Barcelona

I spent most of my second, two-week break in Barcelona with Dad. We met in the train station (he flew in from New York and I took the train from Montpellier) and walked a few blocks to our first Air BnB apartment. Dad recently discovered airbnb on a trip to Colorado. It's basically like couch surfers but more credible. People all over the world share their apartments/houses/guest houses with other people through the website for varying amounts of time.


Our first night we stayed with Enrique. We barely even met him, as he had to go to work pretty soon after we got there, but it we had a nice room, and a shared bathroom and kitchen with our host. After we settled in, we went for a walk around the neighborhood to explore a little bit, eventually finding some Paella and tapas for dinner (2 most popular dishes in Barcelona).


The next morning after a nice sleep-in (Dad was still on EST) we found our way to Klaudia's our Airbnb host for the rest of our stay. She is a young Polish woman who lives with her boyfriend and teaches English in Barcelona. They have a fairly big apartment, and discovered airbnb as a way to make some extra money and use the extra bedrooms in their house. It was very nice, and had a wonderful terrace off the back that had just finished renovations the day we got there.


For our first real afternoon, Klaudia sent us for a walk in a park nearby, which was really beautiful. Then we walked along the beach for awhile, although we were followed by a very ominous looking thundercloud, so we decided to go find some food and shelter. 

We had pasta and pizza for dinner, needing some comfort food, I guess and it never rained. We were concerned about the dark clouds, so we asked the waiter to put us under a roof, instead of out in the middle of the square, but the clouds never hit the courtyard where we were and it stayed sunny the whole time. 


After dinner we went up to the top of the Christopher Columbus tower that gave us a view from up high of all of Barcelona. We also went to the mall that is in the middle of the harbor. It's amazing how much has been built up right on top of the harbor!


For our second day, Klaudia suggested we take the funicular/gondola/cable car from the harbor to another park up on a hill. We waited for awhile in line, but eventually got up in the tower to another amazing view and then in the little car that went on a cable across the city. We arrived for a small lunch of Paella and wandered around what we figured out was the old Olympic park from when Barcelona held the Olympics in 1992. At the edge of the park is a huge art museum that almost looks like a mosque from far away, with big domed roofs. The architecture of the museum was almost as amazing as the art inside it. 

Kaudia had told us about the "magic" fountains below the art museum, but we didn't totally understand what she meant until we were walking away. Right around 7pm, a long row of fountains started to turn on one by one. Then larger fountains up closer to the museum turned on and eventually the giant one in the middle started. They played a montage of Disney songs as the fountain put on a show and there were hundreds of people watching. 

After we watched two rounds of the fountain (the show goes off every half an hour starting at 7) we went in search of food. We found some yummy tapas, and then headed back towards the fountain, hoping that once it got dark the show would include lights. Unfortunately, on our way there we got caught in a torrential downpour and got stuck in a mall. We tried to wait it out, but eventually decided just to head back to Klaudia's instead.


The next day was our Gaudi day. Gaudi is a spanish architect, inspired by nature, who designed some really wonderful and totally original buildings in Barcelona. First we went to the park where he lived for part of his life and designed some buildings, bridges and other structures. It rained here too, but we found refuge and ate lunch while we waited for it to stop. It's pretty hard to describe the Gaudi park without actually going there, so here are a few pictures that don't even do it justice:

After Gaudi's park, we went to see his incredible cathedral, the Sagrada Familia. This cathedral is so complicated that it is still under construction. It has 18 towers, and is covered with stained glass and facades so intricate that it's understandable why its construction has taken so long. We spent a really long time inside, just staring up at the ceiling. It is seriously amazing, and again, photos don't do it justice, but here are a few. The pillars are designed to look like trees.

For our last full day in Barcelona, we took a train outside of the city to Montserrat, which means serrated mountain. We took a tiny train up the side of the mountain (it got really steep at the end) to where there is a big monastery that has become sort of a small touristy town at the top of a mountain. We followed a hiking trail to one of the many chapels that are scattered throughout the mountains and visited the cathedral in the monastery as well. It was nice to get away from city life and tons of tourists, and the views were stunning. Although it wasn't warm, the sun did stay out for the whole day, so we warmed up hiking up and down the slopes of the mountains. 

The next morning, before heading out on the train, we stopped at a market down the street and wandered around to all the stalls. We bought a few things, but were mostly just there for the experience. So many smells and colors and different amazingly fresh looking foods. That's something I will seriously miss when I go home. Markets in the states just aren't the same...