Been around Spain and back

In the past 2 weeks my parents and I have pretty much seen all of Spain…we’ve been to Barcelona, Madrid, Granada, Ronda, Cordoba, Malaga, Seville and tomorrow we’re headed to Cadiz. I don’t know how we’ve managed to see all that but we did and I’ve still be working this whole time…I’m gonna go ahead and just start updating you on the first of our travels…

Last post (about 2 weeks ago) I mentioned that we were in Barcelona…and we have returned alive! We (my parents and I) spent a total of 3 days in Barҫa and then made our way over to Madrid for another 2 days. Just enough to fill up my 5 day long weekend :) By the end of the travels I needed another vacation from that just to rest haha. We had a great time so let me go ahead and get into some details about that…

Like I mentioned on my last post we flew over to Barcelona early Friday morning, arriving around 11am. We headed directly to the hostel and checked so we could fit in a quick nap (I was seriously lacking on sleep and my parents had had no time to catch up on the 9 hr time difference). We stayed at this nice hostel which was plenty comfortable and the staff was fabulous. Anyways, after some rest we headed out for some lunch at a place Rick Steve’s recommended (my mom is a fanatic lol) and we got to try some of the delicious food in Barcelona! Afterwards we just went exploring down Las Ramblas (a main street with lots of street vendors, performers, restaurants, etc).
I saw some of the most amazing bouquets of flowers along there as well- I almost just wanted to buy one but I’m not sure how well that would have gone over with Renfe when we went to go catch a train a few days later. We also got to check out their market along there- that place is beautiful! It was just FULL of colors and I seriously was tempted to buy pretty much everything in there…not a surprise I suppose haha.

Later we went and checked out a church in the famous old neighborhood (the Born district). Right next to the church was the plaza in dedication to the people who were murdered by the Bourbon King. It was a massacre of Catalan patriots and they were buried in a mass grave…where the plaza is located. They also have the “eternal flame” in honor of those patriots who were killed. It basically looks like a bucket-o-flame on a tall structure right in the plaza. After checking out that plaza we saw some more of the neighborhood’s cute shops, my favorite being “happy pills”- a candy store, and then went out for some pintxos (pronounced peen-chos) aka tapas- because what else do you do at 10pm in Spain?

The next morning- SAGRADA FAMILIA. It’s a church designed by Gaudi but he died during the construction so he never was able to finish it himself. On top of that, the plans for the building were burned and so another designer/artist had to come along and create the design of what he thought Gaudi would want….it’s a little controversial.


If you see both sides of the church you can see a HUGE difference in design between the two because it was created by two different people. Anyhow, I HIGHLY recommend you go check out the Sagrada Familia. It is one of my favorite landmarks and unlike ANYTHING I’ve ever seen. The building still isn’t complete either, in fact, is only half finished! They’re working on all the detail work inside so they have plenty more to do. We heard that this building is estimated to be finished in 2030ish…ya kno, no rush.



I do have to say that my favorite part of the church was the stained glass windows. They were absolutely beautiful and they’re so rich in color that is illuminates parts of the church in such a way that you just stand there in awe. I took tons of pics of everything so you all can live vicariously through me…until you decide to come visit that is ;) One other thing to note is that when visiting the church there are 2 different elevators to go up and see other parts of the church. There will be 4 in the future but right now there is just the Paradise façade (the entrance side) and the Nativity side. We did the Nativity side which took us outside and close to the top of the building (this thing is tall!). I loved it but next time I want to check out the other elevator because it gives you a chance to see the inside parts for the church from a distinct viewpoint…guess I’ll just have to come back!

Before leaving we checked out the small museum right below the church and then headed over to Park Guell, also designed by Gaudi. We caught the bus up to the top of the park and worked our way down, checking out the famous terrace, a spontaneous musical performance and the big, colorful lizard that needs some serious dental work. We were starving by the end of the visit so headed out for some food at La Rita- amazing place with gourmet-like food for great prices! The rest of our night was just spent wandering around Las Ramblas, snacking on some tapas and getting harassed by a homeless looking man make toilet paper art.

Our last day in Barҫa…

We woke up rather “early” to head over to the Cathedral and when we arrived they even had a service going on. The cathedral was beautiful itself but with the service also going on it made our visit even more memorable...and the acoustics in that place- wow!

After the visit inside we headed over to the cloisters (kinda like an addition to the church but with deep history like everything is Europe) where they had lots of alters and the geese! There are 13 geese (fenced inside a pond area) that represent the patron saint of Barcelona (Eulilia) who was tortured 13 times and then crucified by the Romans…all at the age of 13. Very sad. While walking around the cloisters I was able to get plenty of pics and apparently the geese got mad because they (well one in particular) decided to splash me with water.

After my anointing by the geese we headed over to City Hall, dad’s choice…Thinking of how boring a normal city hall is in the states I wasn’t all that thrilled but THIS place was incredible. There were beautiful paintings and designs everywhere in the building. After we got our fill of city hall we headed back over to the front of the cathedral to see some special dances (called Sardana dances) that ONLY are performed on Sundays after church. They consist of a group of people making a circle and joining hands, throwing their belongings in the middle so no one can steal anything, and chorographically moving their feet to create this famous circle dance. Anyone can participate but it’s better if you actually know the dance…

After that fun we headed over to Las Ramblas and saw some great street performers including 2 space cadets/robocops, the gold elephant man mysteriously floating in air, and a man creating techno music with a didgeridoo. We continued down Las Ramblas and checked out some street vendors where we found some cute gifts for friends and family. At the end of the Paseo we found a huge statue of Christopher Columbus…pointing east…you know, the direction of America (it’s the scenic route). After a few snap shots of Columbus we hopped across the street to the port (located on the Mediterranean Sea). We walked along the boardwalk over to the ONLY mall that I’ve seen in all of Spain…oh modern times! We also grabbed some lunch out there at a place called Tapas!Tapas! where my parents tried their first paella in Spain! Yay!
The only other thing we did that night was check out the Picasso museum there (its free on Sunday evenings…and therefore comes with a long, long line) but definitely worth checking out if his art appeals to you. That night was mellow because we then had to go back and pack our bags for our trip to Madrid the next morning…leaving the hostel at 6:30am uggh!

The next two days in Madrid were full of Museum hopping…we saw the Prado, Thyssen and Reina Sofia (and each one takes a minimum of 3-6hrs to explore…). Other things we saw on our visit included Plaza Mayor, the botanical gardens, the indoor tropical forest in the train station, the San Miguel Market and my favorite lunch place across the street from the Prado- La Plateria. After those short 2 days Spain’s capital I had to head back home for work the next day. This post is getting far too long and I’m getting far tooooo tired to continue so the next weekend stories will be left for a different post. Night night everyone!