There are several things to know about Barcelona, the
capital of Cataluña, before visiting. Cataluña is one of the 17 autonomous communities
within Spain (similar to states in the U.S.). They have two official languages—Catalan
and Castellano. Castellano is what we call Spanish and Catalan is another
Romance Language specific to this region. Currently in Spain there is talk of
secession based on the unique nature of the Catalan culture, but that is
another story for another day.
Our cross-country journey began at 11:30 on Friday night and
the bus ride there was about as enjoyable as you would imagine a 10-hour,
overnight bus ride through Europe might be. Fluctuating air temperatures and
constantly trying to get comfortable (Hailey ended up sleeping on the floor)
was the name of the game. Around 3 am the bus stopped so we could stretch our
legs. It sounded like a great plan until we realized we were in the Middle of
Nowhere, Spain at a closed gas
station. Our sleepy selves couldn’t believe what was happening. Apparently the
bus driver is a decent sweet-talker because after several minutes of waiting, the
gas station opened and all 35 of us proceeded to use the one-stall bathroom.
Bright side: we managed to get this great photo of Fernando.
Our Hotel was something straight from the Jetson’s. Complete
with a no wall bathroom and blue lights adorning the base of the beds. We felt
like we were sleeping in the year 3000 or underwater—sometimes it was hard to
decide. Complementary breakfast and spotty Wi-Fi (the saga continues) rounded
out our “home” away from Canelejas for the weekend.
After our luggage drop and a quick teeth brushing we hopped
on the bus and headed down to the center of Barcelona with one main goal on our
list—the see the Mediterranean Sea. We surely weren’t disappointed, the crystal
blue water and the stark white sailboats took our breath away. Just check these
pictures for proof.
We met up with the crew and it was off to our first main
stop, the Picasso Museum. On our way we meandered through the Gothic Quarter of
Barcelona, which contained beautiful cobblestone streets (duh), palaces (more
duh) and churches (most duh).
Picasso is a pretty neat dude and painted some cool
paintings. Sorry, no pictures here. The guards would have locked us up if we
had tried. Just trying to stay out of European jails.
 |
| "Castell" a Catalan tradition of building human towers |
Barcelona day 2 began with a museum—classic Europe.
Preservation of medieval frescos and portraits entertained us for a hot second
but held us captive for over two and a half hours. Shout-out to Fernando for
being long winded. However, the views out front were beautiful and promised us
a perfect day.
We decided to split from the group and go see what true
Barcelonans, Spaniards, and Europeans love most: fútbol. Camp Nou, home of FC
Barcelona, turned out to be more than just a sporting experience. Of course, we
loved seeing the stadium, going down to the pitch, and admiring decades’ worth
of trophies. However, we learned so much about Catalan culture, what they value
and believe in, and how one club manages to embody it all.
Possibly the most famous Barcelona tourist location is La
Sagrada Familia; a basilica that has been under construction for over 120
years. Gaudí—Barcelona’s most iconic architect—was the driving force behind the
design and his plans are still being executed today. Beautiful and thought
provoking this church certainly stands out as unique compared to the more
typical designs that we have seen.
 |
| The Lord's Prayer in Catalan |
Continuing with our Antoni Guadí day we left to head to Park
Güell, a sanctuary of green and 20th century
art in the midst of this bustling city. Ice Cream and conversation kept us
entertained on our long, hilly walk there but once we arrived, the views of the
city were breathtaking.
 |
| Nightly light show at Font Montjuic |
We begrudgingly marched back to the spaceship hotel for a night
full of modern slumbers.
Magically we awoke the next morning, without an alarm, 30 minutes
before we had to be downstairs. We still had time to soak up the 4th
free shower in two days and enjoy a very filling, delicious, no-pancake
breakfast before Fernando said ¡Vale!
and called roll to take us back to sweet home Salamanca. War Eagle.
Barça, you gave us your best. Now we will make the best of our last full
week here.
Ja ens veurem.
Hailey & SK
No comments:
Post a Comment