This weekend, I had the pleasure of visiting the beautiful Spanish city of Barcelona. Seriously, what a treat. Barcelona may have been my favorite city so far. My mom said "You think every city is your favorite!" and this may definitely be true, but I think Barcelona was the favorite of my favorites. Great food, beautiful city, great atmosphere and culture! There was a large group of us from the Furman group going (13 girls and 1 boy, hey Russell!), all thanks to the delightful 40 Euro roundtrip ticket from Ryanair! Anyway, we arrived in Barcelona on Thursday night late, where we headed straightaway to our hostel. Because it had been a long week (hello two papers and a midterm), I pretty much collapsed and was out for the night. The next morning we woke up early with plans to see some of the best Barcelona sights. Inevitably, however, we got lost while walking. Maybe I should just change my blog to "Leah's experiences lost in Europe". Anyway, it ended up being a happy mistake, because we stumbled upon the harbor in Barcelona! So great to be near the water again. We walked along the harbor for a while, just enjoying the beach and all the boats. We then decided to head into the center of town, where all of the churches were located. Again, we got lost, but mistakenly ended up right outside of the Barcelona cathedral- something we hadn't planned to visit, but took a quick peek inside and were really pleasantly surprised. It was the typical European gothic cathedral with a twist- the inside was full of plant life, an open ceiling, and even geese! It was botanical bliss! (Even better, there was no entry fee). After the cathedral, we stumbled upon the first of several outdoor food markets of the weekend and got to try some delicious samples. Like Sam's club, but so, so much better. We then decided to head to the Picasso museum just before lunch. I've talked before how I really don't have an appreciation for art, but I actually really enjoyed this museum. Picasso's work is just very different from anything I've seen before, and unlike the stuff I saw in the Albertina in Vienna, the art actually did seem meaningful to me. After the museum we grabbed a quick lunch and headed to my favorite place of the day, Park Guell. Park Guell is this garden complex with architectural elements, and it was designed by Antoni Gaudi, the famed Barcelona architect (more on him later). Being there was like being in a beehive. Many of the structures were influenced by natural elements, and so were very unique. I can honestly say I've never seen anything like it. I feel like I can only really explain the layout through pictures, so see below! Anyway, Park Guell was my first taste of Gaudi, and I seriously loved everything about it. After Park Guell, we headed back on the bus that we thought would lead us to our hostel (seriously, does anyone sense a theme here?)...and we ended up at the last stop, where the bus driver promptly informed us to get off...at the beach. Three miles from our hostel. We initially were going to try and make it back, but then we just decided to go ahead and hang out at the beach until dinner, which we'd planned to have by the sea anyway. We took off our shoes and played in the sand, and then hopped over to a tiny outdoor restuarant, where the 6 of us who were there split some nachos, guacomole, and sangria. I don't think my stomach has ever been happier. Mexican food is my absolute favorite- at home I eat it at least once a week, so it's been torture being over here without it. The nachos were delicious, and not to mention I got to try the Spanish classic drink, sangria! It was delicious! It's like wine with little pieces of fruit floating in it- very good. We killed some more time just hanging by the beach until we decided to go and check out the restuarant scene. Adair and I had our hearts set on trying paella for dinner, and we went up and down the seaside looking for semi-reasonably priced restuarants that offered it. Did I forget to mention that most restuarants in Barcelona don't even OPEN for dinner until 8:30? So even when we'd decided upon a restuarant (by about 7) we still had an hour to kill before it even opened. Like I said, the Spanish lifestyle is relaxed, and nothing is in a hurry, not even dinner! When 8:30 rolled around we were all starving. We settled on a 20 Euro fixed price menu that included a salad, paella, a dessert, and a drink (beer, wine, or water- seriously sometimes in Europe beer is cheaper than water. It blows my mind!). I'd never tried paella before and don't particularly care for seafood, but I was not disappointed. They bring the paella out in a dish big enough to serve several people (and most restuarants won't let you order a single portion), and then they spoon it onto your plate for you. Paella is like a combination of seafood and rice (neither of which I like, so looking back I'm not sure why I tried it, but I'm happy I did!) and it was DELICIOUS. The rice is very seasoned and the seafood tasted great. I definitely loved it. It was a nice, relaxing long dinner with great people. When we finished, our server brought us all what looked like shots, but turned out to be some type of "digestif". I decided not to partake, as straight alcohol was a little too much after that heavy dinner. After dinner we had a bus ride (the right bus this time) back to our hostel and headed to bed. The next morning, we woke up early again with plans to visit Montserrat, a mountain top monastery in Catalonia, Spain, right outside of Barcelona. It was at least an hour train ride away, with a cable car that took you up the mountain. We bought our train tickets and were on our way! An hour later, we hopped off and hopped right into an aerial cable car. The view was completely magnificent. The mountains were breathtaking, and I definitely had one of those "is this actually my life?!" moments. I have to admit I'd been pretty bummed about not being at Furman for homecoming this past weekend because my sorority was paired up with the fraternity a lot of my guy friends are in, and I just love homecoming in general, but this gave me some perspective. While my friends were building a homecoming float (which is so fun, don't get me wrong) I was on the side of a mountain in SPAIN. Anyway, when we reached the top, our first visit was to Santa Maria de Montserrat, a beautiful Benedictine abbey. We came in right as mass was ending, and the abbey was completely breathtaking. There are some places where you just feel God's presence, and sitting there in that abbey on the top of this beautiful Spanish mountain, I couldn't help but tear up. I was definitely in the presence, and I took a few quiet moments to just say thanks once again for the wonderful opportunities that God has afforded me. After the abbey, we grabbed a quick lunch and headed up to where the best view of the entirety of Montserrat could be seen. Unfortunately the cloud cover was too great, so we couldn't get much a view, but we hiked around the area for a little and hung out. We headed back down to the main part of Montserrat, in time to catch the cable car back down and just barely catch the train that only leaves once an hour back to Barcelona. Thanks to some rude people in line, not everyone in our group was so lucky, and we ended up having to leave several people behind. This turned out to be okay though, because our next stop was Sagrada Familia, and the people who were left had already seen it. So now: Sagrada Familia! Oh. My. Gosh. It was INSANELY gorgeous. I have never been so interested in architecture as I have been in Barcelona. Sagrada Familia is another Gaudi brainchild. The outside literally looks like a melting wax candle, but the inside is like someone took a traditional cathedral and made every aspect of it modern. Everything Gaudi did was inspired by nature, so there were things that looked like bee hives, flowers, and plenty of color everywhere. The natural lighting from the stained glass windows turned the walls different colors, leaving this overall effect of being in a type of paradise. We first walked around the cathedral, then the museum attached that explained all about Gaudi and his work. Turns out Sagrada Familia won't even be finished completely until 2030, which means it will have taken over 150 years to build! After we'd had our fill of Sagrada Familia (well not actually, because I could have stayed there forever), we met up with our friends on a popular shopping street to visit the Spanish chain Zara. We spent an hour or two shopping (the shops were open until 10, thanks again Spain, and once again no worries Mom and Dad- no purchases, to my dismay) and then headed to a nearby square for a tapas dinner! We all got tapas and yes, again we decided to splurge on some paella. It was just too good! After dinner we caught a flamenco show nearby. It was so interesting. The dancing was beautiful and the dancers literally had so much passion- on their faces and in their movements. The emotions were really intense. We decided to top off our night with a traditional Spanish dessert of chocolate and churros. They literally bring you a CUP full of melted chocolate, and you dip churros, this type of fried sweet dough, into it. Not the healthiest thing, but delicious nonetheless. The next morning we had a flight bright and early back to Brussels. It was so sad to leave Spain. I seriously loved everything about it- the food, the architecture, the culture, the people- everything was perfect. It definitely tops my list of places I can't WAIT to revisit!
You'll have to indulge me, there are a lot of pictures for this blog!
Anna and I at the harbor
hello morning in Barcelona!
Barcelona cathedral
geese! in a cathedral!
one of the outdoor markets
Park Guell!
view from Park Guell
more Park Guell
it looks like a beehive!
Park Guell, seriously awesome
some more Gaudi in the Park
sangria and guacamole!!
best.day.ever.
the beach
paella!
cable car up to Montserrat
the view
breathtaking!
cloudy
soooooo pretty
view from the abbey
inside the abbey
hiking at the peak!
Sagrada Familia
the interior
shadows- best lighting ever
reflection from the stained glass
chocolate and churros!
My next post will come after fall break, which will last from this weekend until the next! I'll spend this weekend until Tuesday in Berlin, then fly to Greece and be in Santorini until next Saturday. CAN'T WAIT!
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