Barcelona

This weekend, the girls and I went to Barcelona.  What a beautiful city it is!  If our favorite thing about San Sebastian was the food, the best thing about Barcelona is the architecture.  There are some incredible buildings in Barcelona, such as La Sagrada Familia, which is a cathedral, and Casa Batllo, a house in downtown Barcelona.  Both were designed by Gaudi, who was an amazingly creative architect in the late 1800s-early 1900s.  On Saturday, we went to an open market that was pretty astounding.  So here again, we have a photo collage of mostly buildings and food.  Enjoy!

Me, boarding the plane to Barcelona!

La Catedral

Inside La Catedral.  Very pretty.

Although there is a small section for unpackaged produce, this is what your typical produce section in the grocery store looks like.  Everything is one a piece of styrofoam, and covered with shrink-wrap.  This is in the market inside the Corte Ingles in Barcelona.

Mi amiga Kelsita.  Parc Guell, designed by Gaudi.

The famous Curved Bench, Parc Guell.

Lunch: we have espaguettis, tortilla, ensalada, patatas fritas, y pollo. (Spaghetti, Spanish tortilla (omlette with potatoes), salad, french fries, chicken)  This was at a small restaurant where the mom and dad prepped the food, and the teenaged daughter waited tables.

La Sagrada Familia, as we first saw it, rounding the corner.  Amazing.

La Sagrada Familia

La Sagrada Familia: Panoramic shot, up and down.  I can't explain how incredibly huge and beautiful this cathdral is.

Looking up at the ceiling, La Sagrada Familia

Windows, La Sagrada Familia

Stained glass windows, La Sagrada Familia.  Shoutout to Christine for helping me with the light settings on my camera to make the colors pop. =)

La Sagrada Familia.  Such intricate work.

Sisters: This shirt made me think of you. =)

In a cafe in Barcelona.  We shared a bottle of wine... and then had to try some of the tapas too!

La Casa Batllo, Gaudi

Lightwell, La Casa Batllo.  The windows were smaller on the upper levels and bigger on the lower levels, to make up for the light being more intense higher up.  Also, the blue tiles were darker shades of blue the higher up they were to appear to be uniform with the light intensity.  Gaudi always situated his houses to accommodate to light differences, among many other ergonomic ideas: He even designed the handles on the windows and cupboards, which both went along with his oceanic theme, and fit the curve of the hand perfectly.

Rooftop, Casa Batllo.  Gaudi had many reoccuring themes in his work, including medieval influences (see the mini towers), and things related to the sea, which you can see throughout the house, mystical creatures - the crest is supposed to potentially represent the backbone of a dragon - and religion (note the cross).

Does this look like the ribcage of a mystical creature?  Attic, Casa Batllo

Front facade, La Casa Battlo.

 Okay, so the next three pictures are from lunch today, when I got back from Barcelona.  It's so good to be fed again. =)

Course One: A bowl of white beans, with the cooking juices of all the meats mixed in.

Course Two: A whole plate of mixed pork, the names of which I couldn't even tell you.  I think there was a rib (yum), "regular" white meat (yum), morcilla (blood sausage), a piece of skin with fat attached (Conchi told me I should try it even though she doesn't like it, neither does Marta or anyone else really), and the reddish sausage, which is the most like "typical" sausage.  Then, you chop up all the meat and eat with bread:

So, this is the chopped up sausage meats, which is eaten with bread.  Yummmmmmm.  The morcilla casing and piece of skin/fat is on the left side of the plate, not to be eaten.

Flying back in to Santander.  Oh Cantabria, how pretty you are.

A Subway sign in Barcelona.  Also, if you understand Spanish and are confused as to why you don't understand this sign, it's because it's in Catalan.

Burritos, hostel-style.  Tomatoes, red pepper, avocado, lettuce, chicken, tortillas.

We were able to board this ship, Santa Eulalia, which is part of the Museu Maritim de Barcelona.  Weren't the clouds beautiful that day?

The statue of Christopher Columbus.  Get it, Columbus.

Looking out over the water, Barcelona.

 

 

 

On Saturday, we went to this awesome open market.  The following pics are from this market.

Spices

Pig noses.  I'm not sure how these would be eaten...

Conejos.  (Rabbits)  Appetizing, no?

I'm very mature.  I was entertained by these lovely-shaped chocolates.

Seafood.

All in all, it was a great weekend.  Barcelona is a very pretty city.  As for the adventures to come, some of the girls and I are looking into making a trip to southern Spain, potentially flying into Malaga at a decent price... and as part of the program, we have an excursion in two weeks that'll take us to Burgos, Segovia, and Toledo.  I'm running out of weekends!  There are four left in all, one for the excursion.  Mom and Dad, I think I'm ready to start saving up for that typical "backpacking Europe" trip!

Time to go do something productive!  I love you all, miss you all!  Be good!  Enjoy rainy little Oregon for me!  Adios!