Thursday
I got up bright and early Thursday morning for the trip to Barcelona. Paige’s Spanish parents were going to Madrid by train so they offered to take us with them to the station in a taxi; which was nice rather than leaving earlier to walk. The train ride was supposed to last eleven hours so it was a rather long and boring day. However, at around 6:30 or so, the train stopped and we were informed that there would be a delay. I’m not quite sure exactly but I believe a train in front of ours had experienced problems and they were blocking our path. After waiting around awhile, busses arrived to take us the rest of the way since the train wasn’t going to be leaving anytime soon. It was chaotic getting onto a bus, because there were four and only three were going to Barcelona and the other to another city nearby, so everyone was rushing to get onto the right bus and I was a little concerned we weren’t going to get a seat. Fortunately it all worked out okay and we were finally on our way to Barcelona. We got to the train station around ten and from there took the metro to a stop near the hotel. Finally at the hotel close to eleven, we weren’t in the mood to go back out to get food so I was glad I’d come prepared with an extra sandwich. Then the night ended with watching part of an Audrey Hepburn movie (in Spanish of course) that I’d never seen before.
Friday
We decided to take the bus tour Friday since it was a hop on/hop off type of deal for twenty-four euros at a large number of stops throughout the city. It also provided an audio guide while on the bus. We walked to the information office and found out that for only seven euros more we could get a two day bus pass, so since there was a lot to see, that seemed to be the way to go. We walked to Plaza Cataluña and started with the green line bus since that was the one going to Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia.
We rode the bus around for a while until we decided to get off at the Sagrada Familia stop. We didn’t time it the greatest though and had to wait a decent amount of time in line to get in. Finally we were able to buy our tickets, which cost eleven euros, and then entered the amazing basilica. First of all, it was huge! The crazy thing is that they still have a long way to go with constructing the towers, and the towers that seem enormous now are the smallest ones overall. We entered through the Passion Façade which was designed by the architect who took over after the death of Gaudi so it has a more modern look to it, however it was based on Gaudi’s original plans. An interesting fact I discovered from the audio commentary is that Gaudi was hit by a tram on the street that our hotel was on and then died three days later. Gaudi was strongly influenced by nature and so with the church he wanted to give the appearance of a forest making the pillars seem like trees and the ceiling to bear resemblance to a leafy covering. He used a curved technique which gives the basilica overall a very unique appearance. It was so completely unlike any church I’ve ever seen outside and inside and quite amazing to behold. After taking a ton of pictures inside we went out the other side to see the Nativity Façade that was completely Gaudi’s work, and the detail of everything was overwhelming. Then we went through the museum and there was a window to see into a room where there were workers constructing and restoring models for the continuing construction of the basilica. The visit to the Sagrada Familia was probably the best part of the trip because it was just absolutely amazing to see.
The Sagrada Familia
We grabbed a quick lunch and then took the bus up to Park Guell another work of Gaudi’s. The park was huge and had some very unusual-looking buildings that resembled gingerbread houses, but that was no surprise since anything by Gaudi is bound to be unusual. As we walked around the park, we saw a program taking place that consisted of a bunch of little kids dressed in costumes performing dances. I think it had something to do with a carnival, because this weekend seemed to be carnival weekend across Spain and on both Friday and Saturday we saw people dressed in costumes all over the place. The views of the city from the park were great since it was at a higher location. Then we took the bus to see Casa Milá and Casa Batlló that were both works of Gaudi’s constructed for wealthy clients who wanted to live in something that would outshine all the other buildings. The Casa Batlló is part of the Block of Discord which receives its name from the competition between the three distinct buildings designed by three different architects. We just looked at the houses from outside though because the entrance fees were over ten euros and didn’t seem worth it.
Park Guell
Casa Batlló
Our last stop of the day was to Barceloneta which is a beach of the Mediterranean. It was a really pretty beach to take pictures, but we didn’t stay too long because as it was getting dark it started to get really cold. Then we rode the bus route back to Plaza Cataluña and walked to our hotel. We ventured back out for food and found a place that had pizza right next to the hotel. Then we went to a little twenty-four hour mini mart that had yummy chocolate filled pastries for an inexpensive price and took our treats back to the hotel. We watched some more Spanish TV Friday night and there was a quite entertaining game show for professionals on that involved a team of two people from a group of firemen, nurses, and finally cooks that each had a turn competing to see how much of one million euros they could earn by choosing the right answers to eight questions. They would put the money on the answer(s) they thought were right and any money put on a wrong answer was lost, until they got to keep whatever was left by question number eight. It was a different type of show, but I liked it.
Barceloneta
Saturday
We got an even earlier start than Friday on Saturday morning and arrived at Barcelona’s Cathedral a little after ten. It was very old and large with a rather interesting set-up inside. There was a chapel underneath the main alter area and the stairs leading down to it were in front of the alter so the pews at the main level of the church were all in back of or surrounding the stairs right in the middle of the church. It’s kind of confusing to explain which is why I’ll include a picture that shows it somewhat. Like all the other cathedrals I’ve visited there were a large quantity of little side chapels dedicated to a saint, Jesus, or Mary. There were also two sepulchers high up on one wall that were from the ninth century of a count and countess who had founded the cathedral.
Cathedral
Our next stop was to see the Columbus Monument which marks the spot where Columbus debarked after his voyage to the new world. After taking some pictures there we walked along an inlet filled with boats including one that was a reproduction of a boat from back around Columbus’ time I believe, but I’m not positive about that. I think it was called Victoria, and had been used for some important voyage.
From there we took the bus up to Montjuic which is just outside the city and provides some great views as well as is the location of some museums of modern art and the Olympic Stadium. We decided to skip the museums because neither of us cared very much for modern art, but we did stop at the stadium. The stadium was host to the 1992 Summer Olympics and aside from the stadium itself there were some pretty fountains and nice views.
Olympic Stadium and surrounding area
After seeing some more sights while remaining on the bus we eventually arrived back in Plaza Cataluña. Then we walked down the Ramblas which is a large street full of shops, stands, live statues, and crowds of people. We stopped for a late lunch at a sandwich shop that had a lovely deal for a bacon and cheese baguette, fries, and a drink all for 3.50€. Then we continued walking around for a while looking at products for sale such as the usual touristy stuff and food, and my personal favorite, bunnies, birds and turtles. The bunnies were absolutely adorable and if I would have been able to take one on the plane with me I would have totally bought one. They were so adorable!! Some of the turtles for sale were as cheap as 10€ which seems like a good deal for a turtle to me.
Aren't they cute?
We took the bus back to the Cathedral for Mass at six and I really enjoyed the fact that a lot of the response parts were sung, because it made it slower and thus easier to follow along. I wish all the Masses had music, but the majority that I’ve been to in Spain haven’t included any music. After Mass we walked around looking for a place to eat supper and decided that we wanted to return to the mart for pastries again since they have become one of our favorite things to eat on our trips. So we wound up eating a quick and cheap supper at KFC and then returning to the mart for dessert. Back at the hotel we watched the funeral of Whitney Houston, since it was being shown on the UK channel in English, and after being depressed by that we watched a Disney movie that I don’t remember the name of because I’d never heard of it before, but that was in Spanish.
Sunday
We were able to sleep in a little since we didn’t have anything on our agenda except for getting to the airport for our 1:45 flight. We left the hotel around eleven and walked to Plaza Cataluña to catch a bus going to the airport. The plane to Sevilla was larger than I’d expected and there were six seats in each row. I was surprised that despite the aircraft’s size the downward descent and landing were the really jerky and anything but smooth. However, we landed safe and sound and then caught a bus into Sevilla. The trip to Barcelona was overall a good experience and I’m glad I had the opportunity to see the second-largest city in Spain.
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