When I reached the Barcelona airport, I actually recognized
a great deal from when I was there last. Unfortunately, this didn’t save me
from not being able to find the bus stop, which took several tries to find and
one time of almost getting on the wrong bus. Eventually, though, I found it and
boarded, and we were off into Barcelona.
It was amazing, as soon as we were in the city, I began to
feel my body relax and my mood to move from planning and worrying to a quiet
happiness. The sun warmed my body and the familiar views warmed my mind.
Eventually we reached the Plaza Catalunya (very familiar
territory), and I walked to the hotel without needing to look at directions the
entire time. Once there, I dropped off my bags (and my inner coat layer since
it was a gloriously warm temperature outside and sunny) and was off. I
immediately headed down the ally behind the hotel that leads to the Rambla.
Although I love the Rambla with a large part of my heart, this back alley has
got to be my favorite street in Barcelona. Besides being a convenient
passageway to one of the most famous streets in Barcelona, it is amazing in
itself due to having a ton of wonderful clothing shops (some examples include a
funcky boots store, the Sky republic [a fun boho clothing store], and a store
that sells only 50s retro and gothic clothing). It also has my favorite bakery
in Barcelona where I bought donuts every day of my stay.
And then I was on La Rambla again, and the sun was shining,
and nothing could possibly go wrong. I stopped in another shop for a company
based in Barcelona that sells amazing but ridiculously expensive clothing.
Unfortunately, this is one of my favorite clothing brands in
existence so I try to buy their clothes infrequently. I had budgeted possibly
getting one shirt since I wear their clothes enough to justify the expense in
small doses, but I was really worried when I found that a larger store had just
opened for the brand across the street! However, for then, I was just
window-shopping, so I let the sun soak out the trepidation, and I continued to
walk in bliss.
 |
| La Rambla |
 |
| Street performer on La Rambla |
 |
| Street performer on La Rambla |
 |
| La Rambla |
By the time I was done looking into clothing shops, it was
time for lunch, so I headed in La Boqueria. For those who don’t know, La Boqueria
is an open-air (but under shelter) market that sells amazing (and cheap!) food.
Mostly the market deals in fresh produce such as fruits, vegetables, and meats
(there is a huge section in the middle solely for seafood), but it also has
stalls selling hot food, candy, gelato, and a ton of fresh fruit smoothies.
 |
| La Boqueria |
 |
| One of the many smoothie stands at La Boqueria |
 |
| La Boqueria |
 |
| La Boqueria |
I
ended up buying some wonderful Chinese food that I washed down with a raspberry
smoothie (a little too sweet for me, but not bad). While I ate, I mostly people
watched from some tables at the front of the market while two older Spanish
gentleman smoked and gossiped behind me. Eventually I finished and got gelato with
oreos for a desert that I could eat while walking.
 |
| My lunch |
 |
| My drink |
 |
| My dessert |
I still had time before I
could check in to the hotel, so I continued to walk down La Rambla. I ended up
walking to the very end of the street and finished my dessert next to one of
the large lion statues under the Christopher Columbus monument.
 |
| Christopher Columbus monument |
 |
| Some of the lions guarding the monument. |
It was very
relaxing and enjoyable leaning against the lion, but eventually amount of
smoothie I drank reached my bladder, and I decided that going back to the hotel
would be a good idea. Luckily I reached the hotel after I was allowed to check in,
so I was able to quickly get up to my room. After unloading my bag and relaxing
for a bit, I then grabbed my wallet and headed out to do some shopping at some
of my favorite stores in the world.
The first shop I stopped in, the Sky Republic was a bust. I
tried on quite a few clothes, but only one of them looked nice on me, and it
was just a size too big to be considered for purchasing. My wallet and I both
breathed a sigh of relief (more money for my favorite store!), and I headed
out. I stopped in a few more stores down the alley towards La Rambla, but
nothing in them appealed to me enough to actually try them on, which was a good
thing. But then I was on La Rambla in the bigger version of my favorite store,
and I was getting worried. By the time I was done going through the store, I
probably had more than twenty articles of clothing to try on, and none of them
were cheap. However, as I tried on shirt after shirt after dress, I could not
find a single thing that looked nice on me.
Except one shirt. It was mostly in oranges, purples, and
blacks, and the main image displayed waves on the front. The style of the cut
reminded me of my other shirts (which was probably why it looked so good on),
and the fabric was extremely soft. I was all ready to buy it and be happy with
my new addition, except there were these two extremely itchy swaths of fabric
down the back. After agonizing for a bit (and realizing that I would never wear
something so itchy), I put it back and headed out of the store. I was a little
sad to see it go, but I consoled myself with the thoughts that my wallet would
be much happier and headed off to explore some more. Soon after that, I found a
bookstore, but the only copy they had of Alice in Wonderland (which I collect
in other languages) was boring and ugly. So shopping ended up not creating any
fun purchases, but it was now time to leave the shops and go looking for
interesting sights to see!
In my guidebook, I had found some notes on the old Jewish
quarter in Barcelona so I decided to head there next. It was just off of La Rambla
on the other side of the street from La Boqueria, so I didn’t have much trouble
finding it. However, once in it, I discovered that the area really didn’t
contain any references to its past. On the contrary, the area was now mainly
filled with clothing shops. Really interesting clothing shops. I stopped in one
with some mod styled dresses first, but didn’t really find anything that wowed
me, so I continued on. The next shop, however, was a goldmine. It was mostly
filled with summery dresses, but dresses of the likes that I have never seen
before and for a lot cheaper than my favorite store’s prices. I also brought a
lot of clothes into the dressing room to try on there, but this time I found
three that I absolutely adored and was extremely wowed by. So I ended up
getting them, and I’ve already worn one since.
 |
| Old Jewish quarter |
 |
| Old Jewish quarter |
From there, I headed toward the very old synagogue just a
street over. Due to the change in street level since when it was built, I ended
up going into the basement of a building to see it. Inside, there were two
rooms. In the first, I could see remains of the old floor and walls through the
glass floor I stood on. I then was taken into the other room by a guide who
gave me a short personal spiel about the history of the building (it was
discovered when some guy was looking through old tax records of the Jewish
ghetto) and some of the things in it (like a copy of the letter found in the
building requesting an expansion of the synagogue from the city). She then left
me to take photos and look at some of the old plates and other objects in their
display cases. Eventually, an older couple came in, and I felt it was time to
go.
 |
| Entrance to the synagogue |
 |
| Inside the synagogue |
 |
| Some of the items on display |
I went back to the hotel to drop my new clothes off, and
then I headed out for dinner. Since most of the food shops in La Boqueria that
I liked were closed, I ended up just getting a kebab sandwich on La Rambla for
dinner and then went into a fancy pastry shop to buy dessert (I bought two
donuts and a chocolate pastry thing). After that, I headed back to the hotel to
relax, and then I skyped with Nora for a bit before going to bed.
The next morning after I got up and showered, I set to
packing. With my new clothes, things didn’t fit near so well, and I spent many
minutes rearranging things this way and that before I finally decided to leave
my used guidebooks behind. This made me sad since I was planning to give them to
the Accademia and write notes to future students, but, in the end, more
important things needed the space in my bag. After that, it still took a bit of
wiggling, but it eventually all fit.
I then checked out of the hotel and left my bag to go see some
of the sights I had been recommended. My first stop took me back down La Rambla
and right up to and over the water. The water was a sparkling blue under the
warm sun, and I couldn’t help but stop for a bit to soak up the sun and the
beauty.
 |
| The bridge I took |
 |
| The beautiful water |
 |
| The bridge |
 |
| The shipyard |
 |
| One of the interesting statues in the water |
I eventually made it to the other side of the bridge, and I walked down
the port looking for the aquarium. In the guidebook I found at the Accademia,
the previous user had wrote a note saying that the aquarium was amazing, had a
student discount, and should be seen at night for less crowds. Unfortunately, I
had missed my chance to go at night, but I figured it couldn’t be too crowded
at this hour in the morning, right? Wrong. There were so many schools bringing
their students to see the fishies that some of the time I had to either wait to
see a tank or could barely concentrate due to the screams. However, after the
beginning room, I was able to loose them mostly, and the rest of my
explorations were much more calm.
Overall, I really enjoyed the aquarium. It wasn’t the most
interesting or largest I’ve seen, but the shark tank was so cool (you stood on
a slowly moving walkway that went through a tunnel through the tank. I’ve never
seen a shark’s mouth and belly so close up before!), and the octopus tank had
four very active octopi who I thoroughly enjoyed watching for a while. One was
zipping all over the place and putting his underside against the glass, two
were sitting in a corner holding tentacles (so cute!), and the last was
stretched out on the back of the tank. I sat and watched them until the school
children caught up with me again and I left. The seahorse exhibit was also incredible
because they had so many types of seahorse and most of them were moving around
so I could pick them out from their environments. Eventually my camera was
running out of picture space, and I had seen all of the exhibits, so I left and
had lunch nearby.
 |
| One of the seahorse exhibits |
 |
| The main stingray tank |
 |
| Random fishies! |
 |
| The shark tank |
 |
| My favorite tank! This is one of the few shots I got of this guy sitting still. |
After that, I walked back across the bridge and sat on the
water’s edge to enjoy the sun and the view again and to plan my next stop. I
decided to head to El Raval, a street that ran parallel to La Rambla and
apparently had an awesome cat statue. Luckily, the street that would take me
there was close by (just the street to the left of La Rambla coming up from the
Columbus statue), and I headed up it. A pretty short time later, I had reached El
Raval. There wasn’t much to do there, but I thoroughly enjoyed people watching
(some guys were playing soccer, lost the ball, had an older man kick it back
awesomely, lost it again, had a middle-aged lady accidentally kick it farther
away, retrieved it, and then they lost it up a palm tree. How? I have no clue,
and I was watching) and petting the giant cat statue.
 |
| El Raval |
 |
| The cat statue on El Raval |
By the end of the street,
I was close to La Boqueria, so I walked over there to take some pictures and to
buy another raspberry smoothie (again, it was a little to sweet, but not as
much as the first so I ended up drinking it all).
By that time, I had decided to go to Park Güell (the
Gaudi park), but my camera was nearly full and dying. So I headed back to the
hotel, where the very nice desk clerk let me pull out my charger and computer
from my bag, and I took 30 minutes to relax and charge my camera.
After 30 minutes were up, I put everything away and headed
to Plaza Catalunya. I took some pictures and drank some water there, and then
headed up the Paseig de Gracia to get to the bus stop and then took the bus up
to the park.
I entered the park through a side entrance so the famous
lizard was not the first thing I saw. Instead I saw the columns on the right
side of the park first. Not feeling particularly impressed, I climbed through
and up to the top of them. I was really excited to get some general pictures of
Barcelona from high up so I figured that the trip wasn’t a complete waste at
that point. I then continued upwards and found the house of the people who
originally owned the park.
 |
| Columns I saw as I walked in |
 |
| House of the original owners |
Still not too impressed, I headed down and to the
left side of the park, mainly following some guys who looked like they knew
where they were going (since I had no clue about where all of the interesting
sights in the park were and the signs weren’t helpful). Eventually, I saw the
thing they were headed towards and broke out on my own. It was a giant rock at
the top of a hill with steps carved into the sides and a flat area and cross at
the top. I obviously had to climb it.
Once I got to the top, I knew that coming to the park was a
great idea and that I owed a big thanks to everyone who suggested it. From the
top, I had the wonderful sun bask down on me and a complete 360 degree view of
the city (hey look! There is the Sagrada Familia!) as well as of the park.
After taking a ton of pictures, I just sat and enjoyed the view and warm breeze
ruffling my hair. It was the perfect place to just sit, and I realized how much
I truly love Barcelona (to the point that I put it on my lists of possible
places to live and of my possible honeymoon vacation destinations).
 |
| The pile of rocks at the top of the hill |
 |
| A part of the view |
 |
| Mi piace molto |
It was hard to tear myself away, but eventually the time and
my growing need to seek a bathroom forced me up and off my wonderful rock, and
I climbed down. Though the fun continued at the bottom since some guy was
playing a guitar, so I ended up dancing my way down to the path off the hill.
From there, I headed over to the big open area I had seen
from the hill, which I figured was an important part of the park. The columns
there were similar to the ones I had seen before, but the benches, with their
wonderful tiling, were so much fun to look at.
 |
| Columns in the courtyard |
 |
| One of the benches in the courtyard |
 |
| Close up of bench in the courtyard |
 |
| Close up of a bench in the courtyard. |
I then headed down below the
courtyard and absolutely loved seeing the designs on the ceiling it sat upon. I
then headed from underneath it and found the steps where the lizard and other
attractions sat. I after looking around a bit, I found out that I actually
preferred the fountain below the lizard fountain and found someone to take my
picture with it.
 |
| Picture of the ceiling tiles |
 |
| Picture of the ceiling tiles |
 |
| The famous lizard fountain |
 |
| Me with the fountain I preferred. |
After that, my camera was dying again and the need to find a
bathroom was still growing stronger. So I headed out of the park through a
different route, spying the museum along the way. I then took the bus back,
though I got off a little before the Plaza Catalunya to take some pictures of
the other famous Gaudi buildings on the Paseig de Gracia. I then ran across the
Plaza Catalunya to the McDonalds in order to use their bathroom there.
Feeling much less hurried, I then walked to La Boqueria to
get dinner. Unfortunately, a lot of the hot food stalls had closed by that
time, so I ended up just going to a kebab place for dinner (which was okay, but
strange since my meat was actually in a baguette so it was a little crunchier
of a meal than I expected). I then stopped back in my favorite bakery for one
last donut and went back to the hotel. I then picked up my bags, walked quickly
to the Plaza Catalunya, grabbed a quick drink of water, and got on the bus back
to the airport. I ended up arriving there very early (which was sort of good
since I almost walked to the wrong gate area), and I took some of the time to
work on these blog entries. Eventually I boarded the plane with a heart unhappy
to leave, but excited to see what would come next.
Hasta luego Barcelona! I’ll hopefully see you again soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment