Weekend Trip to Barcelona!

Hello everyone! I can’t wait to tell you all about my long weekend in Barcelona. We left Chambéry on Thursday after class which was the Fourth of July. First we took a bus to the Lyon Airport and then after waiting in the airport for a while we jumped on an hour flight to Barcelona. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when heading to Barcelona. Spain seemed so mysterious to me because I hadn’t learned much about its history and I hadn’t heard much about the country. Little did I know that I would love Spain so much and specifically the Catalonia region which is where Barcelona is located. Here are a few small facts that I learned about Spain, Catalonia, and Barcelona over the last few days. The primary languages is not Spanish but Catalan which is a mix between Spanish and French. It is legal to be completely naked anywhere as long as you have shoes one. Catalonia wants to separate from Spain and become its own country. Having bull fights is hated in the area and the last time they had a bull fight in Barcelona was two years ago which 95% of the attendees were tourists. The region is very accepting of the gay community. The people of Catalonia are very independent thinkers and are very accepting of tourism. The sand of the beach in Barcelona was imported from Egypt. Lots of interesting facts that I learned and I was only there for three days.

I went with two other girlfriends and we stayed in a hostel that was very close to some of the tourist sites. We decided to buy a three day metro pass so it was very easy to get around the city. On the first day we went to the Church of the Sacred Family and that is where I got my first look at the work of the great Gaudi. The church was just absolutely beautiful and its not done yet and won’t be done till 2024, I believe. Gaudi had died while building it and all of his plans of the church got destroyed. So since Gaudi, there have been artists who have came up with some mock plans of the building. One face of the churcj portrays the Nativity scene, another tells the story of the Passion of Christ. Inside was very beautiful. Gaudi was inspired mostly by nature and you could tell. After the church we ate at a buffet and then headed to Gaudi’s Casa Batlló. What a beautiful house. Its so hard for me to even explain the house because it was like nothing I had ever seen. While I was in the house, I felt like I was under the sea. The outside was inspired by a dragon that was taking over a castle but had a sword in it. Then we walked down to the beach to check it out. This is where we got our first glimpse of the neudity that Barcelona is so famous for. Then we made it to the park and saw a beautiful fountain that was also created by Gaudi. This fountain reminded me a lot of Italy for some reason. Here are a few photos of the day of Friday.

So the next day we took a free bike tour around Barcelona. Man was this an amazing way to explore the city especially because it was free! I learned lots of fun facts and was able to ride a bike around. After this we went to Gaudi’s other house called Casa Mila, nicknamed La Padrera. This house is not seen as big of a beauty as the other but it definitely had its own charm to it. The roof was the best part of it. It was not like any roof I had seen because it has lots of different shapes and it was HUGE! Again the house was influenced by nature and more specifically the sea. After the visit we stopped at Zara, a clothing store, real quick and I got a dress because we were going to go see Carmen. This was absolutely amazing and I am so thankful that the girls I went with didn’t mind going to this Ballet Flamenco. I had never seen a full performance of Flamenco so it was a great treat for me. Probably one of my favorites and we ended up sitting in amazing seats because there weren’t very many people in the theatre. Here are a few photos of this day.

Our last day in Barcelona was filled with shopping, eating, walking, and the beach. We didn’t have a lot of plans and it was mostly a day of relaxation. It was on Sunday night that we realized that we did not have enough time in the city to see every thing that we wanted to. We were so bummed about our last night but we spent it on the street of Las Ramblas sipping on sangrias and laughing and just enjoying life. This weekend was definitely one of my biggest highlights of my summer. I can not wait till I go back to Barcelona some day and explore other parts of Spain.

I have been in Europe for a little over seven weeks and I have around five weeks left before I head back to Montana. I only have two more weeks of classes and then I will have to say goodbye to friends that I have met here. I am not looking forward to this because I have met a lot of new people that I love as friends greatly. I know that it won’t be goodbye forever to the friends that I am closest to but I refuse to think about this too much. I’m not exactly sure what is to come this week but I know that I will try to spend as much time as possible with the people that are around me. I hope that everyone is enjoying their July. Till the next time!