La ciudad global

Sleeping on cold marble floors at the airport before our flight! 0.o

Barcelona definitely felt like a more cosmopolitan city compared to Madrid. Well, we were staying at hostels where travelers from all over come and go, but I got that global vibe everywhere we went. Barcelona is a city in an area of Spain called Catalonia. So here, Catalan is the common language, but they do understand Spanish. Not that it was evident, though. Whenever we tried to speak Spanish with waiters or shop owners, their replies were always in English. Frustrating, but understandable.

Our hostel was near La Rambla, this long street famous for its various stands and moving statues. It was a touristy place, which we unfortunately found out after eating at one of the pricey restaurants on the street. 

Guess how he's floating?

Acrobatic dancers performing for restaurant customers

One of my favorite places: a market off of La Rambla that sold everything from fruits and vegetables to sweets and pig's heads.

Our first cultural visit was to Picasso's Museum. It holds most of his earlier works, before he started cubism. It was so strange to see how his paintings slowly started changing and becoming more childlike. It's often said that he had to prove that he could paint like an adult when he was a child, but when he became an adult he painted like a child. "Desde niño pintaba como Rafael, pero me llevó toda una vida aprender a dibujar como un niño." 

Entrance to Picasso's Museum

Petra

  
After the museum visit, we found this hard-to-find restaurant called Petra for lunch and it was deliciousss. Their menu was printed on wine bottles and the restaurant had a very antique and quirky feel. 




We can't miss out on the night life, can we? We went to a bar called Chupitos (I think it's a chain of the same kind of bar) that sold over 200 different kinds of shots. The eleven of us (by the way, it was SO difficult traveling with eleven girls) ordered a shot called Harry Potter. hehehe of course we would. The bartender filled our shot glasses, then placed slices of oranges on top of each. He sprinkled some kind of seasoning on them and then lit them on fire. After blowing out the fire (which we were all awed by), we took the warm orange slices first and then had the shot. It was surprisingly sweet and GOOD. 

At the Chupitos bar

During our last full day in the city, we went crazy for Gaudí. Antonio Gaudí (I wikipedia-ed him when I got back because I knew almost nothing about this guy) was a Catalan architect from the Modernisme period. His works are pretty noticeable throughout the city and he has a very unique style. 

 

One of the first works we visited was Park Güell, a place that was like a mix of Alice in Wonderland and Hansel & Gretel. 

The view from outside

Then we visited THE place to go for Gaudí, La Sagrada Familia. The girls and I stepped off the metro and looked up at the cathedral and the first thing we said was, "It's so ugly that it's amazing." The cathedral is unlike anything I've ever seen before. Inside, it was more astounding. The place was like a distorted stone forest. It surprised me that they actually hold mass in this place! One girl described it as being like the work of a child who was playing with clay. But you knew that it wasn't all just random. It was all planned out. I think it'll be a while before the cathedral is finished being built. Gaudí died before he could finish it, so it's still under construction (supposedly until 2026). 

During our last night in Barcelona, most of us were pretty exhausted. The few stupid ones (like me) decided to go out for the third night in a row to a pub crawl hosted by the hostel we stayed at. So we spent our Sunday night at a small bar and then headed over to a club called Opium, near the beach. OH I almost forgot to mention the beach! It was beautiful. We walked along a boardwalk with palm trees and the sound of the ocean was so nice to hear. It's unfortunate that I only got to see it at night, but after dancing for hours in Opium, a friend and I walked barefoot in the sand and it was sooo relaxing. I forgot how much I missed the beach. =)


All in all, Barcelona was a successful first-trip for us. We learned what NOT to do (like try to go see all the sites with all ten girls) and what to bring (towels, extra socks, a BRUSH for goodness sakes). It's a huge city that was lots of fun but it can also get very tiring very quickly. It was nice to return to quiet Alcalá. And I say we're pretty prepared for our next trip, wherever that may be!!!