Barcelona

At the beginning of the month, we had an extended weekend to celebrate May Day. Figuring this would be the last long weekend we'd have, Nikki, Jessica, Andy and I decided we'd better take advantage of the time off and travel. We agreed Barcelona would be a great place to go since it was close and, more importantly, a great place! We tried to find CouchSurfing hosts for the weekend, but it seems most travellers think alike in that most of the folks we contacted were also going to be travelling that weekend. Luckily Jessica found a small apartment on Craigslist that could be rented for the exact dates we were going to be in town! And it ended up being cheaper than many of the hostels we looked at! The flight only took about half an hour, which gave us plenty of time to get settled and start exploring. We found our apartment which was right on Las Ramblas, one of the main roads/ attractions in Barcelona. It was down a rather sketchy looking street, with seemingly endless shifts of flys guarding our door, but the apartment itself was fantastic. It was split level and entirely open, the only door in the place being for the bathroom. It had a small TV, and a surprisingly nice stereo. We explored our immediate area, a bohemian area full of international restaurants, bars and tourists (but I guess you could classify ALL of Barcelona like that too...). After that, we decided to venture farther out, just wandering around. We walked until our bellies got the better of us and we headed back. But, we had wandered so far that it took us forever to get back, making us hungrier (and more vocal) with each minute we weren't eating. Finally, we made it back to our neighborhood and found an nice restaurant were we enjoyed great food, sangria, and cava, which is beer mixed with lemonade (which is actually delicious, believe it or not). Stuffed, we decided to save our energies for exploring the next day, so we stopped at a local store, bought some necesities (breakfast and snack food. And beer.) and went back to the apartment to relax.

The next day was full of adventure. We first went to Mercado Sant Josep, an enormous open air market. We enjoyed 100% natural fruit smoothies and coffee. Everything was so fresh and noisy and...alive. It reminded me of some of the markets here, but times ten. We bought food for a picnic and made our way to Parque Güell (pronounced "park-ay gway"), the giant park designed by Gaudí. After descending the biggest hill in the world (it had escalators installed at points) we ate in the sun, people watching, enjoying the sun and the music and the handmade crafts. Not to mention the Dr. Seuss-like architecture of one of the world's most famous parks. We also went to the Gaudí designed Sagrada Familia cathedral. The building has still not been completed, and the styles of architecture are entirely different, even though it's the same building. One side looks like a giant drip sand castle, curvy and layered and the other is modern and angular. It was really neat. We didn't go inside though because the line was serpenteened and it was a little expensive. Later, Nikki and I spent a good portion of the day wandering around with no real destination or rush (as usual when we travel). We visited another Gaudí building (in case you haven't noticed, Barcelona and Gaudí kind of go hand-in-hand), but the price of entrance was even more outrageous than the cathedral. We enjoyed ice cream, and lemonade, talked to a vendor in Plaza Catalunya who warned us to keep an eye on our belongings. I asked him about a flag that I had seen flying all over the city. It was divided into four equal squares. The top left and bottom right sections had a red cross on a white background, the flag of Saint George (which is the English flag). The top right and bottom left sections had the red and yellow stripes of the Catalan senyera. It turns out that it is the flag of Barcelona. I asked why it had the English flag on it, and it turns out that Saint George, or as they say here, Sant Jordi, is also the patron saint of Catalunya and Barcelona. I thought I was missing out on some historical alliance between Barcelona and England, when in actuality they just share the same saint.

Later that day our friends Dan and Priscilla met us. They took a train from a neighboring city to visit us on our trip. We wandered with them a bit until it was time to go to the bar, for that night was the Copa del Rey, the King's Cup, between Barcelona and Real Madrid, the two top teams in the Spanish soccer league, and more importantly, bitter rivals. We arrived half an hour before the game started and almost couldn't get in. We finally found enough space in the back of one of the rooms. We ordered tapas and beer and reveled in the intensity of Spanish fútbol. Madrid scored first, but after that Barcelona unleashed a barrage of soccer carnage that did not relent until the final whistle. Every goal sent the crowd deeper into chaos, screaming, singing, standing on tables. When it was revealed that we had travelled from Mallorca "just to watch this game" we were given free drinks from everyone around us. The final score ended up being Madrid 1 to Barcelona 6. SIX!! It was unbelievable, and perhaps one of my favorite experiences since being in Spain.

The next day we went to the Picasso Museum, ate at an affordable vegetarian restaurant (I know!) and I took a siesta while the others went to the beach. It was Sunday, so we just relaxed, enjoyed the day, the company, the new surroundings.

Nikki and I went back to Parque Güell, since we felt like we hadn't seen enough of it on our earlier visit. We stopped at a nice little cafe near the top of the hill and then spent a little more time roaming around. I'm very glad we went back because we did miss some of the main attractions of the park earlier, like the mosaic dragon. We didn't have time for much else since our flight was later that afternoon, so Nikki and I packed it up and met Jessica and Andy at the airport and made the skip back over to Palma.