a huge sea port so the marina was so large there were over 300 ships in one specific area! There were so many random things that we happened across

Now I don't know if this is just a Barcelona thing or if it is done in all of Spain, but there are these meal items called 'Tapas'. They are really just small appetizers and they are pretty good. What is interesting is that there are restaurants all over the place that sell only appetizers. Like in the picture on the right, these are 4 cheeses tapas and a Spanish omelet tapas. They are very good and filling but it is interesting to me that they have entire restaurants devoted to this kind of thing.

Surf lessons on the beach

The giant marina!

The boats made me think of the marinas from back home and how I miss being on the water. Also the surfing lessons were pretty entertaining to watch on a chilly beach day!

Walking around and taking tours there was something that I was told. All of the palm trees in Barcelona were imported from Hawaii and all the sand was imported from Egypt! None of that was native to the area because it is not tropical even though the plants grow fine here. This upgrade to the landscape happened in the early 1990's for the preparation of the 1992 Olympics in which the water was not a huge attraction before but now brings in millions of people each summer.

After walking around and becoming extremely hungry the obvious choice was a traditional Spanish seafood restaurant where I ate this dish called 'Paella', which is a shorten version of two Spanish words that mean "For Her". It is a combination of all types of seafood from lobster to shrimp to some other types of fish. I got the version with noodles instead of rice but it was still just as Delicious! Of course no matter how hard I will try and make all of these foods I eat, they will never taste just right because I believe that it is the atmosphere that goes with the food and not just the food itself.

The next morning I was instructed to visit the largest and most famous market in Barcelona. Which after going I can understand why. It was huge and there was so much fresh food and drinks. There was also sit down places to eat and chocolates. It is hard to describe how massive this place was and it was all open air which made it even more fun to walk around. All the food was like something offered at a Spanish restaurant but 200 times better.

Fresh eggs

Chocolates

Popsicles made from fruit juice

The next thing that was randomly stumbled upon was the free walking tour of Barcelona. This was probably my favorite part of the trip because I love to learn about the history of all of these different places that I am able to visit. This picture to the right is of Placa de Sant Felip Neri which is a plaza with a lot of history. Currently there is a school there but just under 100 years ago there were bloody battles and other tragedies from just prior to World War 2. The holes in the walls were from gun fire and bombing strikes.

The Church above and the picture with the "X" in front are both for the patron saint of Barcelona, Saint Eulalia. She was a proclaimed christian back in the time of the Romans before they had converted to Christianity themselves. So her acts were considered "crimes" and after the Romans tried killing her several times and finally succeeding she became a martyr.  It was very interesting to see these places and how much the people still pay their tribute to her.

This picture to the right was where King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella sat when receiving people to their court. It is also where Christopher Columbus presented all of the treasures to them he had brought back from the New World. Barcelona and the whole region or state of Catalonia have a very interesting history. They are currently the people that want to become their own nation apart from Spain. The Catalan people, as are called the people from Catalonia, have a much more French than Spanish background. They also have their own Catalan language, which is surprising it is still around seeing as it was suppressed for the longest time, and anyone caught speaking Catalan was killed. This region had largely remained untouched for the majority of its history but right before World War 2 during the Spanish Civil war Francisco Franco came to power in 1936 with the help of Hitler and Mussolini. Germany and Italy helped him to secure his position over Catalonia and putting him in charge. He brought back the monarchy and made himself king. Also because the Catalan people had resisted him so hard for so long he despised them and took away their language and their culture. He died in 1975 and was replaced by Juan Carlos who is still considered the King of Spain but allows for democratic elections and instilled more of a republic than Franco would have liked if he were alive. Also the culture and language of Catalonia was still intact. Since Spain has filed bankruptcy the percent of the Catalan population that wanted to become their own country jumped from around 20% to 50% in one year. It hasn't happened yet but there is always a possibility that there will be a new nation of Catalonia.

The flag in the picture on the right is not the Spanish Flag. This is the flag of Catalonia and it is seen flying much more often than the Spanish flag. The four red stripes are for the founder of the area Wilfred the Harry.

Political building with 3 flags. Catalonia, Spanish, and Barcelona flag. The Spanish flag is there only because the people have to put it there. 

Something else that was interesting to the culture was that they have these random people pyramids called Homenatge Als Castellers. They basically build a human pyramid that reaches over 20 ft. high! The youngest members are near the top because they are the smallest, and for a visual of how tall these are the picture below illustrates a little bit how tall these human pyramids get. Also, people have fallen and died so now they are required to wear helmets when this takes place.

Some of the streets had so many plants overhanging the balconies that it looked somewhat like a fairy tale. The architecture on the buildings was amazing too, Barcelona was a playground for artists like Gaudi and Picasso so it is easy to see why most of the buildings have random ornate sides to them.

Something that they were very proud of was their soccer team and surprisingly there was a player named David Villa!

The coolest thing that I got to see on this trip was the Sagrada Familia designed by Gaudi. It currently is still not finished, and they expect to finish it by 2030! Gaudi never saw more than one of the spires completed which to me is insane. This building is huge and was designed to be seen from the sea when sailors came into port. Everything that Gaudi did had a meaning, this is a church on the inside but I am not exactly sure what a lot of the things inside of it represent. I do know that he took a lot of his architectural designs from nature using the trees as foundation and the honeycombs of bees as other features like the glass windows. The prettiest feature was most definitely the glass windows, which also aren't finished. The guy that is making them started in 1992 and he is still not done! But what he has finished thus far is spectacular. Gaudi designed it so that there would be enough lighting without artificial light.

The next several pictures are of the Sagrada Familia and I hope that they somewhat capture what a marvel it is to see. The line for this wrapped around the entire street!

Reflection of the stained glass on the organ

Inside the Sagrada Familia

Atop the Sagrada Familia

A view of Barcelona

The crazy stairs descending down from the top of the Sagrada Familia. They were very interesting to walk down and I was definitely clutching the wall the whole walk down.

Stumbled upon some more random works of "art" or so many street artists would have you believe. A lot of it is very cool to see and most of it just doesn't make sense to me. Maybe that is why my major is not art!

A house by Gaudi, his buildings look more like a fantasy than real life. It is almost like stepping into the Cinderella story the way they look. Or like falling down the rabbit hole with Alice and Wonderland.

The way to get on the planes is strange. You have to walk out on the tarmac in order to board. And this airline is ridiculous with the way they want you to put your stuff on board and they charge ridiculous fees for everything. Thank goodness it was the only time I am flying with them!