La Otra Cuidad de Las Luces

If you talk to anyone who has come to vacation in Spain, their first sentence usually is some variation of the following: " You´re going to Spain? Oh you have to go to Barcelona, it is one of my favorite cities ever!" So with my expectations high, I hopped on a late-night plane to see if what everyone said was true.

Of course, walking down Las Ramblas at 1 AM was probably not the best welcome to the city. Trying to avoid the groups of men selling beer cans and all of the club promoters while looking at a map and for directions to our hostel was a bit of a challenge, but soon we passed through the narrow and dark streets of the Gothic Quarter of the city to our small but nice hostel.

We slept in a little the next morning and then headed out to explore the city by day. In the light, the long pedestrian walkway of Las Ramblas had taken on a completely different personality. It was full of people selling everything from chicken and guinea pigs to flowers to paintings to massages. And of course, I have to mention the human art. All along the walkway were people dressed up as anything you could imagine, trying to get your attention and your coins. For example there was a man painted all in white sitting on a toilet or a person completely covered in fruit and dressed as a fruit stand. On our way up Las Ramblas, we stopped by the famous La Boquería market which if full of fresh seafood, meat, cheese, olives, spices, fruit, vegetables, basically all the goodies you could want.

Finally we managed to escape the madness of Plaza Catalunya and started our walk down tree-lined streets to visit Gaudí´s modern masterpiece, La Sagrada Familia. I have to say Barcelona reminds me of Paris architecturally speaking and definitely has a different feel than Madrid. Anyway when we got to La Sagrada Familia I was stunned. I mean it´s still under construction so there were cranes and tarps everywhere but the spires full of carvings to resemble trees and the brightly colored fruit-balls on the top alongside statues representing Jesus were a rather strange combination. But I have to say of all of the Cathedrals I´ve seen and all of the churches, it´s my favorite perhaps because it´s so eccentric and light-hearted.

Then we hopped on the metro to visit Gaudi´s park Guell. The park is bomb!!! There´s no other word to describe it. The longest park bench in the world, covered with mosaics rings a huge dirt plaza overlooking the city, the Mediterranean Ocean and the park itself including a house that looks like it should be out of Hansel and Gretel and a forest made completely of mosaic columns. The sun was shining, everyone was out enjoying the park and for once, I could sit and actually let it sink in that I was in Europe. Incredible.

Anyway that night we went out to a discoteca that turned out to be a long metro ride away plus a 40 minute walk. It was fun but at one point my friends and I left the dance floor to get some fresh air and when we came back everyone our age had suddenly disappeared and I swear that the youngest people there were two 28 year olds from Brazil that we met. So our night out in Barcelona wasn´t all that great but oh well, we discovered a very cool tiki bar that lit our drinks on fire at least.

The next day we spent shopping and wandering around by the waterfront and yes, I´m ashamed to admit it, eating at Hard Rock Cafe. I needed that 10 euro hamburger and 6 euro milkshake after all of that traveling. After filling ourselves up with chocolate crepes on the pier, we went to the neighborhood of Montjuic to watch a fountain show. But it wasn´t just any old fountain show. Oh no. The fountain had lights and a water flow that were choreographed to music and sat at the foot of the beautiful museum of modern art surrounded by cascading waterfalls. And did I mention it was free? Needless to say, we sat around being mesmorized by that for quite a while. I think that was my favorite part of Barcelona in the end. Then it was off to an Irish pub to watch the famous Fútbol Club Barça take on Bilbao. Although Barça is the best team in the league, they ended up tying the game. Oh well, I am still definitely getting into this fútbol thing!

So, my opinion of Barcelona? Okay, well it´s huge, people kept responding to me in English when I spoke Spanish, there were a lot more ummm, for lack of a better word, crazies around, and for the first time in Spain I didn´t always feel 100% safe or secure. However, it is beautiful, has a ton to do and awesome Gaudí architecture and I made sure to drink out of the lucky fountain to make sure I would return to the city someday. Still, it definitely made me appreciate how luck I am to study in Granada. ¡ Hasta el proxímo.....