BarcelonYAAAAAAA!
I am so so sorry for the delayed blog post! As the old Spanish proverb goes, “Spanish wifi is very slow”. Nevertheless, I’m here to update you all on the most amazing trip I recently took. Last weekend we had a day off on Friday so my roommate and I decided to head up to Barcelona! The cheapest way to get there is by bus (ya girl is a struggling college student, cheap is good!) which took a total of 7 hours to get there. Barcelona is on the north west coast of Spain, opening up to the Mediterranean Sea. Known for the amazing art of Gaudi, incredible paella and for having the most attractive soccer/futbol team (matter of opinion but I doubt anyone will disagree with this observation) you can probably imagine how excited I was to see everything!!!
Our first day was spent doing all the necessary touristy things. Our first stop was to see the Sagrada Familia! The Sagrada Familia is a huge Roman Catholic Church that dates back to 1882. It was designed by the infamous Antoni Gaudi and has been in construction for the past 100 years since his death in 1926. Although we didn’t get to go inside the cathedral, the outer construction was breath taking. The Sagrada Familia isn’t just big, it is massive! You can see a lot of Gaudi’s style represented throughout the design, my favorite being the colorful mosaic designs that pop up throughout the cathedral. The pictures I took do not do it justice, I could have easily spent all day there!
Our next stop was to see a couple houses located downtown, that Gaudi had designed. The first house is called La Pedrera and has since been recognized as more of a sculpture than a building because of its abstract design. I loved the shape of the house, the wavy walls reminded me of waves of the ocean, and the iron sculptured balconies were so intricately designed! The next house is known as El Drac de Gaudi at Finca Guell. As much as I loved the first house, I loved this one even more! My favorite part was of course, the beautiful mosaic designs seen throughout the house. One of the most interesting parts of the house are the balconies. They are literally designed to look like bones! The contrast between that and the bright color of the house is confusingly perfect. Who would have thought that bones and mosaic would go together so well??
Next up was the amazing Park Guell! Can I just say that I have been dreaming of this beautiful place ever since I watched The Cheetah Girls 2. Quick synopsis if you for some reason haven’t seen it (after you read this pls go to Netflix and watch it), the cheetah girls travel all the way to Barcelona to compete in a music contest in which they basically run around Barcelona having the time of their lives. In one iconic song (Strut Like You Mean It) they film a part of it in Park Guell and it is truly magnificent! After having seen the movie countless times I can say without hesitation that Park Guell truly lived up to all of my Cheetah Girls 2 fantasies. The infamous bench was right up my alley, colorful mosaic that snakes along the seats that overlook the city. It is actually incredible to think about all the work that must have went into creating something so beautiful. Besides the bench, Park Guell is also in fact a park. There are a ton of other Gaudi designs in the park as well as some really amazing gardens. Again, I could have easily spent all day there.
The rest of our trip consisted of paella, beaches, and amazing people. We took a trip to Sitges, Spain which is the sweetest little town right on the beach. Filled with adorable gelato shops and colorful restaurants, Sitges is the epitome of a coastal beach town! While in Sitges we also had the opportunity to see a human tower competition. Basically, groups from different towns come together and compete to see who does the best/biggest human tower. It is incredible. There are easily 25+ people per tower and they stand on each others shoulders and climb up their bodies to create amazingly tall human towers. I feel like this is a bad description 🙁 but you can check it out in the picture I took below! The paella that we had (You can’t go to Barcelona and not eat paella) was to die for. Salty and fishy (bad description, but so delicious) with a hint of lemon, my mouth is watering right now just thinking about it 🙁 The beaches in Barcelona are definitely different from the ones we have back at home. I witnessed a ton of nudity which is cool but also kind of unsettling when it comes to grandmas and grandpas doing it but hey, more power to them. The water was a lot cooler than I expected, (high expectations from growing up in Hawaii and being blessed with beautiful beaches everywhere) but the beaches in Barcelona are truly beautiful in their own way!
In Barcelona we did a bit more sightseeing on our last day. We visited a beautiful park called Parc de la Ciutadella. It was similar to Retiro park here in Madrid, but it had a crazy magnificent waterfall fountain. Seriously, parks in Spain put the parks back home in the states to shame! Walking through we passed by a group of parents and their kids doing yoga, a street performer making huge bubbles for little kids, groups of teens sitting around and playing guitars, so many people coming together in such a beautiful environment! Our last stop was to see the Arc de Triomf. It was built as the main access gate for the 1888 Barcelona World fair by architect Josep Vilaseca i Casanovas.
Although I didn’t get to meet my future husband Neymar (number 11 on the field, number 1 in my heart), Barcelona was truly an amazing place to visit. From the delicious food, to the amazing art, I am already trying to find a way to come back! It is not a goodbye Barcelona, but a see you later!!!