Week 14: All About Barça

Hola, Hola, Hola!

Like most weeks, this one was fairly chill. I went to class, taught some English, studied, and went to Barcelona [oh, you know, no big deal ;)]. But before I get to the Barcelona stuff, here's an update on my classes: all of them are going pretty well. School is starting to wrap up a bit, and my schedule is about to get a little cray. This week is a four day week, then Friday-Sunday I'm in the Canary Islands [I know, it sounds so exotic!], then I've got two days of class, and Wednesday-Sunday I'm in Lisbon, Portugal! After that, I've got 2 weeks until finals which means I have to write 3 term papers and study for 4 exams before I can actually think about relaxing and traveling in June. One of my term papers/presentations is for my Cultura Andalusi class, its about Architecture in Andalucia. The second is for my La Mujer en Literatura Espanola and I have to read a short story and compare it to one of the ones we've read in class. My last paper is for my Prado class and I'm comparing and contrasting La Inmaculada Concepcion by Zubaran and La Inmaculada Concepcion by Murillo. So, basically, I'm going to be writing and studying A LOT the next few weeks while trying to balance out traveling.

Now, onto the good stuff: Barcelona! We had some travel hiccups, but none that were too terrible. My friend Ray and I got into Barcelona around 9, so we checked into our hostel, Casa Gracia, and grabbed some dinner. Casa Gracia was amazing, it was a little bit more expensive than the other hostels I've stayed in--but worth it! It had pretty much everything you could want in a hostel (breakfast and towels being the most important)! It was pretty much like a mini-hotel! It was in a really good location, right off the Blue Line of the Metro (only 3 stops from the train station in one direction, and only 3 stops from the Sagrada Familia in the other direction)! Basically, if you are staying in Barcelona, I highly recommend staying there.

We walked around a bit at night and checked out the Block of Discord, the area of Passeig de Graçia that has Casa Batllo and a few other modernisme [a style of architcture] buildings. Casa Batllo was built by Antoni Gaudi, the most famous modernisme architect [and a Barcelona native]. On Saturday, we saw the Sagrada Familia, which I may or may not have fangirled over. It was absolutely amazing, if you go to Barcelona it's the one thins you absoluetly must see. I've seen plenty of pictures of it, but seeing it in person is more impressive than the pictures could ever be. Gaudi put so much thought into every single detail of it, every architectural aspect has a specific reason and significance behind it. My favorite parts were the towers and the stained glass. We took the elevator to the top of the tower and we got to see an amazing view of Barcelona. It was so high even I was starting to get a little freaked out--and I'm not even afraid of heights! The stained glass was absolutely amazing as well, the interior of the Sagrada Familia is very white/light and airy and the stained glass is brightly colored so when the sun hits it, all the colors from the stained glass are splashed across the walls. The ceiling is absolutely amazing as well, Gaudi designed it to look like a forest, so the ceiling looks like the branches of a tree making a canopy over your head. Like I've said already, its absolutely stunning. If you only have time to do one thing in Barcelona, you MUST do the Sagrada Familia.

View for Torre Passion

Beautiful Stained Glass

Just hanging out!

Ceiling of Sagrada Familia

More beautiful stained glass

After the Sagrada Familia, we went to La Rambla which is the giant pedestrian street in Barcelona. It kind of reminds me of Calle Preciosa and the Rastro here in Madrid. There are 5 different ramblas that makes up this street and each has a specific thing they sell. For example, La Rambla de Flores sells flowers. Las Ramblas extend from Plaça de Cataluyna (Barça's Plaza Mayor) all the way to the sea. We stopped in the Mercat [Market] along the way. I got some delicious fresh kiwis and strawberries. There were some amazing street artist along the Ramblas as well. We ended up at Rambla del Mar, which is basically a giant pier. I almost died a couple of times--the seagulls there were absolutely massive and Ray had no problems pointing out when they were flying close to me [for those who don't know, I'm slightly terrified of birds...especially pigeons].

Las Ramblas

 On Sunday, we got up and went to Camp Nou, which is Barça's futbol [soccer] stadium, it's one of the largest in all of Europe. It was really cool to see. We headed back to the Plaça de Cataluyna and did a self-guided walking tour, courtesy of Rick Steves (my friends lent me their book so we could use it while in Barcelona). We ended up walking though the Barri Gotic, which is where the center of Barcelona was until about 1850, when the city started to expand. We saw the Catedral, a really cool bridge and some of the places young Picasso hung out. While we were in front of the Catedral, we were able to see a sardana, which is the dance of Cataluyna. It was really cool to see because during Franco's rule over Spain, the sardana and the Catalan language were outlawed, but people still learned it and passed it down to the younger generations. We also were able to see some Roman ruins along our walk. During the Roman era of Spain, Barcelona was the city of Barcino. Barcino was surrounded by a wall and had a aqueduct system that was still in use until the 20th century.

Camp Nou

Roman towers in Barri Gotic

Catedral

Reconstruction of an aqueduct

Overall, I enjoyed Barcelona, but it definitely wasn't my favorite place I've been. I much preferred Sevilla and Granada. As much as I love the architecture and history, Barcelona is a very touristy city and it didn't really do that much for me. I never quite got that "this is Barcelona" feeling like I've gotten in other cities. It was kind of interesting to be in Spain and not be able to speak the language because in Barcelona (and the rest of Cataluyna) they speak Catalan as their first language. Most everyone spoke Castellano (regular spanish) so we got by just fine!

Side note: Spain is a beautiful country. It's filled with rolling hills, giant mountains, little streams and creeks, and ruins nestled into hills and forests. Its absolutely gorgeous. If you're in Spain, I highly recommend busing or taking the train around instead of flying so you don't miss anything!

Well, that's all I've got. The next few weeks, updates may be a little off schedule since I've got a wacky break schedule going on.
XOXO,
Kelsey

Shout-out to all my Purdue peeps: Try not to get too stressed out this week! Good luck with finals, you can do it!