BARCELONA

As some of you may know, Barcelona somewhere I've been dying to go to for pretty much my whole life, since my Uncle Dave lives there and I've been hearing tales of its beauty for decades now. But of course the weekend I flew there my uncle was out of town! He still arranged for his friend to pick me up from the airport and drive us around the highest point in Barcelona, as well as arranging an awesome flat in Barcelona for us to stay at for dirt cheap!


I flew in late on Wednesday night, so my real adventures didn't start until Thursday. I was heartbroken to find that it was pouring raining all day. I was so annoyed with fighting the rain all day that it didn't really seem like I was in Barcelona. To stay out of the rain we went into the Picasso Museum first. This museum was interesting because it showed Picasso's work chronologically and one could see his progression as an artist. However, there weren't any well-known paintings and it was pretty small so we headed off to bigger and better things. The Chocolate Museum! A bar of chocolate was included with entry so that alone was worth it. On display were the steps of making and cultivating chocolate, as well as a lot of cool chocolate sculptures! 

Gaudi's lizard made in Chocolate!

The real lizard in Guell Park!

 After the museums and grabbing some lunch, we just walked around Barcelona. I'm usually all for that but it was raining pretty badly! We did see one interesting sight along the way: a Dunkin' Coffee sign! They have these in Madrid too but I finally got around to taking a photo of it. I didn't try any, but I just think it's funny how they changed the name slightly. Anyway, we went to a famous market that was colorful with all the fruits, candies, and meats for sale there.


After a siesta we went out to this amazing authentic hole in the wall Spanish restaurant. Jasmine and I headed back to the hotel room to get ready to go out before Alex arrived! As it turns out, Alex's phone didn't work so she was waiting outside for about half an hour before she could call from a phone next door to tell us she was there! We were like the 6th floor so there was no way we would have heard her at the door! Once we got settled we headed out to club Opium on the waterfront. We got in for free and enjoyed this snazzy beach-side club for a few hours before heading back to our flat. We had a room to ourselves that was basically three twin beds all squeezed next to each other. Worked for us!

 The next morning we awoke to beautiful weather and headed to Guell Park-designed by the architect Gaudi who has designed several unique buildlings in Barcelona. It was breathtaking! Almost everything is covered in mosaics. 

Guell Park-see what I mean about mosaics?

More of Guell Park

Guell Park!

Inside the caves where they did an America's Next Top Model episode!

 Next we headed to La Rosa Negra-a Mexican restaurant in Spain. It was great food and a great atmosphere with bright flip flops and dolls all over the walls. Next my uncle's friend Tony picked us up in his green Mystery Machine van as I like to call it, and drove us up to the highest point in Barcelona. We got there just at sunset. 

Overlooking Barcelona at sunset

No explanation needed.

colorful candy for sale at the market!

 That evening after seeing the park and views of Barcelona we went to a Flamenco show. I had already seen one flamenco show in Madrid and another in Sevilla, so I felt that I had gotten the gist of it so I wasn't too thrilled at the idea of going for a third time, but it was only 8 euro meaning that my program would pay me back 7 euro as part of our cultural reimbursement program, so I figured-why not. It turned out to be the best flamenco show yet! It gave me a deeper appreciation of the dance form and music. Then we went out to eat in the same squre where the Flamenco show was and headed out for a few drinks before finally heading to another beach front club-Shoko. 

Sagrada Familia!

Then it was up bright and early because Alex and I wanted to see the Sagrada Familia, a church designed by Gaudi. Unfortunately the lines were literally around the block so we just admired it from the outside and shopped around. One good thing that came from this was a really unique painting I bought from a street vendor in the area! Then Alex and I headed to Casteldefells which is where my uncle lives, and we met up with my aunt and cousin for lunch. On the way there we discovered how easy it was to take the commuter rail in Barcelona. 


Once got back, after the usual siesta we went out to dinner with the same group of friends as the night before. We ended up gonig back to the restaurant that Jasmine and I went to on our first night just because we knew it was good! We went full out, ordering croquetas (think jalepeno poppers filled with ham, but better), pitchers of sangria, salmon salad, patatas bravas (basically french fries with thousand island dipping sauce), and these things:

A regional delicacy that's  really hard to eat.

That evening we met up with a family friend of my uncle's who was 20 years old. They took us down to the port area where we danced the night away and I got to practice my Spanish on real Spaniards! It was a great time and we headed home at the modest hour of 5:30 am.


My flight was around 4pm the next day and Alex's was that evening, so we sort of rolled out of bed and headed to the airport. We took public transportation there, saving us a ton of money. Alex had to check in online for her flight when she realized she accidentally booked it for 630am, not 630pm! I hate military time here so much. Honestly this could happen to me too, and I can't believe she was able to have such a level head about it all, I would've freaked out!


Another interesting fact aside from the military time is that they speak Catalan in Barcelona, which is NOT Spanish. It's still a romance language as it's a combination of Spanish and French (I think). Everyone spoke Castellano though (the form that you and I know as "Spanish"), so I was able to get along well enough.


There were a lot of things I didn't see in Barcelona, but it's all good because I already have two other flights booked to return again. Until next time Barcelona!


PS here's Alex's blog and Jasmine's blog if you want a different perspective on how the weekend went!