Day 7 - Barcelona

View from Gondola

Montjuic with Barcelona in background, including the last three remaining columns from medieval wall

Gondola with Barcelona in background

Castle on top of Montjuic





Looking down at the port from Montjuic


Panorama of Barcelona from Montuic


View from atop the cafe from belowV
See the cafe at the top of the park...we went up there

Port of Barcelona
Port of Barcelona

Me in front of Sagrada Familia, represeting with my FSU shirt

Sagrada familia
Las Ramblas
Valencia



Just woke up to the sound of dueling saxophones. The rough pattern of the sheets imprinted on my skin. Today was our second day in Barcelona and it turned out to be a beautiful one for pictures and sight-seeing. We rambled down Las Ramblas street all the way to the port, climbed up to the top of Montjuic park, rode the gondola back down. Sorry for not posting for the past 3 days, we have not had alot of down time.

Our last day in Valencia was very nice. We visited the beach, walked barefoot along the mediterraen for a few minutes and ate some paella near the water. On our last night there we went out for a couple beers and ended up getting lost in the again maze-like streets. We tried to find our way back but only succeeded in getting further lost. Eventually we just decided to take a taxi back to our street and it turned out we were almost halfway across the city in a bad section of town, haha. Valencia was a very gorgeous city, but the vibe there was just different. We think it is more of a vacation town, and the people seemed a little less friendly than they did in Madrid. It was also a Monday and Tuesday night, so not as much was going on. Our hostel was also very loud at night and we didn´t get much sleep. It was really cool to see and I got some good pictures but I was glad to get out of there.

The train to Barcelona went past some really nice sights. It basically follows the coast all the way to Barcelona, and we got some great views of the Mediterranean and of some nice Spanish villas and houses along the way. We arrived in Barcelona yesterday morning around 11, checked into out hostel and began our trek. The first stop was the Sagrada Familia Temple, partially designed by the famous architect Gaudi. Do they ever love Gaudi around here. The name manages to pop up everywhere you go. The temple kind of looks like a giant drooping mud castle from a distance, but once you get up close, you see the intricate detail of all the carved figures and you start to understand the geometry and design behind it, it is very surreal and hard to describe. Its too bad it was still under contruction and there were cranes and blocked off areas and materials all over the place, marring the image.

I also realized something - I haven´t talked about food much yet! Last night we had a feast of epic proportions. We met up with our friend Rachel and her roomates last night. They are from our hometown of Jacksonville, FL, and recently moved to Barcelona to get a certification to teach English in Spain. They are living in the main center of the city and are taking classes and teaching English at the same time. We met them in the Catalunya plaza near the city center and went to eat at a nice hole in the wall place off one of the side roads. Around here, ¨tapas¨are popular. They are basically small portions of one thing, meant to be ordered in groups to form your whole meal, or to enjoy with a drink on the side. For our meal, each one of us ordered a single tapa and we also ordered a double dose of seafood paella for all to share. First came the tapas: steamed mussels, grilled spinach, grilled shrimp con allioli, sauteed wild mushrooms, and something else amazing that I forgot. After the tapas comes a giant pot of paella. It all tasted delicious and by the time it was all gone we were all quite satisfied. We walked around a little bit longer with Rachel and her friends and finally cashed in around 1:30 to a sauna-like hostel with no air conditioning or fan.

This morning we moved our stuff to a new hostel and soon thereafter began our next trek. Check out the pictures of the view from Montjuic! Wow! Excellent panorama views of the sea, the city, and everything from up there. We also had a ¨cafe con leche¨from a cafe up near the top of the park, an excellent view of the entire city.

Well, like I said earlier, I just woke up from a nice nap after walking about 20 miles, again. Time to shower up and get ready to go out tonight for some more tapas and drinks and sights! Last day in Barcelona tomorrow before we fly to Florence, Italy.