I'm behind on blogging again, but I really want to write something about my trip to Barcelona last weekend because it was incredible! Natalie and I went Thursday night through Sunday afternoon and we stayed with Zoe S. (a friend from high school) and also met up Kent (a friend of Meredith's who I had never met before), so it was great hanging out with all of them.
By the time Natalie and my flight got in to Barcelona and we caught a bus to the city from the airport, it was around 1 am. Our plan was to spend Thursday night at a hostel because we were getting in so late and then to stay with Zoe Friday and Saturday nights. So we called to hostel to double check that we were taking the correct night bus to get there (there were a ton of people out at this time, so it was completely safe). However, even though there was someone at the hostel for 24 hours, he told us we couldn't check in since it was after midnight (I don't remember seeing anything about that on the website when we reserved it). I called Zoe, and thankfully she was still awake, so we took a taxi to her dorm and stayed the night with her. Unfortunately you needed an ID card to enter and exit the dorm, and it would have cost us 20 euros to register as a guest, so we had to enter the exit the dorm with her every time, but it was very nice of her to let us stay with her though.
On Friday morning, our first stop was the Sagrada Familia. After seeing so many cathedrals around Europe, this was quite refreshing. It was unique and I love the architecture and lighting.
We went up to the top of one of the towers. It had a great view of the city.
And to get down we had to walk down a long spiral staircase, which gave us close-up views of other parts of the building. I'm not sure what these are supposed to represent, but they were my favorite part!
After we left, Natalie and I ran into Daniel P. from our study abroad program who also happened to be in Barcelona that weekend, but he was about to enter the Sagrada Familia, so we only said hi. We ate in a park next to the Sagrada Familia and then walked to the center. We passed one of the Gaudi houses, which was impressive from the outside, and continued on to Plaza Catalunya. We then met up with Kent and the three of us walked along Las Ramblas. We stopped a few times to get pictures of the mimes. I think this one is my favorite:
It was pretty dark by the time we left, so we took the main road down instead of cutting through the park (as we had done to get up). We went to dinner at the same place we had gone the night before because it was close, cheap, and decent food. Kent headed back to his hostel and Natalie and I headed back to Zoe's dorm. One of Zoe's friends from her university was visiting that night too, and Daniel from our study abroad program was also friends with Zoe (they knew each other from the university), so a big group of us hung out in Zoe's room for a while and then headed to a nearby club. It was fun, but I was tired. I'm still not big into staying out really late. We left the club at 4 am, so that was the latest I've stayed up this semester. After not nearly enough sleep, Natalie and I got up, went to the center to walk around for a couple minutes, then headed to the airport for our flight back to Seville. It was a really fun weekend!
By the time Natalie and my flight got in to Barcelona and we caught a bus to the city from the airport, it was around 1 am. Our plan was to spend Thursday night at a hostel because we were getting in so late and then to stay with Zoe Friday and Saturday nights. So we called to hostel to double check that we were taking the correct night bus to get there (there were a ton of people out at this time, so it was completely safe). However, even though there was someone at the hostel for 24 hours, he told us we couldn't check in since it was after midnight (I don't remember seeing anything about that on the website when we reserved it). I called Zoe, and thankfully she was still awake, so we took a taxi to her dorm and stayed the night with her. Unfortunately you needed an ID card to enter and exit the dorm, and it would have cost us 20 euros to register as a guest, so we had to enter the exit the dorm with her every time, but it was very nice of her to let us stay with her though.
On Friday morning, our first stop was the Sagrada Familia. After seeing so many cathedrals around Europe, this was quite refreshing. It was unique and I love the architecture and lighting.
We went up to the top of one of the towers. It had a great view of the city.
And to get down we had to walk down a long spiral staircase, which gave us close-up views of other parts of the building. I'm not sure what these are supposed to represent, but they were my favorite part!
After we left, Natalie and I ran into Daniel P. from our study abroad program who also happened to be in Barcelona that weekend, but he was about to enter the Sagrada Familia, so we only said hi. We ate in a park next to the Sagrada Familia and then walked to the center. We passed one of the Gaudi houses, which was impressive from the outside, and continued on to Plaza Catalunya. We then met up with Kent and the three of us walked along Las Ramblas. We stopped a few times to get pictures of the mimes. I think this one is my favorite:
After spending our change to pay the mimes, we bought ice cream and walked along the harbor and then over to the beach where we sat for a while.
Kent then had to go invterview people (he's doing a project on Catalan), so Natalie and I walked with him back to the cathedral (so we could see that plus the Ayudamiento and another nice building right next door). Then Natalie and I headed over to the big fountain near Plaza Espanya for a light and music show. Unfortuantely we only caught the end of it, but it was still pretty impressive. If I lived in Barcelona, I'd go see the show all the time!
We then stopped to get dinner nearby before heading to the Poble Espanyol, which is an area you can enter with stores and architecture representing all the different parts of Spain. Unfortunately, everything but bars were closed (since we entered right after dinner, around 11 pm); however it was still fun wandering around and seeing the different architecture. I would love to go back during the day sometime, but we knew we wouldn't have time the next day. We then headed back to Zoe's dorm and went to bed.
On Saturday, we started out at Parc Guell (designed by Gaudi). Again, I love the architecture and there were gorgeous views of the city. And I even found an orienteering control! Evidently there was a meet going on there, though I have no idea how anyone could orienteer in a place that's so packed with tourists. I had trouble getting through people at times and I wasn't even trying to run. It was exciting to see the flag though. Here's a view of Barcelona from the top of the park.
Natalie and I then stopped at one of the Gaudi houses on the way to the center. It was quite impressive. Here's the roof:
Kent had suggested we go the History of the City museum, so Natalie and I then went there. It explained the history of Barcelona from prehistory through the present. There were Roman ruins in the basement, and it was cool seeing some ruins of things I had learned about in my Cocina y Alimentacion class. There were ruins of a garum (a sauce made of the organs of fish) factory plus a lot of anforas (jars to store wine and other products).
We then went into the cathedral, and a mass was about to start, so we decided to go to the first 15 minutes or so of the mass (Natalie is Catholic). When we left the cathedral, there were a lot of people doing a traditional dance in front of it.
We also ran into Kent there, so he joined up with us. I tried one of the waffle things they sell at the ice cream stands and it was quite good. It was basically a sweet waffle with chocolate and walnuts! I really wanted to go up to Montjuic castle, so we took the metro as far as we could go. Unfortunately the cable car to the top had stopped running since it was getting late, so we walked up the hill and got to the top as it was getting dark, about 10 minutes before the ramparts closed. We took advantage of those 10 minutes to see the gorgeous view and take lots of pictures!
It was pretty dark by the time we left, so we took the main road down instead of cutting through the park (as we had done to get up). We went to dinner at the same place we had gone the night before because it was close, cheap, and decent food. Kent headed back to his hostel and Natalie and I headed back to Zoe's dorm. One of Zoe's friends from her university was visiting that night too, and Daniel from our study abroad program was also friends with Zoe (they knew each other from the university), so a big group of us hung out in Zoe's room for a while and then headed to a nearby club. It was fun, but I was tired. I'm still not big into staying out really late. We left the club at 4 am, so that was the latest I've stayed up this semester. After not nearly enough sleep, Natalie and I got up, went to the center to walk around for a couple minutes, then headed to the airport for our flight back to Seville. It was a really fun weekend!
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