BARCELONA

Last weekend we spent four days (or actually only two, if you count Friday and Monday as two days of traveling for twelve hours on the bus!) in Barcelona and it was amazing! So far I think it is my favorite city, architecturally. We spent the first day seeing the sights, one of which was the Parc Guell, which was designed by Guadi. I can’t really explain it, but it was full of colorful ceramic tiles, rooftops decorated in all sorts of pastel cracked ceramic, and architecture made out of the existing nature. Gaudi was apparently convinced that nature should not be disturbed, but should be built around; therefore, so much of the park is molded out of the stone that already existed there. The park is situated on a high point in the city, so standing at the highest point we were able to see the sun setting over the palm trees of downtown Barcelona, which was insanely beautiful.

On day two, we visited Gaudi’s famous cathedral situated in the center of the city, La Sagrada Familia. My friend Hunter and I decided that the outside of the cathedral sort of resembles one of those drip castles that you make at the beach (although I doubt that Gaudi meant it to look like that haha). The most interesting thing about La Sagrada Famillia is that it actually isn’t that old, compared to so many of the others built in Europe. Gaudi designed and built it in the late 1800s-early 1900s, so the inside of the Cathedral looks very new.
We also went to the Picasso museum and saw authentic Picasso paintings that were incredible to see. I can't say that I'm much a fan of his cubism, but it was amazing to see the wall-sized paintings that he painted at the mere age of 15. Both the Blue and Rose period were lovely, as well.

Later on, a small group of us roamed the inner streets of Barcelona and found the Cathedral of Barcelona, which was much older; I actually liked this second one better because it seemed as though it had weathered so many storms and had lasted through so much history.

At night we walked down Las Ramblas, a walking street that stretches from the pier inward. Along this street are tons of bars, restaurants and street performers, which were fun to see. We ended up in a tiny bar off the beaten track that had the theme of a rainforest (but was actually really cool, nothing like the cheesy rainforest café that used to be in the mall). We ordered a couple rounds of Sangria (which was the best that I’ve had since I’ve been here) and practiced speaking in Spanish to each other, I think we’re starting to get really good!

We leave for Lisbon, Portugal in less than 24 hours, so more to come after that! ¡Ciao!