A weekend in Barcelona...

Hello, everyone! I'm back in Granada, very tired yet very happy, after a wonderful trip to Barcelona and Valencia. As I wrote in my last post, last Thursday night I boarded a plane from Granada to Barcelona to begin a 6-day long "weekend" with Anais, John and a group of five of the other students from the GRIIS program. Why did we have such a long break at the beginning of December? Well, December 6th is a national holiday here in Spain (Día de la Constitución) as is December 8th (Día de la Inmaculada). With both these days being holidays, in most places in Spain (but not all), the 7th is considered to be a "bridge" that connects the two days and thus many people have the day off, especially students and teachers. With such a long weekend on our hands we eagerly boarded the plane and landed in Barcelona around 10:30pm on Thursday, December 2nd. As it was so late, we didn't do anything more than find the apartment where we were staying (located in the area of Barcelona known as "La Rambla") and grab a quick bite to eat. However, on the bus from the airport to La Rambla, the area where we were staying, I couldn't help but be amazed by the sheer size of the city. Barcelona is a huge and majestic-looking city and appeared even more so due to the bright lights adorning all the buildings, trees and plazas for Christmas. As we hung out in our apartment that night before heading to bed, we were all very eager to start exploring the city the following day!

On Friday morning, the seven of us slept in and celebrated the start of our vacation with something completely un-Spanish- brunch! Here in Spain there's really no equivalent for American brunch and we had all been craving our favorite breakfast foods for quite some time! So, we went to the market and bought the ingredients to make scrambled eggs and french toast. With toast, fruit, orange juice and coffee rounding out our feast we stuffed ourselves until we couldn't possibly eat any more. How American! At 1:00pm, John and I started receiving phone calls from Anais saying that her plane had landed and that she was on her way to the apartment. After Anais got settled in, our group went to St. Joseph Market (La Boquería) to see all the food and other booths.

The entrance to the St. Joseph Market (La Boquería).

Delicious, fresh -and cheap!- fruit for sale.

A booth selling meats and cheeses. Note the hanging legs of ham (patas de jamón) that are very popular here in Spain!

Fresh seafood (marisco)... it was still alive and wriggling about on the booth!

Upon leaving the market, our group split up for the afternoon. The five other GRIIS students- Jayson, Liz, Courtney, Molly and Amy- bought tickets for a tour bus to see the major monuments in Barcelona. On the other hand, John, Anais and I went on our own walking tour of the city since they both had already visited it before. We started out by walking down the streets in La Rambla, ending up at the Port de Barcelona (Barcelona's port). It was a beautiful afternoon and we enjoyed the warm, sunny weather as we strolled.

Walking around "La Rambla."

Me, Anais and John by Barcelona's Port.

Port de Barcelona.

What a beautiful day we had! Sunny and warm!

I wanted to go sailing!

After walking along the boardwalks, we headed into the city's Gothic quarters. There we walked along the narrow streets and were surrounded by small plazas and beautiful old buildings. After stopping for a snack of chocolate con churros, we saw the Picasso Museum, the Cathedral as well as the Barcelona's City Hall. To end our first day in the city, we made our way back to St. Joseph Market and bought German sausages for dinner.

John and Anais, mapping out our route.

One of the many churches in Barcelona.

About to enjoy some delicious chocolate con churros!

Barcelona's Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia is very impressive to see, despite being under renovation.

The Gothic-style cathedral dates back to the 13th century but wasn't finished until the early 20th century.

Barcelona's Ajuntament, Catalan for "City Hall."

As we were eating, the rest of the group returned to the apartment. We were all tired and didn't feel much like going out to a club or the bars that night so we decided to stay in and hang out amongst ourselves. We were enjoying Spanish beer, listening to music and playing card games when we heard a knock at the door. Expecting an irritated neighbor coming to complain about the noise, we were thrilled to find three Irish kids our age in the hallway asking if they could join us! The three Irish- Eoghan, Ciara and Joey- were staying in the apartment across from ours and were in Barcelona for a mini-vacation, too. It was great to meet them; they were so friendly and funny and got along really well with everyone from our group! As they're from Dublin, I'm hoping to try and maybe see them again when I visit Ashton sometime in the next few months!

Moving very slowly Saturday morning on account of having been up so late with our "neighbors" the night before, we had a leisurely breakfast as we drew up that afternoon's plans. Full and freshly showered, we set off to catch the metro to head up to visit the Sagrada Familia. The Sagrada Familia is perhaps the most famous "monument" in Barcelona- it's a stunning Roman Catholic church (Basilica) designed by architect Antoni Gaudí. Although it's still incomplete, the Sagrada Familia is breath-taking to look at and it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Having arrived at the church too late to enter, we again caught the metro and headed over to Parc Güell. This, too, was designed by Antoni Gaudí and was built between the years 1900 and 1914. The park is beautiful and we made it there just in time to watch the sun set over the city!

The Gaudí Museum, found at the entrance of Parc Güell.

Climbing the stairs in the park to overlook the city.

My friend Liz and I next to the famous chameleon statue.

I love all the mosaics and the colors found around the park!

Jayson, Anais, me and John.

The view from the top. Barcelona at dusk.

Most of the group, from L-R: Amy, Molly, Courtney, Anais, Jayson and John.

 Later that night we decided to experience the nightlife in Barcelona. We went to a club called Razzmatazz and spent the night dancing in the giant club- 7 floors! The club was much, much bigger than any of the clubs here in Granada and it was fun to experience "big-city" nightlife for a change!

Sunday was our last full day in Barcelona. We headed back down the port and climbed the Mirador de Colom, or Columbus Monument. From atop the monument we were able to see some incredible views of the city.

Mirador de Colom.

Port de Barcelona.

Overlooking La Rambla.

Next we made our way back to the Sagrada Familia to take a look at the inside. What I thought was stunning from the outside was even more incredible from the inside; Gaudí was truly a talented visionary.

The Sagrada Familia.

Isn't it lovely?!

The alter.

Looking up! The pillars are meant to resemble trees.

John, me, Anais, Liz, Jayson and Courtney.

It's hard to believe that even with all this detail, the Sagrada Familia is still incomplete and under construction!

We spent the rest of the afternoon strolling through the city and eventually made our way back to the house for a "home-cooked dinner" of sausages and salad. Deciding to stay in again on account of having to check-out the next morning before heading to Valencia, we invited our new Irish friends over again and spent the night hanging out and having fun in the apartment. The next morning at 10:30 we said good-bye to Barcelona and made our way to the train station to begin our next adventure!