We had heard many things about Barcelona. Most people mistake the city as the capital because the Olympics were held there back in 1992. Barcelona is quite a unique city in Spain. The province, Catalonia, wants to be an independent country. There are many signs that say "Catalonia is not Spain." Barcelona's history is quite different from the rest of Spain and their culture is unique as well. They are against bullfighting and you won't find any flamenco performances here. Along with having a drastically different dialect (Catalan sounds much different from Spanish) A and I both felt like we were in a different country! Nonetheless, the city has a great history and culture to explore!
We took a night train from Madrid to Barcelona. Basically, this meant that we slept on seats in a train from 10:30 at night until 7 in the morning! When we arrived, we went straight to our hotel and took an hour nap. We then felt refreshed and ready to see Barcelona. The first place we visited was the Park Güell. This is a housing development built just outside of the city by Antoni Gaudi. He was Barcelona's famous modernist artist who lived from 1852-1926. He created this neighborhood to house the wealthy class, but the plan failed. At the time, most of the elite wanted to live in the city. The park was never finished, but the buildings still remain for sightseeing.
This was Gaudi's house.
This building was supposed to be where the market would happen. It's got crooked columns on the sides and great mosaics on the ceiling!
If you can see it amongst all the people, this is the famous lizard fountain near the market. It was impossible to get a picture of the thing without someone posing by it.
Here are some other buildings in the park. Don't they look like gingerbread houses?
We then headed over to Plaça de Catalunya, which has statues of important Catalans. We went down the street called Las Ramblas. This is a mile long street filled with restaurants and stores. On one part of the street are several shops that sell small pets like rabbits, mice and parakeets.
While we walked down the street, we went into La Boquería, a large food market that made our produce markets in Madrid look minute. Here's a photo of some of the fresh produce!
At the end of Las Ramblas is a large monument of Christopher Columbus. When Columbus returned from his successful voyage to the New World, he came to Barcelona where he presented King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella with gold and a group of native Americans.
We became hungry after our extensive hike, so we went into a tapas bar called Taverna Basca Irati. They give you a plate and you can pick and choose the tapas you want! After you are finished, they count your toothpicks and ring up your bill. I tried to be sneaky and steal a shot of the array of food.
While we walked off our tapas feast, we found the Block of Discord. Here are a few apartments Gaudi designed. They really stand out beside the standard buildings.
The following day, we went to see one of the most famous Gaudi designs--the Sagrada Familia. This is a cathedral that has been under construction for decades. Gaudi designed one facade of this cathedral in order to get donors interested in funding the project. Gaudi died before it's completion and the designs on the cathedral change depending on the view you see.
Here's a close-up of the facade done by Gaudi.
Here's one entrance of the cathedral. This was done after Gaudi's death. It has a completely different look.
Here are some pictures of the inside of the cathedral. Gaudi wanted his architecture to resemble nature and this is the best representation I've seen. Don't you feel you're in a forest?
This is the nave.
Here's the ceiling.
Construction on the cathedral has been stalled because of transportation improvements and historical events. During the Spanish Civil War, it was damaged by the skirmish. Spain began to devote more time to improving the train system later, and construction stopped again. I hope to see the edifice finished in my lifetime because it's quite amazing!
After gawking at the Sagrada Familia, we went towards the other cathedral. On our way, we passed this 17th century well, which was the last place for horses to drink before people departed from town.
Here is the Cathedral of Barcelona. Inside, there are many chapels funded by the local guild. There is a large baptismal font, and Columbus supposedly baptized the native Americans here. Also in the cathedral is the tomb of Saint Eulàlia, who was tortured 13 times and killed for her religious beliefs. The number 13 is very important in this church.
Here are the beautiful cloisters connected to the cathedral. On top of this fountain is a small statue of Saint George slaying a dragon.
As you can see here, they have 13 geese housed in the cloisters.
Not long after, we had to head back to Madrid. Hope you enjoyed the photos!
