Part 2: “If you get to Chris Colombus, you have gone too far”
It’s been a few crazy weeks back from vacation, school is finally in full swing and I have projects/essays every week, but now I have some time to sit and actually tell you about what happened and how amazing Spain is!
The first four days were spent in Barcelona. Barcelona is really pretty, but it is also a very big city filled with tourists even in the off-season. Our first day there Sandy, Lea and I started off the trip right with tapas and sagria (the first of many to come). The next day we woke up nice and early and got a move on to go to Park Guell by Antonio Gaudi. This park is beautiful, we got lost on our way there and ended up going in the back way, which was all up-hill, but the view at the top was well worth it. Gaudi was a Spanish architect who specialized in mosaics, Park Guell is kind of like…well, it’s hard to describe. I guess the best way to put it is that if an artist made a hiking trail on a hill, overlooking all of Barcelona, this would be it.
I guess I need to explain these pictures. There was a trail that led toward the front of the entire park that was like a giant rock wave and on the wall of this wave were these rock nests, so naturally, Lea, Sandy and I decided to do a photo-shoot. I think they came out quite nice! It was absolutely gorgeous there and I could have spent all-day just walking around taking pictures. That same day we went to Sagrada Familia. This Cathedral, which has been under construction for over 100 years, was to be the great achievement of Gaudi, unfortunately he was run over by a tram car before it was finished. It was started in 1883 and by the time of his death (in 1926) the cathedral was only one quarter of the way finished. And even now, it is only about 60% completed but is still under construction. We got there just at sunset, which I recommend for anyone going to Spain. I really don’t believe I can do this Cathedral any justice through words or pictures. When I entered I was completely swept away, I had no words.
Our third day turned out to be a big win for Emily (who we met up with, along with her brother and cousin) who planned a hike at Parc Natural de la Muntanya de Montserrat. This hike is only two-miles long, but it is entirely uphill/upstairs. The view from the top was absolutely amazing. It was so cold and windy when we got to the top, but you could not help but looking over the edge. I felt like I was at the top of the world, overlooking all of Spain.
I would highly recommend this hike for anyone visiting out-doorsy visiting Barcelona. Our last full day in Barcelona we woke up (a little late, a little sore, and a little hung-over) and went to the huge outdoor market at St. Joseph. After that we mosied over to the Picasso museum where they had one of the best exhibits of an artist I have seen. It was set up in chronological order so you could see how his works progressed, plus there was an entire section dedicated to his works based off of Velasquez’s “Las Meninas”. After that we went back for siestas and took one last night for drinking and dancing before our early morning metro/train/plane to Màlaga. Of all of the places we went to on our trip, I did the most in Barcelona. Sight-seeing, hiking, dancing, going to markets, and I still did not do everything there is to do!
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