Barcelona

This past weekend I went on the second group trip with Maria Jose and the rest of the Alcala study abroad students and we went to Barcelona, Spain, which is located in the south of Spain on the coast. I took the high speed AVE train, which created 2 years ago and reached Barcelona in about 2 ½ hours. Next we transferred to another train to reach the center of town where I then walked for a couple minutes to the hotel. After checking in Maria Jose gave us a quick description of where we were and then we had free time. Myself a couple other students grabbed some lunch and then walked down Las Ramblas, which is the main street in Barcelona that leads directly to the ocean The street leads directly to the port of Barcelona where there are many sailboats docks and is the location where cruise ships come into dock. The street was pretty long so by the time we walked down and back it was getting late out and looking as though it was going to rain so I decided to go back to the hotel room because I knew I had a long day ahead of me.
The next morning I woke up bright and early for a breakfast buffet in the hotel before boarding a bus for the first stop in the city. Maria Jose had hired two tour guides to take us around the city so I was able to learn about the different areas in Barcelona in a smaller group. The first place I went to was Parc Guell, which was designed by Gaudi. This area was originally created to be an exclusive upper class neighborhood within the city of Barcelona. However, because the park was on the side of a mountain there was a steep hill so the wealthy did not want to live there. Gaudi had designed a sample house for people to see what the houses would look like but because no one wanted to live there he eventually bought the house and lived there for 20 years of his life. One family still owns another house in the park but it is not their permanent residence and they only go in the summer.

Lizard at Parc Guell

The park was designed to be a city within a city and there was this columned area for a market place and a water collection area to store the water after it rained. Also, instead of removing dirt from the mountain to build this exclusive city Gaudi just created bridges on the sides of the mountains that served as walkways. Once it was realized that people did not want to move into this exclusive city then it was turned into a park. Parc Guell is also home to the famous mosaic lizard that has become an unofficial symbol of Barcelona and can be found in many tourist shops.
Following the park we took the bus to the Sagrada Familia, which is a church dedicated to the Sacred Family. Gaudi began designing this church and worked on it for much of his lifetime but was unable to finish it before his death and the church is still being finished today, which is a controversial subject because some people it should be finished to become a church while others think it should be left alone to me a memorial to Gaudi. The city is planning on finished the main section of the church for November 7th, 210 when the Pope is planning on coming to Barcelona to preside over the first mass at the church. On the façade of the church there are hundreds of figures representing Biblical scenes. The figures over the main door start with the birth of Jesus, which is closes to the group and go up to the crucifixion of Jesus and his ascension into heaven which is further from the group to separate it from the earth and more towards heaven. Gaudi designed this main section of the church but the back section was designed by another architecture. The back is a similar design that used more straight lines but still portrays various biblical scenes but is easier to follow.

Sagrada Familia

After touring the façade of the church the tour guides took use to Casa Batllo, which is another house Gaudi created. The top portion of the house represents a dragon with the way the roof is shaped. Also, there is a cross on the top, which is characteristic of Gaudi because he was a very religious man. Next we walked along to the town hall and the mayor’s house. The tour guide took us through the Jewish neighborhood to the Roman Temple, which is the oldest part of Spain. Finally we ended up at the Barcelona Cathedral where we had a couple hours of free time. We then meet back up to go to 4 Cats for lunch, which is a famous restaurant that Picasso used to frequent. The restaurant is decorated with various Picasso sketches and paintings. Following lunch I just walked around for a bit before heading back to the room. The night I went to an ice bar, which is exactly what the name insinuates a bar made completely of ice. Everything from the cups to the seats was craved out of ice. I needed to wear this really funny silver puffy coat and mittens to go inside. I was only able to stay inside for 45 min because of the temperature of the room but it was so cool…no pun intended.

Me, Callie, and Elenora at Ice Bar

The next morning I once again had breakfast at the hotel before heading to the Picasso museum. This museum was actually requested by Picasso to be built and he donated many of his early works to the museum. It was interesting to see his early work because it was not life the typically work I think of when I hear the name Picasso. By the end of the museum, which went in chronological order, his works for more similar to the work I was used to seeing. In one section of the museum there was a period when Picasso tried to recreate Velázquez’s Las Meninas, which I found interesting because I had seen the original at the Prado so it was interesting to see Picasso’s interpretation of the painting. Following the museum we had more free time so a group of us walked down Las Ramblas again and just enjoyed the good weather. Overall, I really enjoyed my trip to Barcelona because although it is a major city like Madrid it was fascinating to be able to see all the influences of Gaudi within the city and the early works of such a famous painter.