As always you can find pictures of lovely Barcelona on my Picasa: Barcelona
Before launching into this post, now that I've posted a few times, I'm interested in hearing some reader feedback. Since the difference between a blog and a journal is that a blog is read by others, it matters what people want to read as much as does what I want to write. I'd like to know how I can improve what I'm currently doing now (other than actually posting these things as they happen) and what you like already. Are the posts too long? Too short? Are there things I gloss over you'd like to hear more about? Are there things I ramble on about that you don't care about? Should I post more frequently and have shorter posts (for example, dedicate posts to weekly events that might only require a paragraph) or should I stick with mostly weekly updates or emphasis on travel weekends? Would pictures in the actual body of the blog (as originally promised) help or is Picasa enough? Leave a comment on this thread to let me know how you feel.
On to Barcelona! Nothing interesting to report about the flight over except that since I got there earlier than I expected, I had it in my mind the whole time that I was early, so after a few things took longer than expected, I was shocked that I almost missed my flight, which was at 5:40, and I got to the gate at 5:35. No biggie.
I do hate travel though. Cheap airlines are great for the wallet, but they take forever when you factor in the hour or so to and from each airport to the city center. By the time I get to my destination I don't want to do much of anything, which is why it was good that I was traveling on a Thursday night this time and didn't have to do anything. One huge difference I noticed immediately was that people don't speak much English here, and if they do, they pretend they don't. My initial impression of Barcelona wasn't quite favorable (this is becoming a theme isn't it?) due to people giving me conflicting instructions for how to get to the metro and me wandering around sketchy neighborhoods at night with people hanging around on corners and nobody knowing the answers to my questions. Spanish would have come in handy here... In any event once I found the metro and met Ally and checked into my hostel, I felt like I knew what I was doing a little more, but Barcelona is much bigger than Munich. My hostel was incredibly hippie, which was awesome. It was also very clean and I got the two bed room to myself.
Friday out of habit I wore my coat, but this was a bad call - it was actually warm bordering on hot (compared to what we're used to) in Barcelona! Quite a change from London which, if not cold, is certainly chilly. Ally began by taking me to the main square, Placa de Catalunya, which is very large and yet somehow very charming. Seems like the kind of place I'd like to go and sit and read a book or people watch. Or pigeon watch. Plenty of them.
Running down to the beach from the Placa de Catalunya is La Rambla, essentially the main touristy street. There are living statues and street performers all up and down it, and lots of shopping and that kind of thing. The coolest thing on La Rambla though is the Boqueria, the large market. The layout kind of reminded me a little bit of the Farmer's Market back in Allentown, or the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia, but obviously more exotic and varied. So many unique and delicious-looking foods. Everything from very fresh seafood, interesting fruits, and huge legs of meat to smoothies and candies. If I ever get back to Barcelona, this is one place I'd like to spend more time and sample a variety of interesting foods. Octopus is one I'd like to give a chance.
Reaching the end of La Rambla, we walked along the beach, which was very exciting to be doing in February. As you can see in the pictures, the sand is darker than most beaches in the eastern US - though not like the black volcanic sand of places like the Canary Islands. The water is definitely still too cold for swimming though. I'm constantly amazed by how blue the Mediterranean is, although it's not as clear as the Caribbean. There was a kind of jungle gym made of rope on the beach which Ally says is usually swamped with kids, but there was nobody on it, so we climbed around on that for a bit. These are the kinds of random things I would have had no idea about had I just been exploring alone as in Munich - it's good to have a guide who knows the place reasonably well!
After some more exploring and then lunch (tortilla de patatas! doesn't sound anywhere near as good as it really is!), we went to Parc Guell, a park designed by Antoni Gaudi, the artist associated with Barcelona. Gaudi was an artist/architect in the early part of the 20th century and belonged to the art nouveau school of art. His works were one of the big reasons I wanted to come to Barcelona in the first place. He was inspired primarily by nature and natural forms, so his art always feels rather organic. He uses a lot of curvy lines and vivid colors as well. Describing his work won't really give an accurate impression of it though, you should check the pictures of the park. I honestly feel it's one of the most unique, if not the most unique, parks I've ever been to and just feels like a lovely place to spend a day or sit and do some work.
After this was what I'd been waiting for for a long time. The Sagrada Familia - the cathedral of all cathedrals. Also from the mind of Antoni Gaudi, the Sagrada Familia was begun at the tail end of the 19th century, and was consecrated in 2010. The inside is mostly finished (although I suspect they will add more stained glass), but there are 10 more towers they're adding, the biggest of which is almost twice as large as the existing ones. They hope to finish by 2026, the centennial of Gaudi's death. There will be 12 smaller towers for the Apostles, 4 for the Evangelists, 1 for Mary and the biggest one for Jesus. The pictures can give you some impression of how majestic and unique the church is from the exterior to the magnificent interior, but no picture can convey the effect of the stained glass. I swear to you I have never seen anything like it - the colors are more vivid than any colors I've ever seen, especially when there is light coming through the glass. The light also creates an ambient rainbow of colors in the air on whichever side the light is coming from. If, as I suspect, they plan to add more stained glass, the effect will be that of having Mass under a forest canopy at sunset. The columns and ceiling are meant to be reminiscent of trees so this seems entirely appropriate. Be warned again, you will be amazed by the pictures, but they don't capture even half of the vividness of the colors of that glass. I plan to return after 2026 when the whole building is finished. If the church is magnificent now, I can't even imagine what it will look like then. It's the kind of place you have an emotional reaction just being in. St. Peter's is beautiful but in an almost intimidating way. This just feels natural, graceful, beautiful. Every image in there is meant not to draw attention to the prowess of the artist, but to some aspect of the faith. The sculptures and images immediately recall the Bible verses they are meant to represent, unlike some religious sculptures which are seen without any real association of their meaning. The effect is of architecture and religion coming together in both a symbolic and real way to become part of the act of worship itself.
Ally then took me up Passeig de Gracia a little bit, pointing out one of the two houses on the street that Gaudi designed, to which I later returned. We got pizza and empanadas, and then some gelato - which just made me miss Italy more. While Ally went back to rest for an hour or two, I wandered around the Corte Inglese, which is essentially a very large department store. It's the size of some malls but it's just one store. It was interesting to see the different kinds of things they had, but the prices were pretty extreme in most cases. I particularly enjoyed walking through the movie section and seeing which titles had been translated into Spanish. I even picked up some guidebooks in the book section about the States - so I got to read about the US in a language which I mostly don't speak. It was very existential. When we met up again, Ally introduced me to her friend Hildy and we all went to a bar called Oveja Negra, where you can buy 3.5 litres of sangria for 20 euros. As there were only 3 of us, we figured this was a bit overkill, so we just got a pitcher. The shots bar after that was one of the most interesting concepts I've seen. They have a board with some 200 or 300 different kinds of shots listed - but only the name, so it's a surprise what you're getting. For example, the Harry Potter has a few different kinds of liquor which they then light on fire, making it hot. The Willy Wonka is chocolate based, and so on. It was jam packed so we didn't stay very long.
Saturday we went to Montjuic to start the day. I'd thought that Parc Guell had a good view of the city, but it seemed like every time we went up another level on Montjuic the view just got more incredible. I enjoyed sitting and watching the guitarist in front of the Catalan art museum with the view of the city framed behind him. I probably could have done that for an hour, but we had things to see. Climbing further, we got to the Olympic stadium and the Olympic Torch from the 1992 Olympic games in Barcelona. That was crazy cool, even though I'm not as hugely into the Olympics as some people, because you think of the kind of athletes who competed on that very ground and the kind of spectacle that would have been there just 19 years ago. The stadium was actually built in 1936, but Barcelona lost the bid for those games due to the Spanish Civil War. The coolest thing about being on that hill might have been the fact that it honestly felt like the movie Hercules.
We took the bus from there farther up the mountain to the castle at the top. From up there, you can see absolutely the entire city. I've also never seen the sea from that high up before - it just seems to stretch on forever. I was hit with so many new and amazing sights in just one morning/early afternoon that it was hard to take it all in. I've never been in an Olympic stadium or on Olympic grounds before (although I could have in Munich) and adding that to the various views and architecture of the morning, and how nice it was that day, it was a thoroughly enjoyable first part of the day.
We met Hildy for lunch at a Mexican place which had incredible quesadillas and margaritas. We strolled through the Gothic quarter, which is essentially the old city - original Barcelona. It felt the most Italian of anything I saw there, almost Venice without canals as Ally said. There was another smaller market there, selling honey, cheese, jams, and olives - all of which are apparently Barcelonian specialties. I picked up a sampler of 4 different kinds of honey.
After a little while longer, at around 6:30 or 7, Ally went back to shower and eat with her host family, so I went to check out one of the Gaudi houses - the Casa Batlló, also known as the House of Bones locally, due to the appearance of the external facade. I chose to tour this one because it was the closer of the two and I loved the facade. Truly it was a really awesome house inside and I think more houses should be designed according to some of these principles, uniting form, concept, and design and pioneering both structure and color at the same time. The blue light well in the middle would have been even more magnificent had it been daytime. Much of the allure of the house was its use of natural light, so it was a bit of a shame that I was there at the end of the day, but it was still an amazing tour. Consider me a big Gaudi fan.
The highlight of the rest of the night was the salsa club we went to, which is definitely the coolest dance club I've been to. I think the place was technically a bar, not a club, but everyone there was dancing, and even though it wasn't a huge place, it was full but not horribly crowded. Perfect atmosphere. Would have loved to stay there all night.
Not really much happened today. After I checked out and packed up and went to Mass (at the Sagrada Familia, but in the lower level since they seem to want to have the upper level open for tourists all day), we explored the Parc de la Ciutadella, which Ally had not yet been to, so we were both equally impressed. Not far from this was the Arc de Triomf, which is the only triumphal arch I've seen that is built out of red brick rather than some form of stone. It made a very different impression than the stone arches - warmer perhaps, and more modern.
That just about recaps the main stuff. Obviously it's hard to sum up the general impression of the city and what the experience means for each individual, but I found the city to be varied and vibrant, with lots of beautiful architecture, lovely weather, beautiful views, and many parks. Yet it is also a big city, and though smaller than London, it feels larger sometimes due to the size of its streets and the busy traffic. I would highly recommend going to Barcelona if you have not been, and I hope to get back someday, as I know there is much that I missed. 2026, here I come!
Random thoughts and observations:
-As if it weren't bad enough that I know very little Spanish, throw in the fact that most signs here are in Catalan.
-Elsewhere in Western Europe, 75% of people you encounter will speak OK to very good English, and another 10% will speak enough to understand what you want. In Barcelona, either almost nobody speaks any English or they pretend they don't.
-My brief observations, corroborated by Ally who actually lives there, is that Barcelonians are a bit rude.
-What I wouldn't give to live along the Mediterranean...
-The streets are significantly larger than in London. London doesn't really have 6 lane roads, but all the major ones here are very busy and very wide.
-The blocks have cut corners, which opens up every square, but makes walking in a straight line down a road really annoying and disorienting.
-I can't figure out why Gaudi hasn't been more imitated by architects and artists alike. All of his work is sheer brilliance, and none of it overdone or gaudy (no pun intended!).
-There are a ton of street performers and street musicians in Barcelona, most of them very good. It'd be interesting to tour Barcelonian music just through these guys.
-Didn't get a chance to have any paella or see any flamenco which was somewhat disappointing.
-The very act of studying abroad is such a valuable life experience. You learn so much about yourself and the world around you, and sometimes the most important benefits and the ways you grow the most are the ones which are intangible.
-There are a lot of parks and green spaces in Barcelona, which is very nice - especially when there are actually leaves and green things in those spaces, such as palm trees!
-Euros seem so much more tolerable when you're used to pounds.
-There is a much higher proportion of people with dreadlocks in Barcelona than anywhere else I've been. Also, they have a number of skateboarders and rollerbladers there.
-Being abroad does make you miss America. It's always nice to be humbled and to see that our way isn't the only way, and it's also good to put into perspective the ways in which we do things better/more efficiently etc (bathroom cleanliness for example, and actually having drinking fountains around), and the ways in which we lag behind (architecture, art and real culture for example). But it still brings out your national pride in a way that isn't triggered when you live there all the time.
-I don't think I've seen so many incredible vistas in one weekend in my life.
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