10: Barcelona

So sorry its taken so long to update this blog!  These past two weeks have been absolutely crazy.  Be prepared for two posts back-to-back.

So last weekend, March 18th - 20th, Amy and I took a trip to the beautiful city of Barcelona.  We chose that particular weekend to visit since Amy's uncles would also be in town.  One of them was a conductor in Spain for years and years, so he definitely knew his way around and could potentially help us with the language barrier (despite the fact that they speak Catalan, not Spanish, in that region of Spain).

We took a later flight on Friday night and arrived in Barcelona around 11 PM.  The airport was my very first exposure to the language of Catalan.  I was a little nervous about going to a city which didn't speak English, Portuguese, or Spanish (which, thanks to Portuguese, I can read a little bit), but Catalan wasn't too bad.  First, we only saw the spelling, which at first looked like badly misspelled Spanish and second looked like the love child of French and Spanish with a taste for the Portuguese "ç".  But thankfully each sign in Catalan had both Spanish and English versions right underneath. 

Tried to take a picture of the signs to BARCELONA but... alas.

From the airport, we hoped on a shuttle, then a metro, where I heard Catalan.  Honestly, I could not tell the difference between it and Spanish.  I don't speak either, but to my untrained ear it sounded exactly the same.  Hopefully when I learn Spanish in the distant future (that's the plan, anyway), I'll be able to go back and understand how it is different.

Common room in our hostel

When we finally arrived in our hostel, we were very pleasantly surprised.  This was technically the second hostel we booked.  The first had emailed me a few days before our flight to let us know that they could no longer accommodate us.  While navigating the poorly translated email, I came to believe that their water lines had busted and therefore their facility was down.  They sent us the name of another hostel, but we went our own way and found another cheaper one.  The new hostel, however, was really nice!  There was a common room area, a kitchen, and the dorms that we were staying in were very clean.  I had been a little nervous about staying in a dorm, instead of a private room, setting, but there was no problem at all.  We discovered the next morning that the furniture in the common room and kitchen was really bright, colorful, and clean.  They even served breakfast with toast, cereal, and knock-off Nutella.  What could be better?  We got up very early that Saturday morning to eat breakfast as soon as it was available and then set off toward our first sight, Sagrada Familia, with our purses zipped closed and held tight to our bodies: Barcelona is infamous for its pick-pockets.  Even though we were only there for two whole days, I am still getting used to not clutching my bag to my body protectively here in Coimbra.  Probably not a bad habit to have though, now that I think about it...

Passion Facade

We probably should have worked our way up to Sagrada Familia instead of starting with the most impressive site in all of Barcelona.  I absolutely loved this cathedral.  I don't know anything about architecture at all and couldn't name more than two architects even now if I tried (Gaudí and Christopher Wren, thanks to a previous excursion to England in 2008), but I can safely say now that Gaudí might be my favorite architect of all time.  When you enter the complex, the first thing you see is the haunting Passion Facade, with the story of Jesus' passion and crucifixion illustrated in stark boney statues.  Even the columns around the facade are shaped like bones - which, from our audio guide, was intentional.  Gaudí was extremely detailed and, though the cathedral is still under construction, he left detailed plans so that it will be exactly as he wished it to be.  I won't continue to recite the audio guide word-for-word, but every detail was conceived and perfected so entirely.  Amazing. 

Interior

After the Passion Facade, which is only one of the side entrances, we entered through huge copper doors. I won't lie to you: I almost teared up just looking up into the cathedral.  It was amazing.  My pictures don't do it justice.  Gaudí wanted this to be the perfect cathedral and it truly is.  I was so overcome with emotion as I walked down the line of pews and to the other side. 

Looking up at the stained-glass windows

The forest-like ceiling

There we took an elevator to the top spires, where you can see Barcelona spread out as far as you can see. 

The view from the spire

Jesus as a young carpenter

Back at the bottom, we exited through the other side: the Nativity Facade.  This was entirely different than the Passion Facade.  It looked like it was melting and moving, even though it was hard stone.  There were sculptures of the Holy Family, the Flight to Egypt, Maria visiting her sister, and even an image of Jesus as a young carpenter.  I got really emotional again here.  I was completely and inexplicably enthralled with the sculpture of Jesus as a young man.  It was so incredibly beautiful. 

Gaudí's workshop

In the gardens around Gaudí's home

We continued down into the museum, which details the on-going construction and shows Gaudí's methods, workshop, and burial place within the crypt.  Then we left the Sagrada Familia to go to Gaudí's Park Guell, a fantastic area which he had originally conceived to be a living facility for the rich but failed.  Now it is merely a park, with his home placed dead in the center.  We walked around the fantastical grounds and went into his home, which now contains various pieces of furniture that he designed for aristocratic families.  After posing next to the famous lizard statue, we took the bus to La Rambla, where Amy's uncles and their friend Peter were waiting for us in a little restaurant in an isolated plaza.  They graciously bought us lunch (which was fantastic, as I had been slowly nibbling at a Nutella sandwich in my bag to avoid buying food) and then walked us around the harbor area of Barcelona. 

Park Guell

The Lizard statue

The burnt ceiling of Santa Maria del Mar

Then they led us around the Barrio Gótica, where we visited several fantastic old churches (though they didn't come close to La Sagrada Familia).  Santa Maria del Mar was fantastic: it was internally burned during the Spanish Civil War when the church officials took the side of Franco, and you can still see the carbon on the ceiling.  We also went to the national cathedral, which was being renovated.  Outside some sort of cultural event was happening: hundreds of older people were dancing in large circles to a band.  As night fell, we parted ways with Jim, Tim, and Peter and had dinner in a Spanish restaurant (tapas included!) and returned to the hostel after meandering around the La Ramblas area and shopping.

The front of the Cathedral

The next morning we got up bright and early yet again and went directly to the Harbor area, where we revisited the Columbus Monument (and I made yet more lion friends)...

New lion friend!

... the Maritime Museum...

Shark friend at the Maritime Museum

Yeah, I know this is Portuguese, Barcelona.  Not obvious from the coat of arms or anything.  But don't label it.  It's cool. 

A model of an English ship that destroyed Spanish ships.  Derp.

... and visited the sights that we missed in the Barrio Gótica, like the Temple of Augustus: Roman ruins housed within the Barcelona Hiking Club (no wonder).  We met up with Amy's uncles during this time and they again bought us lunch (seriously, the most wonderful people on the planet) before they had to leave the city.  We continued walking around and visited the Viceroy's Palace, saw the outside of the City Museum (formerly a palace of Ferdinand and Isabella), and the Cathedral again (where the strange cultural festivities were continuing, now with dancing and a parade of huge statues of unidentifiable people from all different time periods... I'm guessing they are famous Spaniards but who knows?) then went to the Picasso Museum, which was very interesting.  It houses quite a lot of his earlier stuff, which is beautiful classic painting.  You would never connect these paintings with his famous later work, like Guernica.  I'm going to be a little snooty right now and say that I have a strange relationship with Picasso... as much as I appreciate what his originality, I rather dislike modern art and he definitely contributes to that whole movement.  But, at the same time, you can see just how talented he really was... Complicated.

Okay, I'm lowering my nose now.

After the Picasso museum, we decided to forgo a large dinner for a dessert tour instead.  We stopped in a small dessert place and got freshly made waffles (mine with caramel... magic), then McDonalds (where I got McNuggets and a purse-shaped Barbie notebook), and then churros with chocolate back near the cathedral.  Then it was back to the hostel, where I passed out. 

The most delicious waffle the world has ever known.

CHURROS

Early flight the next morning, and we were back in Coimbra that Monday afternoon.  I unfortunately missed my favorite class, History of Portugal, but my friend Dan was good enough to allow me to borrow his notes.  But truly, I would have missed several History classes for Barcelona.  What an amazing, amazing city.

Sorry this was written a little curtly... But now its time for me to start writing about my birthday week and "cultural trip" to Viséu!  Até logo!