Barcelona, lovingly nicknamed Barça: a beautiful bay-side city known for its eclectic, artsy aires, fresh seafood, and historical feisty spirit of independence. Such was the hype going into this trip, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. I’ve wanted to go to Barcelona for years–back when I was little and heard my grandmother gush about Gaudí’s architecture and the clear crystal ocean and the swirl of dozens of languages being spoken all at once all the time in the streets–and even considered studying abroad there instead of Madrid, but the fact that Spanish is not THE salient language spoken, as well as the high cost of living, turned me off from it. Still, I knew I would make the trip at least once from the capital to the coast, and may well make it again before leaving Europe, I enjoyed it so much.
Note for the interested: I went (with Alexa, who needs no introduction, and our friend/the butt of all jokes/fellow Tulanian Griffin) through a program called CityLife Madrid. CityLife organizes a bunch of activities in Madrid and also arranges student trips outside of Madrid, acting as more or less a means for foreign students in the city to travel in nearby cities/countries without breaking the bank while still enjoying the luxury of a planned trip, the headaches of transportation and arrangements all dealt with by the program. Bright and early at 8 am on Friday, Alexa and I left our homestay and metroed to Moncloa to meet up with the bus. The ride was a stiff 8 hours, but I’m a pretty good traveler–all those bus rides on Fridays in high school for marching band to get to and from football games and out-of-town competitions paid off, I guess. Alexa and I stowed away in our seats, popped in earbuds, and bobbed to tunes all the way there.
Finally, around 5 pm, we crossed over the mountainside and hopped off the bus, stiff but eager to explore. Our hostel was a block off of Las Ramblas, a lovely (if touristy) tree-lined street full of vendors, outdoor cafés, and, unfortunately, pick-pockets… Indeed, pick-pocketing in Barcelona is even more of a problem than in Madrid, likely due to the large number of foreign tourists that are constantly flooding the city. Thankfully, none of our belongings fell pray to wandering hands during this trip, although Alexa did catch a teen trying to snitch something from my backpack during one of our trips through the metro, but quickly thwarted him like a badass Texan should.
Las Ramblas
We strolled along Las Ramblas for a good while, enjoying the city’s coastal climate and the general hustle-n-bustle, but Alexa, always the planner, had already scoped out our next target: La Boquería del Mercat de Sant Josep, an open-air market similar to San Miguel (see previous post) but more grocery-like.
From stalls of chocolate-covered morsels…
check the ‘sardines’…
…to mountains of candy…
the little fried egg chewies… CRACKED me up (someone stop me)
…to mountains of fresh produce…
…but in the end, we stuck to our favorite European indulgence, dulce de leche gelato (it’s always the best flavor, everywhere):
Gelat at the Mercat
(And, like always, this website ends up becoming a food blog. Sigh.)
But we did more than just eat! After the Mercat, we wandered into the nearby Gothic quarter, and came upon this glorious cathedral (Spain is just chock full of ’em):
La Catedral de Barcelona
*breathes heavily* THE DETAILS
El interior de la catedral (so very, very vaulted and so very, very Gothic)
We left the cathedral and meandered, catching sight of the Catalunian flags more times than I could count. There’s been a big furor recently over the situation of Cataluña’s bid for independence–some say it’s coming from a legitimate cultural and linguistic divide (Catalans speak Catalan and don’t identify themselves as particularly Spanish), others that it is a power move to push the Spanish government to provide the province with special economic privileges–but in any case, in typical Spanish style, the Catalan people are very involved and seem to have strong opinions about their unique sitch. If I had to compare it to the States, it’s kinda like how Texas is its own nation, except that Cataluña is actually quite serious in their vie for secession.
The Catalan flag flies proudly on a government building.
As well, Catalans identify as more progressive and forward-thinking than the rest of Spain, and have already outlawed the dubious practice known as las corridas de toros (bull-fighting) for which Spain is so renowned.
We continued to wander as the night darkened…
…and ended up back at Las Ramblas for some Cava Sangria, a specialty of Barcelona that we knew we had to try:
HUGE and DELICIOUS but sadly much more expensive than the drinks in Madrid (these were a whopping 12 Euros each, yeesh)
*cava sangria is my happy place*
The next morning, Alexa and I managed to wake up bright and early for our 9:30 am visit to the magnificent Sagrada Família (which, by the way, I would recommend buying tickets in advance for, as well as for Park Güell. Definitely cuts some pain out of the process.) For our stay in Barcelona, we decided to buy a 10 trip pass for the metro and split it; I definitely still think that was the move, but I have to say, the Madrid metro really kicks the Barcelona metro out of the ballpark. It’s so much more logically organized and user-friendly. In fact, when we first entered the Barcelona metro, we realized we were on the wrong side of the train–which would go in the opposite direction of our destination–and shrugged it off as no big deal, only to realize that in order to get to the correct track, we had to exit the metro entirely and enter again (and PAY again) on the other side. GRRR. Definitely glad that the Madrid metro is 1000x better.
We finally figured out our way and stepped out to this sight, the façade of the cathedral:
Note the continuing construction.
Some intro for this place: La Sagrada Família is Gaudí’s most famous work, and yet is still under construction–in fact, construction started as early as 1882, but various setbacks, including fires and lack of funding due to the finances for the project coming solely from donations, have pushed the finish date further and further into the future. It’s said that the church will be finished by 2026–the 100th anniversary of Gaudí’s death– but according to various infomatics I read, that’s a hopeful aspiration at best. It probably won’t be finished until well after 2030. But despite not being a ‘complete’ work, it still struck me as one of the most beautiful pieces of human craft that I have ever been witness to.
Organic forms twisting towards the infinite.
Check the coral-like growths of stone… Gaudí is famous for his natural-looking constructions.
Once we entered, Alexa and I broke off to admire the interior in solitude (she cried. I came close.)
Vidriera (stained glass) on both sides of the cathedral.
I’ve always been a sucker for stained glass, I’ll say that much.
Like lumps on a tree, or joints…
We exited to the other side to admire the opposite entrance, which depicts Jesus’ life through a series of sculptures:
I’m a secular person, but this experience was nothing short of numinous. The space itself reminds one of walking through some sort of sacred forest sculpted of stone and stained glass.
Rejuvenated, we met up with the rest of the group to take an included guided bus/walking tour of the city:
see: goobing hard
We went to the top of Montjuïc (which, incidentally, means “Jew Mountain”–apparently there was a Jewish burial site here back in the day?), which is one of two mountains that cradle Barcelona by the sea. Some nice pics:
View of the port from Montjuïc.
fwands!
We bused back down the mountain and ended up near the pier itself:
Casual Lichtenstein sculpture en route to the beach. This city is FULL of art out its ears.
They let us off for about half an hour at the beach and I was happy as a lil clam:
First time sticking these toes in the Mediterranean Sea. Sublime!
Wish we could have spent a whole day by the ocean. Well, I’ll be returning for sure one day, so I’ll save it for then…
The next day, our last full day, we got up early and headed for Parque Güell, a huge public park that Gaudí also designed much of. It’s situated on the mountain opposite to Montjuïc, so the whole thing was quite a hike, but certainly worth the physical strain (although it doesn’t help that I am painfully un-athletic):
Gaudí’s famous benches at Parque Güell
Another day, another mountain, another cityscape
climbed to the highest peak of the tallest mountain, still remains completely unathletic-looking
There’s even a museum within the park dedicated to Gaudí, and the building in which it is situated is in fact his old home.
We came down the mountain and returned to our hostel, but not before grabbing some cheesy (but scarily accurate) caricature portraits from an artist on Las Ramblas:
“sweet & sassy”
That afternoon, despite being dead tired as the trip neared its final day, we managed to get out and wander the streets of Barça for a solid 3 hours:
And, plot twist, hit up yet ANOTHER cathedral:
La Esglesia de Santa María del Mar
La Esglesia de Santa María del Mar, interior
La Esglesia de Santa María del Mar, the rose window
“but wait–that’s not gothic?!” Surprising Modernist stained glass in La Esglesia de Santa María del Mar
A fancy theatre with cool Art Deco architecture
We also managed to make it to Passeig de Gracia to check out two more of Gaudí’s famous works: Casa Batlló…
looks like…bones?
…as well as La Pedrera:
Thus ended our trip to lovely Barça. As well, it was my first hostel experience; not much I’ve got to say good or bad except for the breakfast wasn’t really a breakfast, always ALWAYS bring shower shoes, and I should never have the top bunk because I cannot climb things to save my life. Rooming with these two goons was fun, even if I kinda wanted to strangle them at some points…
The last day of our trip, we made the trek back to Madrid, but not before stopping at the Fiesta del Pilar (El Pilar Festival) held in Zaragoza, a town halfway between Madrid and Barcelona.
Crossing the Río Ebro to get to the old quarter of Zaragoza; the Basílica del Pilar holds vigil over the waters.
The festival was half-carnivalesque, half cultural heritage, and a good dash of Catholicism thrown in for good measure:
Kinda set up like a fairyground, no?
The Basílica was a must-see according to guidebooks, so we made our way over, and it did not disappoint in terms of grandiosity:
We also got to see another cathedral, La Catedral de la Seo; pictures aren’t allowed, but I caught a few snaps:
The atmosphere in Zaragoza was just so much fun. Many of the townsfolk, men and women alike, were dressed in traditional Spanish garbs, adding an old-world charm:
The epicenter of the festivities
You could say we ~Zaragozamos~ the festival… (Spanish pun, sorry mom). We made it home to Madrid late that night, exhausted but satisfied with a holiday weekend well-spent.
In other news, I have officially found tickets for the Real Madrid-FCBarcelona match that will be held at Bernabeu stadium in November in Madrid. Woot! I know little to nothing about soccer, so I feel almost too detached to be able to choose which team to root for–really, I feel torn: support my home team, or Barça, who is objectively better?–yet I’m sure the energy of the game itself will overcome whatever lack of knowledge there is on my part. Let’s just pray that I don’t get trampled.
Off to Morocco now, kids. Hasta la próxima~
rubiafromamerica 