Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

after a small breakfast of cafe con leche and a croissant, we got in the (surprisingly) clean subway and headed to sagrada familia. we exited the subway with our backs to the cathedral. turning around creates a natural reaction of holy crap is that real? antoni gaudi’s architectural masterpiece looks like a humongous sandcastle that dr. suess wishes he created. there are thousands of sculptures covering it inside and out… and they aren’t even close to finishing the building yet. it’s about 50% done. Gaudi got to see the bell towers finished before he died and apparently was sooo proud. but i joked that upon seeing them he exclaimed, “seriously?! you built this? i was just messing around! i was goofing! this thing can’t be built!” but it was… is being built, despite gaudi’s crazy nature and hyperbole themes.

ashley and i learned an important lesson while at sagrada famila. bread from the previous night (regardless of it hot freshness) and a croissant do not nourish the body enough. we struggled mightily all the way to la rambla to eat one of the few vegetarian restaurants i could find… but it was closed until 3pm… because spain’s sense of time is completely skewed. a lot restaurants open afternoon, close around five, then open around seven until the wee hours of the morning. it takes some getting used to.

la rambla is interesting. it’s not necessarily my favorite place in the world, but it’s fun…. especially for people watching. it is prime for that. but it’s mostly a tourist trapped filled with pickpockets and people selling crap nobody wants. la rambla ends at port vell and the mediterranean ocean. we ended up at a nice little cafe with a outdoor seating overlooking a beach. we ate some quiche and enjoyed the surroundings… well… the naked guy kicking a soccer ball wasn’t too enjoyable. it’s always the people that SHOULDN’T be naked that get enjoy public nakedness. why is that?

after a bit of a rest, ashley and i headed back to mont juic for a magical fountain show at la font magica. it’s a very corny name, but as we turned the corner at plaça espanya i said, “holy crap.” holy crap indeed. the fountain show is quite magical. all the fountains along the boulevard are flowing in full glory with changing lights and patterns. it was very cool.

after watching the show, we headed back to la rambla and at dinner at the vegetarian restaurant we tried earlier. i’m really glad we did. for 17 euros we shared a 3 course dinner and dessert that we so good… even if it was all vegetables. the fake meat in the main course actually tasted like meat. very surprising.

making up for lost sleep, we didn’t wake up until noon. we quickly got into gear and headed out to park guell, not before we stopped at an extremely colorful cafe and had my favorite new food: bocadillas. okay, bocadillas really aren’t anything new considering it’s a sandwich… but it’s an awesome sandwich made with small toasted baguette and usually filled with ham and cheese because the Spanish love their ham. it’s everywhere. ham flavored doritos. shops dedicated to ham snacks. it’s quite gross. i usually choose tuna bocadillos. i especially like the fact that mayonnaise has only touched my sandwiches once.

okay. back to park guell. this was supposed to be a giant artsy housing development with homes designed by gaudi… but that didn’t pan out so it’s a large park in the hills above barcelona. but at one of the entrances, there are two gingerbread looking houses and a few other gaudi buildings. there are also a lot of broken ceramic sculptures, tiled walls and a giant courtyard filled with peddlers and street performers.

ashley and i then started a long hike up towards tibidabo. the highest point of barcelona is reached by getting to the top of a giant hill, and then taking a tram up an even larger hill, going into temple de sagrat cor (a giant cathedral), taking the lift to the balcony, going up stone spiral stairs, walking around to the side of this skinny balcony, then taking an internal spiral staircase, until you are standing on a tiny walk space at the feet of a big jesus high high high above barcelona… a lot of this area of spain for that matter. the only thing that can compete with the view from sagrat cor is the ferris wheel and other amusement park rides that are directly next to this sacred building. yes. the amusement park is literally next to it. spitting distance. it’s rather odd. we rode the ferris wheel and ashley got scared because she’s a little girl. she cried for leche but no leche came.

on the way back down from tibidabo, we stopped at the CosmoCaixa (science museum). it ended up being a free day which was nice and was full of wonderful science-y things. it really is for kids… but come on… everybody enjoys places like this. their special exhibit was all about explaining the science of tricks, whether it be tricks your mind does or explaining some slights of hand. there were some clever little bits. there was also a really cool perminant exhibit of a rainforest…. literally. they transplanted a bit of rainforest into a large humid glass room. filled it with birds, piranhas, and a capybara and let kids walk through it. fun.

after some more bocadillos and gelatto, we called it a night. in the morning we headed back to barcelona airport and head out to the balearic island of mallorca.

Via | TravelPod

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