Barcelona

Since my spring break is now over, I have time to write some new posts.  For the first part of my break I went to Barcelona, Spain for a few days.  Of all the places I have been so far, Barcelona reminded me of Rome the most at the time.  Looking back, I think that what made me think that was the similar climates because Barcelona definitely had a different feeling.  The first thing we did in Barcelona was to go see the different houses that were designed by Gaudi, who was a famous Catalonian artist and architect.  All of the houses that he designed are really crazy looking.  They were really colorful and looked like sandcastles - not like they were made out of building materials.  After looking at the houses, we took the metro to La Sagrada Familia which is a church designed by Gaudi as well.  The church was huge and looked like it was made of mud.  Apparently part of it was damaged in a fire and it won't even be finished until 2030.  I can't imagine what it will look like when it is finished.  Each side of the church looked different and it kind of reminded me of a monster.  Also, all the statues looked similar to Cubism art.

Gaudi Houses

La Sagrada Familia

Then we continued onto the Parc Guell which is known as the Gaudi Park.  It was one of the most breathtaking things I have ever seen.  It was just pavilion after pavilion of mosaic benches and designs.  There were a lot of little houses that looked like gingerbread houses and alot of underground walkways that  were styled like mud and tree roots.  In the front there was a huge mosaic of a lizard and the staircase was decorated with a mosaic as well.  The park was on a hill, as well, so I could see all of Barcelona extending into the ocean.  I also spotted La Sagrada Familia from the hill and it dwarfed all the other buildings.  It was definitely my favorite part of Barcelona.  I could have spent all day walking around because it never seemed to end.  

The second day in Barcelona I went to the Picasso Museum which has over 3,000 of his drawings and paintings.  The museum went in chronological order from Picasso's start as an artist to some of his most famous works.  A lot of his sketches were on display and I liked those because I didn't even know that Picasso started off doing more normal styles of art.  The end parts of the exhibit were my favorite because they had all of his Cubism paintings which were really colorful.  There was also a special exhibit at the museum that was about Picasso's involvement in anti-Fascist propaganda during the Spanish Civil War.  I enjoyed that exhibit because I learned a lot more about his life.

After the museum we walked to the port in Barcelona which was beautiful.  The weather was really nice that day so it was nice sitting on the water.  The port area of Barcelona reminded me of Florida or Los Angeles because there were a lot of wide streets lined with palm trees.  After the port we walked along Las Rambla which is the main boulevard.  On Las Ramblas there is a huge market selling every kind of food you could possibly image.  They had really disgusting meat products including every kind of animal tongue, intestines, and even whole goat heads that were skinned but still had the eyes on them.  We were all freaking out when we saw that stuff and I can't believe people actually buy that.  The seafood selection was really extensive as well with hundreds of kinds of shellfish, shrimps, and I even saw a whole octopus.  They did have alot of exotic fruits and vegetables too.  At night we went to the Barri Gothic, which is the famous cathedral in Barcelona.  It wasn't very well lit though because it was under construction so I didn't get a very good picture.

Overall I really enjoyed Barcelona and I wish I had more time there because I felt like there was still a lot more to see.  It also made me realize that I would like to travel around Spain more because there are so many different regions and cities that I didn't even consider visiting.