On the Trail of Gaudi

After a weekend of recovery from Nice/Monaco we left for Barcelona at 6 am on Friday March 18^th, the day after St. Patrick's day. I think I should explain that a bit first - St. Patrick's day in Aix was interesting. It's obviously an Irish holiday, and there's not a large Irish population down here, so the only people that celebrated were the internationals and the young French who used it as an excuse to drink. It was also a beautiful day in Aix, and Nicholas Sarkozy (the President of France) was visiting, so we spent the day trying to figure out where he might be, and celebrating “la fete du St. Patrick.”

Jump ahead only a bit to me on an another uncomfortable bus ride, after a poor night's nap, which got us to Barcelona at about 1 pm. The usual suspects – Holly, Mara, Jordan, and I – quickly broke from the group to avoid mass confusion and clingers. We created a game plan at a cafe and enjoyed cheap eats– I love our efficiency. We spent the rest of the day wandering the area. Our hostel was located in the Gothic Quarter, so we were very close to “La Rambla,” the large tree-lined pedestrian mall between the Gothic Quarter and El Raval (the area closest to the port). We wandered the Gothic Quarter and stumbled upon the hotel I stayed at during my previous trip in the 8^th grade. We then walked along “La Rambla” making a quick stop in the Mercat de la Boqueria (a market) which is probably the coolest food market I've seen yet. We strolled up to the port, admiring the architecture along the way. Barcelona was the most different feeling city I think I've been to yet. It was definitely still Mediterranean, but not French, and definitely not Italian. It has quite the art nouveau feel thanks to Gaudi.

The Market

We sat on a bench and took in the rays for quite a while, as we were not feeling supremely motivated due to our early wake up call. And our short day concluded with an enjoyable tapas dinner on “La Rambla.” Even though Barcelona has quite the party city reputation, we hit the hay pretty early in preparation for the heavily packed day before us.
The four of us welcomed the addition of Ericka Grimm on our journeys the next day, starting with the Picasso Museum. The museum was created by Picasso’s lifelong friend, Jaume Sabartés. Picasso had given Sabartés many paintings, drawings and prints during the course of their friendship and Picasso himself suggested he put a museum in Barcelona due to his long connection with the city. It was the first time I'd ever been to a museum dedicated solely to one artist, and what a great one to start with. Picasso went through so many different periods and styles in his art that it was never monotonous. After spending the morning there, we zipped over to the Mercado to grab lunch food. We bought a day pass for the metro system and continued on up to the Parc Guëll to enjoy a picnic in the iconic park designed by Antonio Gaudi. We lingered in the sunshine, watching who we like to think was an Olympian working on his fitness regiment with his trainer, listening to the many bands playing for crowds around the park, and tasting market fresh fruit and fish. 

Parc Guell

 
 We then headed to the next Gaudi fantasy piece, the Sagrada Familia. It was closed for a special event, but we circled the outside a few time marveling at the intricacies and whimsies that covered the building. 

The Sagrada Familia

 
Next stop on our Gaudi part of the day, Casa Batlló. The local name for the building is Casa dels ossos (House of Bones), apparently it has some very skelatal qualities. It is situated in a very prosperous area of Barcelona and once was a house, but is now open to the public. 

 
We crossed Gaudi off of our list an headed to the Olympic Stadium. It was a confusing hike there after exiting the metro, but worth the delay because we got to watch the sunset over all of Barcelona from the top of the hill which the Olympic Village is situated. I was charmed by the upkeep of the area, as opposed to the 2004 Olymic Stadium in Athens which was not well-kept. I envisioned the international camaraderie of the opening ceremonies, and then the personal and national victories that were won in the area and had little nerd-gasms the entire time before we had to press on. We decided to descend via another route, which turned out to be the best decision of the day. We walked down through a park and happened upon the National Museum of Art of Catalonia which is in a stunning castle-like building that overlooks levels of fountains and governmental buildings and the city itself. 

The Olympic Torch at Sunset

Olympic Stadium

The tiers of fountains overlooking the city

The Art Museum

 
We stopped for pictures only to hurry up again to see the fountain show that was starting. We were drawn in by the water shoots and kept rapt the entire time by the lights and Disney music (what country doesn't love Disney classics?) It sounds like it shouldn't have been so exciting, but we all felt like happening upon this magical spectacle was a reward for being super sight-seers. After the completion we headed on to the metro stop where we were again stopped, this time by a friend of mine. I just happened upon my friend Lara, who is doing her study abroad in Barcelona. I had been in contact with her previously, but we had no intentions of meeting up in this moment. 

Fountain show with Mara

Running in to Lara

 
Spirit elevated by this meeting, we continued on to the FC Barcelona stadium to see soccer fans flood the stadium for an elimination game. It was a very different feel that an American Sporting event, chants were coming from the stadium before anything had even taken place. 

Barca Street Stands

 
Having covered massive territory that day, we retreated back to the Gothic Quarter for some street food and then a pleasant night out.

The next morning we headed to “La Rambla” to find the Market closed, so we settled on McDonald's on the boardwalk for lunch (so American) before laying out on the beach and then in the grass for the rest of the day. We had packed so much in the day before, we felt we deserved a nice break before we departed at 4 pm the next day. 

The Beach

 
Another successful weekend trip!