Entrance to the old Roman town of Barcino.
Barcelona
I was determined to tackle the lack of metro experience I had and only take public transit in Barcelona. For some reason, I've always stayed clear of it after excitedly boarding my first subway alone in NYC and getting lost for hours after taking the wrong subway in the opposite direction. After a couple painstaking minutes of staring at the metro map outside the airport train station, I purchased my ticket and navigated my way over to 360 hostel, where I was staying for the next 3 nights. In addition to upping my metro skills, I was also determined to overcome my fear of hostels. This was definitely a good place to start. 360 hostel was fun, vibrant and had an energetic atmosphere. They had clean facilities, a great kitchen that was open for use and so many fascinating travelers. I met people that I still keep in touch with today.
I was still on my Free Walking Tour euphoria from Venice and was eager to do one in Barcelona. There were a couple companies that offered it in Barcelona but the hostel recommended one particular company. Taking their suggestion, I awoke the next morning for Travel Bound's Free Walking Tour through Barcelona's Gothic Quarter. Conveniently, the company came by our hostel to pick people up, so I joined the group along with a fellow hostel mate, Gregory. Our guide Chrissy took us through the winding streets of the old Roman town and through many plazas while recounting Barcelona's history starting, of course, from Rome's invasion all the way up to present-day riots fighting for Catalan's independence from Spain.
The view from my window on the Frankfurt to Barcelona flight.
Barcelona is now one of my favorite cities in the world (at the top of the list with Sydney, Australia). During my time in Europe, I visited Barcelona twice: once by myself and once with my mother a couple months later. From instant I landed, I felt the vibrant and lively energy of the city, even in the airport. Later, when I learned my mother would be joining me in Europe, I knew she'd love to see Barcelona as much as I would again.
In Casa Battlo.
This feature was the coolest technology I've seen used in tourism. Usually tourist sites offer audio guided tours so you can better understand what you're looking at. But the folks at Casa Batllo took it one step further. With their audio tour, they also offered a visual guide. Essentially it allowed you to look at the room, exactly how it was furnished when it was being used, transporting you far from the realities of bumping into strangers and into a world submersed in Gaudi's creations.
Looking at the ceiling of the house from the first floor was designed to emulate looking at the surface from underwater. You can see the ridges and curves he integrated into the design to simulate the ebb and flow of water.
This is Picasso "masterpiece" is considered to the one of the ugliest buildings in Barcelona. This childish drawing started with Picasso and his friends drunkenly drawing on napkins in a bar, mocking his dear colleague Miro. When the artist and his friends left, a waiter seized the napkin and presented it to the local counsel, who promptly mistook this for a serious drawing and slapped it right on the front of the school.
Similar to many places across Europe, Jewish people were often unfairly persecuted. Jewish tombstones were taken and used to build buildings in the Gothic Quarter. You can see the faint engraving in the center brick.
This is one of Gaudi's works displayed in the city in Plaça Reial just off the roaring streets of Las Ramblas. These lampposts are one of Gaudi's few creations commissioned by the government.
Later that day, Gregory and I (who became fast friends) ventured off to one of Gaudi's creations, Park Guell. We only walked the perimeters at that time to forgo the admission fee, but I visited the park again with my mom and we saw everything then. The remainder of my days/nights at the hostel were spent hanging out with some of the staff and other travelers. The scene at the hostel was amazing and seemed to gravitate the party crowd. I always marvel at how easily travelers get along, and this was no exception. Overall, I was thoroughly enjoying the Barcelona lifestyle with my new friends: getting lost in a beautiful city by day and tapas and sangria by night.
TRAVEL TIPS: BARCELONA
DAY 1-3: NEW FRIENDS AND TOWN OUTINGS
After 3 days at the hostel, I decided to switch to an Airbnb for a different experience. I wanted to see more sights in Barcelona and wasn't being super productive with my late night schedules at the hostel. During the remaining 5 days in Barcelona, I stayed at an Airbnb with Eva and Sebas, a beautiful and incredibly kind couple. Their apartment was located a 10 minute walk away from the Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's famed cathedral, and also very close to a metro station. After settling in at Eva and Sebas's, I ventured off to Sagrada Familia and thus began my Gaudi journey in Barcelona.
Antoni Gaudi, a true ascetic in every sense, literally sculpted Barcelona into the city it is today. As many locals will tell you, visiting his architecture is an integral part of experiencing the Barcelona culture. Many of his works are littered throughout the city and his style was a forerunner for many future architects. Though Gaudi contributed much to Barcelona, Sagrada Familia was his crowning jewel. He spent the last 2 decades of his life as a devout Catholic and lived a very austere lifestyle, fully invested in creating a spectacular temple that showed the marriage between the laws of religion and the laws of nature. Construction began in 1882 and carried on when Gaudi passed away from a tram accident. Fully intent to finish Sagrada Familia according to Gaudi's vision, Barcelona has continued construction and isn't even slated to be complete until 2030.
While walking toward the cathedral, I could see the towers and construction cranes peaking into the skies. After walking another block, I finally arrived and stood transfixed at my destination. It was a massive structure that was the size of a football field and adorned in ornate carvings and sculptures. I walked to the most crowded area, assuming it was the entrance and waited for my friend Gregory. While waiting, I wandered around the front a bit trying to take everything in. From a distance, it honestly looked like a melted ice cream cone and I wasn't too sure if this was another over-hyped tourist destination. But upon closer examination, every single detail told a story. There were religious symbols, of course, but there was also turtles and other animals etched around the main entrance. I was fascinated and eager to learn about the story. Shortly after meeting up with Gregory, I picked up my headset for the audio tour and we set off inside.
As all free walking tours do, at the end of the tour, Chrissy gave an overview of the other (paid) tours Travel Bound offered. They were pretty reasonably priced so I decided to do a Flamenco show with tapas one of the nights. On my way to the show, I found a group of people doing the traditional Catalan dance, named Sardana outside the Barcelona Cathedral. The participants form a circle, lock hands and with a straight face, perform synchronized foot movements. Cool dance, but given that they all looked stone cold detracted from the happy energy.
I arrived to the Travel Bound headquarters (a bar), had a drink while awaiting my fellow show mates (my standard Barcelona drink order: a Cuban mojito). Shortly after everyone arrived, we walked a couple blocks to Plaça Reial and found Los Tarantos, one of Barcelona's oldest Flamenco venues.
My knowledge of Flamenco pretty much ends past the little dancing woman in a red dress souvenir in those cheesy gift shops. I knew it was a big thing in Catalan culture so I was excited to see the actual show.
The venue was beautiful. It was dark and intimate and the audience was It was an intense and truly passionate experience; it was comprised of a male and female dancer and three-person band. The show was a good time and the tapas afterward were amazing.
Outside the most famous cathedral in Barcelona.
This enchanting ceiling illustrates a canopy formed atop a forest. The pillars are Gaudi's rendition of trees trunks, which are massive pillars conjoining each other at top to form a concrete canopy.
This carving is found in Park Guell
The thorns were designed so birds couldn't land on them and defecate--but nothing is boring with Gaudi. He even spruced this up.
Peeking behind some trees at the serene beauty of Costa Brava
The inside was completely different than I imagined. It was an enormous layout and had so many points of interest, that it was hard to take in in one glance. Stained glass windows, resembling giant kaleidoscopes, embellished each wall and streamed in colored rays of sunlight onto the floor. There were massive columns that sprung up like trees and it almost gave the appearance that it supported the ceiling through its mighty branches. Apart from the majority listening intently to their audio tours, everyone spoke in hushed tones, amplifying the godly atmosphere.
I had a wonderful time wandering around La Sagrada Familia. The cathedral also housed side exhibits to show how Gaudi integrated elements of nature into his architecture and the history of its conception. What is so fascinating about his work is that there is a whole other layer to his architecture that meets the eye and it is that, I believe, that magnetizes flocks of visitors to his work.
DAY 4: SAGRADA FAMILIA
DAY 5-6: GAUDI'S BARCELONA
Over the next couple of days, I continued to gallivant the city and discover new treasures at every turn. I also discovered that I loved Spanish culture. Tapas and sangria were becoming my evening habit. I visited a couple other Gaudi sites during the next couple days. One Palau Güell, was Gaudi's first important commission and was built for Eusebi Güell. It is situated off the saturated streets of Las Ramblas (one of those densely populated tourist areas) but its heavily designed metallic exterior sharply juxtaposes all its adjacent architecture.
Never a dull house fixture
The next day I made my way over to the beaches of Barcelona. Not many people know exactly when Barcelona became the tourist hotspot it is today. Prior to the 1992 summer Olympics, one of Barcelona's main functions was as an import/export center. Once the city won the bid, the city took it as an initiative to restructure the city, including clearing almost 2 miles of buildings on the waterfront and creating beaches and marinas in its wake. The waterfront was littered with sunglass speckled tourists and families playing in the sunlight. The city's investment well paid off as the waterfront was one of the prettiest areas of Barcelona.
Ran into a memorial of Christopher Columbus on my walk back into the city from the waterfront.
After heading back into downtown, I decided to check out another Gaudi creation: Casa Batlló. This house overlooks the busy street of Passeig de Grà cia and is in the midst of many modern shops and eateries. In the early 20th century, the piece of land was purchased by the Batlló family because of its prime location in a fashionable area. The family wanted a daring and different aesthetic than their other homes. So to construct their new abode, they chose the architect of Palau Güell, none other than Antoni Gaudi. This home is regarded as one of Gaudi's masterpieces and has an underwater aquatic theme to it. It also showcases a lot of furniture Gaudi designed as the forefather of ergonomics (furniture that was comfortable for the human form). This was my favorite Gaudi site as it was just as much playful as it was incredibly impressive.
Though I was deeply enamored with Barcelona, I still had a couple more days over the weekend before flying to Turkey and I wanted to experience something different. After speaking with some locals, I got an overflow of suggestions to head to Costa Brava for the weekend. Costa Brava isn't too well known, but it consists of the rocky beaches extending between the French boarders to Blanes (about 60 km away from Barcelona). I booked an Airbnb and hopped on a 90 minute train to the sleepy town of Lloret de Mar. I didn't do much research before coming but I was staying at a newly built hostel run by Olivia (from Poland) and her boyfriend (from France). Olivia was gracious enough to pick me up from the train station and take me to her place. Much to my surprise, her hostel was literally a 5 minute walk to the top voted beach of Costa Brava: Santa Cristina Beach. I had a couple fantastic sun-soaked days in Costa Brava and as well as some moon-lit barbeque dinners with Olivia and her friends. It was a fantastic weekend getaway and I highly recommend it to anyone who heads to Barcelona for holiday.
I headed back to Barcelona Sunday evening and flew out the next morning. My 10 day Spanish excursion was everything I wanted and more, I had fallen in love. I was headed to Turkey but a little part of me didn't want to let go of Barcelona. To my supreme delight, I was able to take my mom when she visited and she fell in love with the city almost as much as I had.
When I brought my mom to Barcelona, I knew what spots she would love most. She is a very spiritual person so I knew she'd greatly appreciate all of Gaudi's creations. We pretty much covered the same spots I had before (Sagrada Familia, Casa Batlló), but we also explored Park Güell more deeply than I had before. We fell in love with Gaudi's integration of nature and aesthetics in the park and even visited his modest house on the grounds to gain a better understanding of his lifestyle and how it influenced his work. My mom adored Barcelona when I took her and I was ecstatic to wander the city with one of the people I love the most.