Barcelona, Spain

Everyone I talked to said that Barcelona was the place to go.....and they were right. A huge city with a small feel to it situated on the north eastern coast of Spain right on the Mediteranean Sea - it was heaven!

We arrived in Spain on Friday night and made it to our hotel with no problems. It is about a half hour bus ride to the city and then a metro ride to our hotel. Our hotel was 4 stops away from the main city square - Catalunya. It was about 10pm by the time we got to our hotel, so we didn't make it too far - just explored a bit and got a good nights sleep.

On Saturday morning, we walked to the Sagrada Familial - the first of many works of Gaudi that we would see. The Sagrada Familial has been under construction since 1882 and there is still alot of work left to do. The temple has the most unique design I have ever seen, it is decorated with architecture that I would never dream that is possible. Some of the designs that are built into the stone work are so intricate and detailed, that I would think it is imposible to include them in the basic walls of a building. The photo here shows the front of the temple - it is hard to see, but the detail is fascinating. On the other side of the church, Gaudi included in his design sculptures of birds, a pine tree, fruit baskets, etc....things you wouldn't expect to see on the outside of a church!

On our way to the temple, we walked through a market that was just getting set up for the day. This is my favorite picture of our trip - this dog was running back and forth on the roof of a building barking - drooling over the yummy smells coming from the street below. He was sticking his head over the side of the building to get a glimpse of the food - it was too cute! This picture shows his head sticking over the side - it was hard to get since he wasn't staying still for too long. You can see his head sticking over the side of the building here - I love dogs!!!

After we left the Sagrada Familial, we headed onto the metro toward the downtown core where we purchased tickets to the Hop On Hop Off tour bus. This was a great purchase (thanks to some friends suggesting it) - we saw so much that we wouldn't have seen if we just rode the metro. The weather was beautiful (about 16-18 degrees all weekend and sunny), so we got to sit on the top of the open air bus and enjoy the sun and the sights - I even got a sunburn with SPF 30 on!

Driving around the city and taking in the sights, we saw some of the buildings in Barcelona that Gaudi had designed before his death in 1926. One was designed like a dragon, another like a skeleton and another that was nature inspired. They were some of the most beautiful buildings I had ever seen! We wore our green headsets (see Dylan in picture) that pointed out all the essential sights. Dylan said that I was more into the "hopping on" than the "hopping off" - but it was just so nice to be driven around that I was in a trance with all the things to see. Palm trees were everywhere and although it was chilly in the shade, the blue sky was dreamy!
One of the first stops we made was on the way up to the mountains towards a castle on the top of a hill overlooking the sea. Since I'm used to Halifax scenery, it was odd to me that Barcelona is in a valley with mountains on both sides, then the sea on the other side of the mountain coast. The views from the top of the mountain were breathtaking - although, the shipyard that took up alot of the scene brought me back into the reality that we were in a big city. This picture was taken of the harbour. The harbour is full of activity with sailboats and barges - it was loaded with action. If you turned to the right from this shot, it would be the shipyard that went for miles. Another stop we made was at the Olympic Village. Some of the ports were built just for the olympics along with many parts of the waterfront which were redevelopped. This picture of the Sagrada Familiale was taken from the top of the mountain (zoomed in) and shows how huge the church actually is compared to the rest of the city.

On Saturday we spent alot of time on the bus roaming around the city. We had lunch on La Ramblas which is the main walking street. It goes from one end of the city to the centre square with lots to see along the way (outdoor vendors, shopping, restaurants). It was so fun to walk around and browse the local vendors tables (there was alot of jewellery which I loved, but I didn't splurge and purchase any).

On Saturday night we walked La Ramblas looking for a place to eat. We ended up walking right by a parade celebrating the end of Carnival. Carnival is celebrated all over Europe (kids even get a week off for it) and it is the same as Mardi Gras. The word "carnival" means in Latin "to take away eating meat". It is celebrated before lent and the costumes and wild outfits are to scare away demons. The parade had dragons and odd animals that shot firewords, there were thousands of people gathered on the streets to witness this mascarade (see pic).

On Sunday morning we hopped on our bus tour and headed on the red line (we went on the blue line on Saturday). The red line took us to the opposite side of the city and our first stop was at the Parc Guell - a park designed by Gaudi. At first, I was not excited by a park, I wanted to see important stuff - but this ended up to be my favorite part of the trip. The park was filled with mosaic designs and benches that were beautiful (see the wavy bench in the pic on the right - it is covered in mosaic designs)! The famous lizard made from mosaic is located in this park (see picture - but ignore the ass on the left side). It was so hot there - we walked around for over an hour taking in all the sights.

We got off and travelled up the mountains to a church that was located at the top. It was the weirdest sight to see a huge church that was surrounded by a circus fair....there were slides, rides, swings, ferris wheels, and tons of kids running around eating cotton candy - by a church!

On Sunday evening, we went for Tapas - I wasn't sure what I was in for - but they were delicious. Since I'm not a big seafood eater, we had less choice since seafood is so popular here, but we found some things we liked and enjoyed it. Communicating in Spanish was not easy and the tapas restaurant we went to was off the beaten track, so they didn't speak any English - we did alot of pointing and grunting when trying to communicate - but everyone was very accomadating!

We got up early Monday and left Barcelona....our flight was at 10am, so we were up early to get to the airport in traffic. Arriving in Belgium, I was in shock when I got off the plane because the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day.....I'm so used to rain here that I was in shock to see the sunshine!