Blogs from Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, Europe - page 224

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Europe » Spain » Catalonia » Barcelona June 11th 2005

Went to the Sagrada Familia, via La Rambla and various stops on the Metro. Amazingly ran in to Chris from hostel in Granada, had coffee with him after wandering around the San Josef Market, fish, meat, fruit, vegetables ... heaps of variety. (However, I saw someone serving fish smoking a cigarette, don´t know if this is typical in Spain for people involved in food handling to be smoking over the food, but it puts you off a bit.) Finally got the the Sagrada Familia, 8 Euro to get into what is at a practical level is a construction site, albiet a pretty amazing one. You also get to see a museum about the Cathedral which gives you some idea of Gaudi´s vision, plans, models, etc. Will prettty amazing when it´s finished. (When I was in the ... read more
Sagrada Familia
Sagrada Familia from inside one of the towers.
Ceiling of Sagrada Familia

Europe » Spain » Catalonia » Barcelona June 11th 2005

Hi everyone! This blog is going to be short but we thought we should let you all know that we left Paris last night and took a 12 hour train ride to Barcelona, where we are now. We slept most of the trip except for when we were woken up by police entering our cabin and wrestling with some guy because he didn't have a passport! They caused quite a commotion at 5am!We're staying at the Gothic Point Hostel which seems pretty cool, but we can't check in for another hour so we're just hanging out in the lobby until then. It's really hot out already and it's still morning! We're really tired from the trip and very hot and sticky, i can't wait to use the shower! Ok, talk to you all later, bye! ~jen ... read more

Europe » Spain » Catalonia » Barcelona June 10th 2005

Well, have arrived in Barcelona after taking a 12 hour overnight train from Granada. (No idea if this is good or bad, the train did stop a few places, might have been less time on a bus, but it still would have been around 900kms by road, I guess it probably would have worked out about the same.) Sorry can´t make any comment on the Spanish countryside as it was dark and/or I was asleep. Arrived in Barcelona at about 10am, took the metro to the station nearest to the hostel, no problems, but the hostel itself was quite hard to find. Was wandering around with a map, and on two separate times two locals came up to me without being asked and pointed me in the right direction. Liking Barcelona already. Parc Güell Went for ... read more
Parc Güell
Parc Güell
Parc Güell

Europe » Spain » Catalonia » Barcelona June 9th 2005

Hello Everyone, I was delayed in making my final travel day entry due to a satellite problem with the ship's internet service. Our last day in Barcelona was very nice. We didn't arrive until 5:00p, so we had time to spend only about 6 hours in the city. Barcelona is a very populated area, there were people everywhere. I reminded me of NYC during Christmas season. The streets were filled with mostly locals, tourists (many from our ship), street performers, artists and people asking for money. An interesting and mix of people. We did some shopping in a historic district that was very nice and had dinner in an outdoor cafe. The food was not what we are used to and tasted very different and we ended up at McDonalds aferward:) We returned to the ship ... read more

Europe » Spain » Catalonia » Barcelona June 8th 2005

Pictures will be up in the next 24 hours still having technical difficulties... First, thanks so much to everyone who read our first blog and commented/sent us emails. It is always nice to hear from our friends and family while we’re abroad and we hope to put all of our pics up ASAP (we’ll post the site on the blog as soon as its up). It is now about 10:30 pm on June 7th and it seems that for the second time since our arrival in Europe, I am given time to blog looking out the windows of a train, tonight, on a 12 hour overnight journey from Barcelona to Paris. To put it simply, Barcelona was really incredible. Besides the fact that we have now both adjusted to being in Europe on our own, as ... read more

Europe » Spain » Catalonia » Barcelona June 5th 2005

Another week gone! I'm almost halfway through here in Spain, then off to Budapest and Serbia! Today I went to Parc Güell, another Gaudí endeavor. The guide book said it was a bit of a hassle to get there but when I got off the metro stop it said Parc Güell 500m. No problem right? Well it turns out its like 500 meters vertically! Not too bad but I wasn't expecting so many stairs. From the top of the hill you can see all of Barcelona and the ocean and the Sagrada Familia off in the distance, very impressive. Gaudi's assistant Joseph Maria Jujol used a lot of fragmented tiles in the landscaping, I can't really do it justice in words so let's commence with the photographs. ... read more
Cacti
La Sagrada Familia
A nice place

Europe » Spain » Catalonia » Barcelona May 26th 2005

Arrived safe and sound at 8am on Tuesday, after my first hotel train experience. The train from Paris to Barcelona took 12 hours, and I was sharing a cabin of 4 fold down bunks with 3 other gentlemen. 4 strangers in a 2x2m room, interesting experience. It wasnt bad though, I got talking to the two that spoke English and before I knew it, 3 hours had passed and it was time to kip. The only problem here was that the bed was very short, made for people 5 feet tall I guess, and when someone like me who is only 6 feet tall has his head and feet hanging off the edges, I have to feel sorry for any Dutch people that use this train. After a night of broken sleep, the train arrived in ... read more
La Sagrada Familia
Up in the tower
Mates & building

Europe » Spain » Catalonia » Barcelona May 26th 2005

Today we are in Madrid. I realized last night, on our very clean hostel bed, that this very moment I have wanted for myself for a long time now. Of course, unsure of what it will all look like, and here it is. Just like that. Madrid so far, very cool!. But before I get to Madrid. I have to tell you a few stories about Barcelona. I deeply, deeply feel in love with it. For many reasons…the first the beaches, then the food and then constant blaring of my favorite kind of music..TECHNO!!!!!!! I love it! I can’t get enough of Barcelona. Three days was such a short amount of time and leaving meant I have to get my butt in gear for school. What? Anyway, Barcelona started with the night train from Paris.. We ... read more
On our nigth train...
Oh Marcus!!!
At the end of the day.....

Europe » Spain » Catalonia » Barcelona May 13th 2005

Hey Guys, so now we are in Spain, Barcelona was fantastic. A city with a ton of history and a great culture. We stayed in cabins in a pretty interesting campground. One of the funniest parts has been the 747s flying overhead as we are literally a 90sec drive from the airport and so you have to stop your conversation every 2 mins because of the planes flying over head. Pretty funny. As well there is an interesting stench that would come and go... we were on a beach but we weren,t allowed to swim in the water... The hookers working the highway outside the campgrounds make for interesting scenery as well. Oh well we were only there two nights... There was a great store there that sold €1.90 wine which was awesome, so that and ... read more
Spain
Spain
Spain

Europe » Spain » Catalonia » Barcelona May 13th 2005

Wednesday I had some free time so I took off to La Sagrada Familia, the main attraction of Barcelona. Here's what my Lonely Planet guide has to say on the subject: If you have time to see only one sight in Barcelona, this emblem of the city, and the work to which Gaudí dedicated most of his working life, should probably be it. It takes up a whole block of l'Eixample, has its own metro station and is the most talked about and visited unfinished building site in the world. After more than 120 years, the church is still only half complete I am quoting Lonely Planet how very wanderlusty of me. Gaudí was an architect and an über-Catholic and a tortured genius. He built a lot of interesting things around Barcelona but Sagrada Familia was ... read more
Whoa.
The Passion façade
Passion Façade statues




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