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Liza Plotnikova
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June 18, 2006: Barcelona
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Barcelona was the first city we visited.
We stayed at the Sun & Moon hostel just off Les Ramblas. |
| On the first day we walked from our hostel to the Mercat de La Boqueria, where we got breakfast. Then we walked all the way down the Rambla to the Monoment a Colom, and then the mall that they have there and along the harbor. | | |
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| | Then we went to the Palau de la Música Catalana, which was magnifisent, but unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures there. From there we made our way to Catedral La Seu, which was sadly being renovated. |
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| We concluded our day by again, walking along the beach to the Parc Ciutadella where we saw a castle, the Arc de Triomf and bunches of wild parrots! | | |
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| The next day, we decided to do an Antonio Gaudi tour. Gaudi is the most famous "modernista" Barcelona architect. |
| First on the list was Sagrada Familia. It's a truly amazing structure whose construction began in 1882. | | |
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| I wonder why it's taking them so long... Let's see... all the workers who did show up for the day, seem to be taking their siesta. |
| In the Sagrada Familia museum, you can take a look at what the cathedral will some day look like, and the models Gaudi used to design it. | |
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| Then it was on to La Pedrera. The apartment house was Gaudí’s final construction in Barcelona before he dedicated his life to Sagrada Familia. We did not go in because the prices for all of these places were quite outrageous. The view from outside was quite satisfying though. | | Then we wistfully gazed at Casa Batlló, another one of Gaudi's masterpieces. |
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| Then we took a fun-filled ride on the metro (for some reason the trains in Barcelona come from the left) to Park Güell, and climbed an incredible hill to enjoy the goofy guy in a lizard suit, and the architecture... |
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| | | ...and the views. | | To hug some columns... |
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| | ...pray a little... | | ...and take some really unsavory pictures. | |
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| We had tapas dinner at Origen 99'9%. It was quite tasty, and our waitress taught us how to eat properly there. As we were getting ready to go to bed David discovered that his eyes were swelling incredibly quickly, so he and I made a dash for the 24 hour pharmacy for some "antigistaminas(?)." We ended up re-visiting both of the Gaudi apartment buildings. But after obtaining the medicine, and calming down a little bit we enjoyed our glance at the scary nightlife of Las Ramblas. |
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| On the last day in Barcelona we toured hill Montjüic (Jewish mountain)... by foot. | But first we had breakfast back at the beach mall. I found the best focacceria called Buenas Migas. Amazing! |
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| So then on to the Olympic Village, and for me the Joan Miro Foundation. |
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| We had dinner back at the mall, and then hopped on a train that took us to Florence overnight. When I woke up, out of the train window I saw mountains. |
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