Advertisement
Published: July 22nd 2009
Edit Blog Post
Barcelona by Night
The view after our hike to our first hostel It is crazy to think, my last weekend excursion of my summer is wrapped up and done. All that is left is 3 measly finals and a paper!
A grand finale it was. The girls and I headed to Barcelona for our final getaway. I thought it was impossible to beat all the awesome cities I have traveled to these last 2 months, but honestly and truly; Barcelona is at the tip top of my list of favorite places! The city is jam packed with unique architecture, COLOR, and energy.
We FLEW out on a Friday evening. (What a nice change from all the buses we have been traveling on!) The tickets were actually way cheaper off Ryanair than any bus company-and we got there in about half the time!
It was a beautiful flight in... flying over the green mountainous land and crystal blue mar! Our only goal for the night was to locate the hostel. We had chosen one farther out from the city since we were getting in pretty late, and wanted to save some money. It ended up being about a 2 mile hike UP HILL. To look back over my shoulder and see the
Taking a breather
Kate catching her breath after the walk lights of Barcelona was remarkable! It made the huffin and puffin just a LITTLE more worth it.
Saturday we hit the city for the sights! We began a walking tour of buildings designed by the famous architect from Barcelona, Antoni Gaudi. The first was The Sagrada Família. This is an unfinished masterpiece by Gaudi. There is only 8 of the 18 planned towers built, and there is not even an inside to the place. They plan to have it done by 2026-I learned in my "Let's Go" travel book. After seeing how massive it is, and how much work they still have to do-they better get a going! 😊 It was beautiful and had so much character including fruit on top of the towers!
We continued along to my next favorite-Casa Milá-this building was designed to look like ocean waves and seaweed! I felt like these buildings could be the influence of the next Disney Movie! They were so cute!
In the afternoon as we sat for a rest in the "Parc de La Ciutadella" and looked at the map. We each picked one thing we wanted to see that afternoon. They are as follows:
Emily: The Mammoth
Sag. Fam.
It was too big to capture in one photo Statue-which was exactly what was-a large mammoth sculpture in the middle of a park. Kinda random-but we got a good laugh out of it.
Natalie: Placa Reial (also known as Plaza Real) This was a beautiful plaza about half the size of the Plaza Mayor in Madrid. We sat on the fountain there for awhile and watched a very impressive group of Moroccan gymnasts do hand stands, back hand springs, and flips in the air!
Kate: The Cathedral and fish market: We did not tour the actual cathedral, but appreciated the gothic architecture from outside! The market we went to was mostly fish, but also had stands of the most bright and colorful fruit, candy, and even a cute little egg stand!
Me: Museu de la Xocolata (CHOCOLATE MUSEUM!) This place was AWESOME! Our ticket through the exhibit was even a piece of chocolate! There were tons and tons of sculptures all made and carved out of chocolate! Leave it to 4 girls to find and tour the only chocolate museum in Spain! 😊
We then made the trek down "Las Ramblas." This is the street Barcelona is known for. It is an extra wide sidewalk
peppered with little shops of flowers, animals, and souvenirs. People are dressed in the most RANDOM attire trying to make some extra money. Some of them really get personal with you too! I was looking down at some postcards when I looked up and there was this large clown right in my face and it made a high pitch squeak at that very moment-took me by surprise to say it lightly, and my arms went up and I screamed like I was getting mugged. A TAD embarrassing-especially when I found out later, when I had thrown my arms in the air, I accidently punched Kate in the nose!
Sunday brought more relaxing beach time. Yes, Barcelona is on the Mediterranean Sea and has a lovely beachfront-Can this city GET any better!?!? We only had a half day, since we had to catch our flight back to Granada.
I don't know if anyone noticed, the names of the parks, and buildings and such were a little different than the regular Spanish. In Barcelona, they speak Catalan! It is really similar to the spanish I have been learning-but it has the different characteristics, which was really fun trying to decipher.
Is that fruit?
Fruit on top of the towers It took a lot for me to get on the plane to return back to Granada (I do still LOVE Granada) But part of my heart is left in Barcelona-and I am still pondering, what animated character I could become and what talent could I perform on Las Ramblas!?!? 😊
Besos!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.152s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 10; qc: 46; dbt: 0.1066s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb