Barcelona

 

Right out my hostel door

Day two of the weekend getaway we woke up to our hostel that was right on the beach. I literally rolled out of bed and walked out the glass front doors of the hostel and walked out to the beach to watch the sun rise. It was phenomenal.  

Sagrada Familia

We made our way to the famous Catholic cathedral, Sagrada Familia. It has been under construction for 100 years. We were joking that our courses have trained us to immediately go to the cathedrals when we travel. Sagrada Familia is at the top of the tourist chart for Barcelona so that worked out nicely. The façade was astonishing with its intricate detail. It surprised me to find one side very modernized with sliding glass doors and the other side gothic style from over a century ago. The Pope was visiting the cathedral the next day so there was a lot of preparation going on- flowers, chairs etc..  

Casa Batillo

Gaudi is Spain’s claim to fame. He was the Catalan architect of modernism who did the Sagrada Familia as well as many other buildings in Barcelona. His work uses modernistic tiles and contorted shapes. We walked from the cathedral to Gaudi’s Casa Batillo, Casa Amatller, and Casa Lleo Morera. Each was unique and beautiful in a different way. It was cool to see the old European buildings of Spain contrasted with Gaudi.

We hiked up to a park that overlooks the city of Barcelona and it was well worth every second of the ascension. Gaudi had made a winding bench along the cliff for people to sit and enjoy the view. We took advantage and basked in the sun while a couple of Spanish guitar players serenaded us. It was a great spot to people watch too. 

We walked through the Gothic district and down the famous shopping street La Ramblas. La Ramblas comes to life during the daytime. There are tons of people dressed up for the tourists to pay for a picture or really just for entertainment. The last place that we went was the Catalan Museum. The large fountains out in front are the best part, but unfortunately they were under construction.

Barcelona, Spain is gorgeous and I’d love to go back there again with more time one day.  

Guy Fox Day was the day that we flew back home to London. It’s a widely celebrated holiday celebrating the failure of a planned bombing on parliament. On my flight back to London I looked out the window and watched firework shows the entire descent. It was the perfect way to end the trip.