Disclaimer: This post is very long... but I didn't want to split up Barcelona into more than one post, I'm sorry!!
Anyways, where do I begin for Barcelona?! It was SUCH a unique and fun city, not to mention the beach was a short walk from our hostel...Yes, I stayed in my first hostel, go me! It actually was not as rugged as I thought it would be, it felt like a cross between a dorm and a hotel. We arrived after a pretty annoying journey from Rome on Thursday night, including nearly missing our flight because the ticket machines in the train station were broken; and also our plane was crazy small, my knees literally touched the seat in front of me...
But nonetheless, we arrived at the hostel around 10pm Thursday night and met up with the UNC roommate, Meredith, of my roommate, Amanda, in my Rome apartment. Meredith had been in Portugal through a UNC internship program for the past 6 weeks, and she went with a small group of UNC students from Portugal to Barcelona for the weekend, so it was fun to meet new UNC students and stay in the same hostel as them. We got settled into the hostel and headed over to the main exciting street of Barcelona, Las Ramblas, by midnight to have dinner and explore the city.
This picture was taken after dinner of Meredith, Amanda, and I, and I am not kidding when I say that Barcelona never sleeps, it was just as crowded in the wee hours of the morning as it is in the middle of the afternoon!
The next morning Amanda, Meredith and I, along with 3 other UNC girls, Ana, Shoshana and Jessica, set out to explore the delicious fruit and food market on Las Ramblas and then head to the beach for the day, which was so relaxing and pretty.
Next to the market along Las Ramblas there were houses with colored mosaic facades that I found really unique and really different from Rome.
After Las Ramblas Blvd we passed the Barcelona Port which had miles of sailboats in the sparkling blue/green Mediterranean Sea.
Made it to the beach!! I thought this lifeguard stand was very European and funny compared to the ones from home.
A view of the Barcelona coastline down the beach. The water felt amazing and it was clear!
Loving the beach!! (It was a little windy hence the hair face-mask)
After we roasted our skin for a few hours on the beach, we set out to do a little sight-seeing, including our first stop at the Chocolate Museum!! We didn't escape from the fact of having sculptures in museums, yet this medium was a tad different than the traditional marble, and was a nice change of pace!
The best part about the museum is that your entry ticket you receive is a chocolate bar!!
Smurfs and their little mushroom house made out of chocolate!
The movie "Up" in chocolate!
If you read my last post about the Vatican, you would know that this is Michelangelo's "Pieta" in St. Peter's Basilica, which was a pretty funny parallel to see it in chocolate form the next day.
After the chocolate museum we walked around Barcelona more and came upon the Barcelona Cathedral but we couldn't go inside of it since we were in bikinis and cover-ups, but it was still worth it to see from the outside! It was massive; I had to stand really far back to get the whole thing in one shot. Also, a perk of this Cathedral was that there was a Starbucks on the same road! First Starbucks Iced Coffee in Europe, I definitely took them for granted in the US.
Second night of the trip: Meredith, Amanda and I in the kitchen of our hostel before we set out to have a fun night exploring the city with the rest of our hostel.
Saturday morning we went on a walking tour provided by our hostel of the different buildings created by the famous architect/artist of Barcelona, Antonio Gaudi.
The first stop was one of his earlier works, so it is not as quirky and crazy as they became later on, but it was a huge private home, and apparently the interior is really unique and beautiful but we didn't go inside of it unfortunately. I'm not sure if you can tell in this picture but those bright colored ice-cream cone-shaped objects on top of the building are actually chimneys...I don't know about you but most definitely the most interesting ones I've ever seen!
The bottom level of that same private family home.
This is Gaudi's very famous Casa Batllo, which I had learned about in Spanish class last fall so it was really cool to see in person! You can really start to see the quirky personality of Gaudi that shone through in his architecture, and also how nature inspired his work with the wave-like curves of the bottom layer of the house.
Amanda, Meredith and I in front of Casa Batllo.
Another Gaudi building, Casa Mila.
From the base of Casa Mila.
And now onto my favorite sight in Barcelona, Gaudi's Sagrada Familia cathedral!! Looks just like a drip sandcastle at the beach, right? It was absolutely the most stunning building I've seen in Europe, inside and outside.
This is the backside of it, interestingly enough, it is STILL under construction (it was started in 1882) and will not be entirely finished for another 14 years. Gaudi died in 1926 but he left many detailed plans of what he wanted the rest to be like, which is how they have been able to proceed without him.
Even though you had to pay to go in while our walking tour was free, it was SO worth the money of the ticket. The inside is so hard to describe so hopefully some pictures will do it justice... Try to think of a combination of skeleton/roller-coaster/living organism, that sort of captures it's essence I guess..
Crazy architecture... this is looking down the center of the church towards the altar.
It was so beautiful, this one side hall looked like sunflowers were growing on the ceiling, and that is my favorite flower :)
Side wall.
There was so much beautiful stained glass, I could have looked at it for hours. (And we sort of did)
Also in these many side chapels down near the ground they had the Lord's Prayer in many different languages, probably somewhere between 50-100 different ones, which was pretty special how it made the church universal.
Another view of the ceiling.
Something that Gaudi said that really resonated with me...I was never that religious before I came on this trip but seeing so many churches and going into Vatican City it's hard not to value and respect the worth and purpose of religion. This perspective of Gaudi, in my opinion, gives an opening into religion for people at some point in their life even if they do not embrace it at first, and I thought I'd share it on here in case it resonates with anyone else...
Standing on the outside porch of Sagrada Familia.
Across the pond looking at the cathedral. Gaudi intended for there to be a park of some sorts on all four sides for people to sit in to relax and reflect, but only the ones on the front and back are completed so far. I didn't come at the right part of the day but apparently he chose a pond as the park on this side because at certain times the sun reflects a beautiful shadow reflection of the church into the water, I'm bummed I missed it!
Sitting next to the pond across Sagrada Familia.
Saturday night, we had sort of a different night but it was fun nonetheless! One of the UNC students on Meredith's Portugal trip is friends with a student in Barcelona named David that studied at the Kenan-Flagler Business School for a semester recently, and he graciously welcomed us to his house to watch the Spain France Eurocup game. He had a bunch of his Barcelona friends over so it was cool to interact with locals that are our age, and they were all so kind they cooked us dinner and hosted us all night since Saturday night is the Festival of St. John which is an important celebration in June in Barcelona that lasts all night long.
His house was located in the center of the city and there was a beautiful sunset during halftime of the soccer match.
The UNC crew, Shoshana, Ana, Sebastian and I, at David's house.
Sunday morning we wanted to go to the top of Montjuic, which is a mountain that overlooks the city and contains a number of special sights and spots.
On our way to the metro to take us up to the top of the mountain, we passed the beautiful harbor again.
And then we passed this Picasso sculpture in the town center... (We sort of rambled around before actually going to the metro)
Finally at the top of the mountain! This is inside a beautiful garden that overlooks the city, we are sitting in the lap of an ancient sculpture.
Down in the beautiful gardens atop the city.
Another view of the one of the fountains and trellises found in these gardens.
Next stop... 1992 Olympic Stadium!! Barcelona held the Olympics up here on Montjuic in '92 and built a MASSIVE stadium facility in which the events took place.
This is where the Olympic Torch burned for the duration of the '92 Games.
For all the Tarheels, you will appreciate how cool this was to be walking outside the Olympic Stadium among the captured footprints of athlete legends and find Carolina's very own Michael Jordan's huge footprint!!
Inside the Stadium overlooking the track and field.
Next we stumbled upon the National Palace of Montjuic, which was very stately and impressive.
An unobstructed view of the Palace.
Found this funny statue outside the Palace and saw other people taking pictures imitating it so I wanted to do it too...but didn't quite stand in the center, whoops...
Final garden in Montjuic, so serene.
One last remark about a Rome/Barcelona comparison that I found amusing...
I think because I'm obsessed with my dogs from home that I always notice the No Dogs Allowed signs on public areas, so I had already taken a picture of one near the Roman Forum by the Colosseum in Rome, and then I saw Barcelona's unique one and found it amusing that they included soccer on it as one of the prohibited activities. The country really is obsessed with the sport...
Barcelona sign: No dogs, walking on grass or playing football on grass...
Rome sign: No dogs, walking on gardens or picking flowers from the gardens...
If you've made it this far, thanks for reading! Sorry it was so long I just wanted to include a lot!! (You should see the few hundred pictures I left out of the blog...)
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