Barcelona? Barca? Barthelona??

When Jenny was visiting me back in August, we got to take a trip to Barcelona! She needed to fly out of BCN so we went a few days early and just explored the city. Rebeca and Sandro's family has an apartment in Hospitalet de Llobregat (basically a subdivision connected to Barcelona) so we only had to pay for food and such while in the city. I really enjoyed visiting the city, although the first day was kind of difficult because we basically had NO idea where we were in relation to the city itself and it took us forever to find WIFI so that we could get our bearings.

Random story time:

On our first day, we were looking at a map pasted to a bus stop, trying desperately to find where we were on the map and a Spanish lady walked up to us and asked if we needed help. She was a huge blessing because she stopped someone else on the street who knew where we needed to go and the second lady walked us to the correct bus stop! That first lady was definitely a blessing from God because there is no way we would have gotten to the right bus stop without her! It was also great because we used that bus stop every day to get where we needed to go.

It would be quite difficult to write a blog post about four days which means I am going to give you a little briefing on some of the things that we did. I will throw in some photos as well, just for fun =).

My favorite place we visited would probably have to be La Sagrada Familia. It is an AMAZING church that has been under construction since the 19th century. Quite a lot has been completed but there is still a lot of construction on the exterior that needs to be completed. We got to walk all around and inside the church; it was simply marvelous! If you ever go to Barcelona, it is definitely a must see.

One of the sides of the Church. This is the portion that has been completed for the most part.

This is the view you would have if you walked in the real entrance. We had to walk in from the side because the entrance still needs more work.

It took us quite awhile to get to La Sagrada Familia on the first day because we were quite silly and rode the bus for WAY too long. We missed the stop and almost rode the bus for it's entire route! Talk about frustrating. Thankfully we never made that mistake again.

That arrow is where we ended up... Can you see where we were supposed to be?

On the first day we met up with a family I had made friends with at the hotel family sports camp. They were so kind to meet us in Barcelona and we enjoyed a lovely dinner with them at an Italian restaurant. After dinner we walked up and down two main streets, Catalunya and Gracia, and enjoyed a coffee in a little cafe off of calle de Catalunya.

After the frustrating time we had riding the city bus on day one, Jenny and I decided to buy two day passes on the "Bus Turistic". This proved to be a very good plan as it enabled us to get all around the city and see lots of fun things. It was so great to be able to hop on and off at different locations and sometimes we just rode the bus around and listened through headphones about the interesting history of Barcelona.

The shopping in Barcelona was pretty fun as well. In the well-populated areas there were seriously an H&M or Zara on every street corner. I think I must have seen at least six or seven of each store while we went all around the city. I got a great new outfit from Zara and I even bought some Harem pants at H&M! =)

A famous artist from Barcelona, Antonio Gaudi, has created some amazing pieces of art and architecture. His work is like it was created from a fairy tale and is unlike anything I have ever seen. I love the homes he built and I really enjoyed going to Parc Guell. The last forty years of Gaudi's life were devoted to La Sagrada Familia, which he never got to see finished. He left specific details for the architecture of the church, though, and I know it will be amazing when it is finally completed. I hope to someday go back to Barcelona and see it completed!

A home by Gaudi

The view from Parc Guell

On our busiest day, Jenny and I went up to Mount Tibidabo. It was quite a trip but I am glad we did it. First, you have to take this blue tram to get up the first part of the journey.. Did I mention that it is a hundred years old? Yikes.

We then took another elevator/car/tram thing to get up to the verrrry top.

At Tibidabo there are some really cool things to see and do. The views of Barcelona are spectacular and if you are feeling adventurous, there is a theme park that has rides that are well over a hundred years old. Unfortunately the park was closed when we were there =(.

There is also a really pretty church up at the top that I really liked exploring. You could take an elevator to the bell tower but it was 1 euro so we passed up on that.. haha

On our last day in Barcelona, Jenny and I took the bus to the beach! It wasn't the nicest beach I had ever been to, but I loved being able to walk barefoot in the sand. We even played a couple of games of beach volleyball with some Spanish guys. They were really nice and even "let us win" one game... We had a yummy seafood lunch right off of the beach at a cool restaurant (which was called "Opium"...random. I know.). The restaurant was quite tasty and for 15 euros each we got: a coca cola, bread, salad, a seafood platter, and an amazing dessert. The dessert was probably my favorite thing. =)

The food we had in Barcelona was pretty good. I am sure it would have been a little better if we had been with someone who knew more about the city, but I still enjoyed our meals. One of my favorites was when we had a light sandwich(mine was cheese and asparagus!) and a couple of tapas (along with a clara*). This meal was exactly what we needed at the time and it wasn't too heavy.

I would definitely go back to Barcelona! Especially now that I know how to get around =). The city is rich with amazing architecture, art, and a wonderful culture. I really enjoyed my small taste of Barcelona, and I hope that I will return for a longer period of time one day.

Thanks for enduring this LONG post!

I am going to become more diligent about posting in these last weeks, I promise!

Cannot wait to be back in America in about a month!! =D

Love,

Amy

*A "clara" is a lightish beer (like Heineken) with Lemon Fanta. It is REALLY refreshing and so good. Jenny and I got them all the time while she was here.