Land of Gaudi

At 7 am, all bright and early, we arrived in Barcelona. We threw our things into a locker and decided to just roam around the city a bit since we had some time to kill until the Eurolines office opened. We found ourselves at a rather nice park, which began with an arch called Arc de Triomf. Despite the overcast weather, the park was lovely. There was a gorgeous fountain, though it wasn’t turned on. Finally the office opened, we got our tickets to Prague with no problems (FINALLY), and were off to find our hostel to dump our stuff and explore. Our first day we decided to invest in a metro day pass so we could see everything that was a bit farther away. We started at the Park Guell, which was designed by Barcelona’s most famous architect, Gaudi. It was a pretty interesting to see a park that was designed by someone who thinks in such a unique way as Gaudi. The park is on the north end of the city and sits on the side of hill, so the farther up you venture, the better view of the whole city you have. At the entrance, there’s a staircase that has some statues and other smaller buildings, but there were so many crowded into this area that we just kind of breezed by it. Under this giant walkway are a series of tons of columns with decorations covering the ceiling. Interestingly enough, all of the outside columns actually leaned out. Most of the park was a series of pathways that lead to various different types of terraces and lookouts that all reflected the same idea, but all had their own individuality. Eventually we made our way to the top of the park, where we could see the entire city. It was awesome. There were also various different musicians playing throughout, some of whom were incredibly talented. After we’d had our fill, It was back down the hill and onto the metro to the next stop.

Next up, by the far the highlight of Barcelona in my eyes, was the Sagrada Familia. Even with all the hype I had heard of the massive cathedral, I still found it absolutely inspiring and marvelous. The building is still going on, and has been since the 1890s. Honestly, though, when you see how massive it is and how much more needs to be constructed, you really cannot blame the ongoing work. We first did a full circle of the entire building. Right now, just the two side facades are complete, while the main one is completely covered as they are working on it. Each façade depicts different important series of events from the Bible. We then entered from the side depicting the crucification of Jesus. In front of the church they have a small model in which they show what has already been built and what still needs to be constructed. It was kind of insane to see just how more massive the cathedral will be when completed.

Finally we walked through the giant bronze doors and into one of the craziest spaces I’ve ever stood in. It’s actually incredibly difficult for me to attempt explain the inside of this church. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. There were typical elements of a church, the cross floor plan, incredibly vaulted ceilings, stained glass windows, domes, but these all took everything you were familiar with and twisted them into this new world. Maybe it’s just because I’m an architectural engineering major and buildings completely fascinate m e, but we literally spent hours in that church and I just kept finding new and different elements that completely threw me for a loop. The church wasn’t incredibly colorful itself. Simple colors were used, with only the details containing those colors, but all of the stained glass windows held the brightest, vivid colors that just lit up the blank slate they were cast upon. Not all of the windows held their true colors, yet, so I can only imagine what it will look like when it finally complete. As I said, all of the stone possessed simple, somewhat bland colors, but they were all carved in ridiculous ways. For example, the staircases on either side of the alter (literally the most amazing stairs I’ve ever seen in my life) had the most beautiful circular detail carved into them. Structurally, the most amazing thing about the church would have to be the way the columns support the weight of the roof above it. These columns are not like any other column in the world…literally. To start off, Gaudi literally invented his own column (I will save those non-arches from the details, but if you’re interesting, I highly recommend you look it up). On top of having this crazy new column base, he designed the columns to split apart and lean in various different directions. From what I read, this method actually allowed the more weight to be supported and for the weight to be better supported. I could probably go on for days about this marvelous structure and still never really give a good idea as to what it really is like to be inside of it, truly experiencing the space. I do know one thing, I made a vow that before I die I will go back and see the complete Sagrada Familia. It was that remarkable.

After marveling for hours, we were hungry. It was off to find some paella. Unfortunately, we had some trouble finding a really authentic place, but we had it. I got one with scampi (basically giant shrimps), oysters, and calamari in mine. It was quite scrumptious. After dinner, we headed back to the hostel so we could rest for the next day of awesomeness.

The next day was our conquer-the-entire-city-of-Barcelona-in-one-day day. We started by headed south of our hostel towards the Parc de Montjuic, where we saw the Placa d’Espanya, Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalynya, the Pablo Espanyol, the Torre de Calatrava, the Arnella Olimpica, the Estadi Olimpic de Montjuic and the Castell de Montjuic. We just kind of roamed around the park that morning, running into all of the things to look at. When we got to the Olympic park, where they held the Olympics during the 1990s, we were allowed to go into one of the stadiums. Turn out there is an American Football team that plays there, the Barcelona Dragons. We then headed up a giant hill to see the Castell. Although the castle itself was rather lame, the view was rather nice, as you could see the the city again.

After the park, we went to meet up with one of Santiago’s friends who is studying in Barcelona for the year. We went to meet her at the statue of Christopher Columbus (though that is not his real name). She then took us along the port and up to the beach, where we grabbed some food from this good wok place. The waves in Barcelona were much larger than any of the other coasts we had visited. There were even some surfers trying to catch a wave or two. We then roamed back into the city and walked down Las Rambles, Barcelona’s most famous street. Down this street, there are loads of stands and shops with people selling things ranging from flowers, food, souvenirs, and pieces of artwork. During the entire walk down the street, though, my bag was practically glued to my body, as the street is also incredibly famous for pickpockets.

After our tour down the street, we headed to two more Gaudi buildings. On the way, we walked past the Obama bar, where you can sit down and have a beer and picture with Barack Obama. We made it to the first of the two on one street, called Casa Batllo. It kind of looked like something out of Candyland. It was far too expensive to get in, but the pictures on the stand outside made it seem remarkable. We then headed down the block to Gaudi’s other building, “la Pedrera” Espal Gaudi. This one if far larger, and far less detailed, in my opinion. In this one, though, you could peek through the front doors and see the front lobby, which looked pretty crazy, as well. Overall, when it comes to Gaudi, I appreciate his style and think it is unique and intriguing, but I know I would never design anything that looked a thing like his stuff.

We then headed back to the hostel to get ready to go out on the town. Santiago’s friend had given us the name of a good place to go on a Monday night. It was expensive to get in, and just about anything else, but its just part of going to Barcelona, going out. The club played music for just about any type of music lover, which was awesome. Again, the music was mostly American, except now probably about half of the people didn’t even understand what they were listening, or even singing, to, which was hard to grasp. But it was a fun night.

The next morning, we got up and did the fun, old laundry, to make sure we all had non-smelly clothes for the rest of the trip. After all of that was sorted, we had a fun visit to Vodafone where, after about an hour of waiting and attempting to get the phone voucher to work, Quinn left with his phone still having practically no money left on it. With only a little time left in the day, we went to the station to drop our stuff off. We headed to the beach, walked by it for a bit, then found a cool place next to the port to grab some lunch and a drink. I tried sangria, which was just ok, honestly, and a delicious smoked sausage and cheese sandwich. As we were walking back towards the beach, we saw the sun setting behind the city, which was beautiful.

After it was completely dark, we walked over to the Torre AGBAR, a large skyscraper that they actually light up at night in a variety of colors. From far away, it looks pretty cool, but up close it is even neater. The façade is made of this corrugated metal which has small glass panels placed atop it, causing the light to reflect in different ways. 

Finally it was time to head back to the bus station to board our super exciting 30 hour bus ride. Honestly, though, with the help of some awesome Tylenol PM, the bus ride wasn’t too bad. I got a lot of sleep and got to see some beautiful countryside. There was an slightly scary moment on the Swiss border when they made get off the bus to go through his stuff (silly Mexicans). He was fine, but there were two guys on our bus who didn’t get to continue on the journey. We made it to Prague feeling good, not groggy or tired. Honestly, it wasn’t too bad of a deal.

Your Gauidan Barcelona Expert,

Jessica

ArchE Heaven

We finally arrived in Valencia after about 20 hours of transportation and sitting, waiting for transportation. To say the least, we were tired. But we were finally out of Nice and France and in Espana! We found our hostel, dropped our stuff off, and went back to the bus station to see if we could book our ticket from Barcelona to Prague. We had decided to skip Munich and replace it with a few days in Barcelona. The guy in the office seemed rather confused with us and told us we had to wait until we were in Barcelona, but that there were plenty of spots. So we headed down towards the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia. This is basically a series of five buildings that house various performing arts centers and museums. They are all amazingly beautiful and unique, as they were designed by Santiago Calvaretta. To get there, we walked along an old river bed, now turned park. It was kind of odd, because no one was out. I know it was Holy Thursday, but it was almost eerie walking around and not seeing a soul.

We finally arrived at the buildings, and I stood in awe. Despite they grey and cloudy sky, they still looked amazing. After  that, we headed back to our hostel, this time walking back through the city so we could see what the actual city looked like. We passed by the bull fighting arena, many popular plazas, and a few churches, and then the rain started. We ran into a small pizza spot, grabbed a slice, and headed to the hostel to avoid being completely soaked.

The next day we woke up to begin the day wondering around the city. In our wondering, we ran into one of the local parades for Good Friday. There were was a small procession, beginning with a few men holding a cross and banner, followed by a few man carrying a cart, for lack of better words, with Jesus on the cross, surrounded by flowers. All of these men were wearing bright purple robes with white, pointy caps. Following the robed men were a line of drummers, then parishioners, each carrying a candle. It was really interesting to see. Easter is such a big part of Spanish culture, and I loved being able to experience it.

After stumbling across the procession, we headed down more towards the heart of the city. We ran across loads of markets and small little shops selling a bunch of items for rather cheap. It was pretty cool. We then came across one of Valenica’s churches. Attached to this church is St. Michael’s tower. After walking through the church, and feeling slightly as though we were intruding, for a service was moving about in the church (yes, the service was literally moving around the church), we went up the tower. Valencia is a rather short city, so the tower allowed us to look over the entire city. We could see down to the City of Arts of Sciences, to the ocean, to the old gate to the city. With the beautiful weather, it was quite lovely. In addition, atop the tower is the oldest bell in Spain.

We then climbed back down the long, windy stairs and headed towards the arch. From the arch, we found our way back along the park. We strolled past the Museum of Music, which has a fountain that is set to music, a playground set up inside of a giant body, and many, many bridges. We finally made our way back to the City of Arts and Sciences, first approaching the Palau de les Arts, which is a performing arts theatre. Next to the Palau de les Arts are two awesome bridges. All of the buildings and bridges, and even the parking garage, connect, and yet have their own elements. You next approach Hemisferic, which is a museum full of giant IMAX’s that show a range of educational films on crazy enormous screens. To me, this building almost seems like a simpler version of the Palau de les Arts. Next to Hemisferic is the Museo de las Ciencias, or the Museum of Science. I read online that this museum was designed after a whale’s skeleton. Personally, I just enjoyed the points and lines of the building. We went inside the museum, bought our tickets to both the Science museum and the aquarium. We strolled around the science museum, trying to avoid the small children running about. My favorite part of the museum was probably the newly hatched chicks. They were so fluffy and adorable. They also had a model of the complete City of Arts and Sciences, which still has a few crazy looking towers and smaller buildings to be built. It should be amazing when it is all done. What’s sad is I was probably paying more attention to the interior of the building than the actual museum, but what can you expect? I’m an architectural engineering major.

After the Museum, we ran across the street to a mall to grab some lunch. We ran into this place called Mondito’s which serves cheap, small sandwiches. We grabbed some late lunch, then headed off to the aquarium, of which the guys’ were way too excited to be going to. The aquarium was pretty cool. There were tons of different areas housing some pretty unique and interesting fish and sea life. We not only saw fish, but penguins, seals, and walrus’s. The shark tank was probably one of the coolest parts of the place, housing an extremely large tunnel in which the sharks, manta rays, turtles, and other large fish could literally swim around you. There was also this weird fish that had two fins at the top and bottom of its body that resembled sea turtle legs, and this awkward, half circular back fin. It not only looked awkward, but looked like it felt awkward. One of the other highlights of the aquarium was the Artic area, which housed Beluga whales, walruses, seals, and penguins. By then, the aquarium was closing. It was time to head back to the city. The day before we had bought a few things to make ourselves some dinner. We had some hamburgers and way too many peas. We hung out a bit in the hostel, meeting a few new people, and then headed to bed.

The next morning we started our day with a crazy delicious breakfast of giant omelets. We then went to meet up for a free walking tour of the city. We learned all about how the city was originally conquered by Muslims from Africa, who began its history. Due to this take over, the city still has its small, narrow, winding streets. Eventually it was taken over by the Christians, who also gave it some its history and culture. It is the mix of these two cultures that gives Valencia it’s unique culture and traditions. We walked by the old city gates, past some old and important churches, over some Roman ruins (the Romans were everywhere), past old palaces and castles, and into squares where ordinary men declared war on one of the world’s most powerful conquerors, Napoleon. I also learned a lot about Spain’s more recent history, including Franco and the current leader of Spain, that I had not known.

After our tour, we caught a bus down to the beach. There, we goofed off and played around, enjoying our last day in Valencia. The sand of the beach literally felt like silk. It was crazy. We also met a few local teens who told us a bit about their city from the eyes of a teenager, which is a bit of a different spin on things. On our way back, we stopped at another Mondito’s, got a few sandwiches and a few drinks. I found out that a local beer mixed with Sprite is actually tasty. I also tried another local drink of which we still aren’t quite sure as to what it is exactly. We then went back to our hostel, grabbed our stuff, and walked to the bus station to wait for our 2 am bus back to Barcelona.

The three of us have been talking about how this experience has taught us so much new history about cultures that we probably should have known previously, but didn’t. We have come to the conclusion that although we didn’t know it beforehand, at least we open to learning it and that learning it through personal experience and actually seeing the sites where these important events happened has to be one of the best ways to go about learning about these cultures. Instead of reading something out of a textbook and trusting the judgment of the writers of the book to give me a good understanding of what happened and how it has affected a community, I am getting the opportunity to see it firsthand. I must say, I am incredibly fortunate to have this chance to witness so much firsthand and see and interact within other cultures the way I am. It’s truly remarkable.

Santaigo Calveretta’s new stalker,

Jessica