Bienvenidos a Barcelona...

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On Thursday we flew out of Granada up to Northeastern Spain to visit Barcelona! It is very different from every other Spanish city we have visited. First of all, the common language there is not Spanish, but Catalan (a combination of French and Spanish of some sort). It seemed odd to be in Spain and not speaking Spanish!

Our first glimps of Barcelona was walking down the popular "Las Ramblas" street. This street was unlike anything we've experienced before.... it was an outlet for human talent. Apparently this is where the art of street performing began and they were sure creative. Ranging from a guy dresesd as a toilet to a lady as a baby in a crib. Dancers, musicians, even magicians all came out at some point to entertain and try to make a euro or two. Quite entertaining and great people watching/ culture observing to say the least. Then you have the random pet shop set up on the street where you can buy your souvenier bird or hamster. Not sure how we'd get that home. My favorite part was all the flower and plant shops. And at the end of the street is the great Meditteranean Sea! We took time one afternoon to cool down and hit up the beach, which was packed. Taking a siesta in the sand on the beach is a treat! While there we also went to their big street market where locals can buy all their fresh produce, meats, fish and skinned pigs for the day. We enjoyed some fresh fruit and smoothies from the market.


Barcelona is known for the many buildings designed by the famous architect, Antoni Gaudi. The most impressive being 'La Sagrada Famliia' which is a church that was started 119 years ago and is still being worked on today. It is the most visited construction site in Europe! The target completion date is 2026 but they still have 10 more big towers to add to the top. It seemed pretty impressive to us as is! Gaudi's buildings definitely stood out around the city as they are not your typical buildings... one was desinged to look like waves and seaweed, no corners, all curves, and very colorful. We were real glad we could stop here on our way East!

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