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Published: April 2nd 2007
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After frantically writing a total of 13,000 words in about two weeks, I turned in 5 final papers and officially ended my term at NUI Galway. Thus, it was time to celebrate with our three week Easter break whirlwind tour of Spain, Morocco, and Portugal. On March 30th four of my friends and I caught a Ryanair flight into Barcelona (well. . . Girona, technically, since Ryanair doesn’t exactly fly into the most convenient airports). After catching a bus from the airport to the city center and then navigating the metro system, we made it to the Sant Jordi Diagonal Hostel. I was quite pleased to find that my Rick Steves’ Spain guidebook, which my brother had purchased from the British Amazon and had mailed to the hostel, was waiting at the reception desk when we checked in. If you were wondering where my unhealthy obsession with Rick Steves comes from, look no further than my amazing brother (the one who infected me with the European variety of the travel bug).
On Saturday we headed directly to the famous Las Ramblas. The avenue is, as described, quite full of energy and color . . . there are a few
too many tourist kiosks at this point, but I suppose that’s kind of unavoidable. We rambled along, stopping whenever one of the many “shops” selling pets or flowers, or one of the street mimes caught our attention. My favorite section of Las Ramblas, though, is La Boqueria (the food market set up at #91). I enjoy markets in general because of the opportunity to wander and do a little people watching (especially since there are always locals in such situations). But this one was especially exciting because of its size and the great variety of produce, seafood, fresh meat, and other yummy food stands. There was a great bustling energy inside the place. I really enjoyed just strolling along the aisles, taking pictures of everything the market had to offer . . . and sampling the food, of course. Food was much cheaper there than in supermarkets, and even supermarkets in Spain are cheaper than the one’s in Ireland, so we were set. The main thing I kept trying in as many forms as I could was this one fuchsia fruit called Pitahaya (which is apparently dragon fruit, but we didn’t discover this until the last day). I got it
La Boqueria
Having a pitahaya and cocunut smoothie - yummy in smoothie form mixed with coconut . . . amazing. After wandering a little more down Las Ramblas (and seeing some pretty impressive breakdancing along the way) we moved on to Gaudi’s Parc Güell. Upon arriving I felt like I was entering a world of gingerbread houses - the park is quite unique with lovely mosaic work. There were also a few musicians who had set up around the park and added to the atmosphere. We spent about an hour walking around, looking at all the ways Gaudi had created the space. From there we continued the Gaudi tour with the Sagrada Familia. We were a little bummed upon arriving to learn that the elevators were closed and we couldn’t get to the towers, so we just got to see the famous cathedral from ground level. The architecture/decoration of the Sagrada Familia seemed much different in person that I expected; the pictures make it seem just plain “gaudy,” but up close the style is much more complex. I would need my architect sister to explain the movement that inspired this work, but (from an untrained person’s perspective) the angles Gaudi used and the inclusion of windows and natural elements were
very interesting and unique. Personally though, my favorite part was all the scaffolding . . . haha, just kidding. Maybe it will actually get finished in my lifetime. Who knows . . .
Sunday happened to be Palm Sunday, so we got to experience the beginning of holy week in Barcelona. We had gathered outside Barcelona’s Cathedral for the purpose of witnessing the Sardana Dance (which locals gather to participate in every Sunday at noon) and ended up witnessing quite a bit more of the local culture. The plaza was bustling with people - everyone had bought these elaborate palm creations for themselves and their children, and families were just milling around taking pictures. We popped inside the cathedral for a moment and they were having quite a large Palm Sunday mass with people backed up all the way to the door. The Sardana Dance, a traditional dance of Catalunya, began as expected, prompted by a band that had set up shop on the Cathedral steps. My friends and I watched for a minute before my happy feet couldn’t hold it any longer and I hopped in, dragging Jenny with me. Thankfully they’re not too picky about who joins.
The dance itself is pretty simple with a series of point and steps and a little bit of grapevine thrown in . . . however, once the pace picked up it wasn’t just my red hair that pinpointed me as a tourist. By the end of it I was getting the hang of it . . . sort of. I probably looked ridiculous, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. After briefly getting caught up in a “conversation” with two old Spanish men who apparently thought we had excellent Spanish (and who Jenny and I were convinced were trying to contract us for a professional dancing show), we moved on to the Picasso Museum. We were quite happy to discover that the museum was free since it was the first Sunday of the month, so we got to see the display of Picasso’s earlier work for a very reasonable price. After seeing it, I was glad that I hadn’t paid. It was interesting and worthwhile - I definitely can’t argue that point - and it was kind of exciting to see that even Picasso and trouble with proportion as a young artist. However, it seemed like the museum existed to show his
artistic evolution rather than to display truly inspired artwork (I guess most of those pieces are on display in other places around the world). I’m also not that much of a Picasso fan, so that makes me a little biased to begin with. However, Picasso’s “dirty room” (as Emily coined it) did keep us amused for a little while - mostly for the purpose of watching people’s reactions when they realize just what they’re looking at. From there we grabbed some Tapas - a little more Indian inspired than Spanish, but amazing - and headed on to Gaudi’s Casa Mila. This last stop gave us a very well rounded view of Gaudi’s work because it was a building actually used for practical purposes. The audio guide was helpful, and there was a museum in the attic that explained Gaudi’s approach and style. It got a little long for me since it started to go pretty in depth with the technical aspects, but there were some things that I was very glad to know. My favorite part was the rooftop. Of course we got there to discover that it had started raining, so the view wasn’t as great, but the roof
seriously felt like a playground. We ended our day with a stop in to an English-speaking bar just off Las Ramblas. I got a little too excited to find a guy (who actually happened to be from Sweden) wearing a St. Louis Cardinals hat, and tried a little Sangria.
Overall, I’m very glad we went to Barcelona. The city definitely has pockets of immense energy and color, and lots of unique places to visit. However, as a destination it seems very centered around particular artists with particular styles. Personally, while I thought everything we saw was worthwhile, Gaudi and Picasso aren’t necessarily my cup of tea . . . so, now that I’ve seen the sites, I’m not sure I would go back. Well . . . maybe to get some fresh fruit . . . or if they finished the Sagrada Familia.
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