Birthday week and Barcelona

Birthday week was a great week. Thank you so much to everyone who made is so. Went to a delicious Japanese restaurant since I've pretty much overdosed on Spanish food here and left for Barcelona the next day.

We arrived in Barcelona and began the site-seeing. Barcelona, along with its amazing art, is a very, very, modern city. For example....

Found it!!! :)))

...not that I'm complaining. In fact, those of you who know me might be asking how I've gone roughly 2 months without one. Let me just say...it was difficult.

Also, Barcelona is in the region of Catalunya, which actually has its own dialect of Spanish, Catalán, although, according to the people in Catalunya, Catalán is not a dialect, but its own language. To them, Castellano (regular spanish) is "Español" and not a type. This idea parallels their radical, nationalist ideas to form their own country. There have been quite a few reforms trying to achieve just this, but none with any positive results. Some other regions in Spain have the same radical views like the Basque Country. (The speak a language called Euskera and is nearly impossible to understand).

Most of the art in Barcelona is in the pictures below and these ones actually have captions.



 Parc Guell:

Designed by Gaudí

Plaza de Parc Guell

Plaza de Parc Guell

Gingerbread houses!!

Famous lizard

Casa Mila

Me in Front of Casa Batlló

Hotel Fusterrrr!!!

Me in the exact same chair as 4 years ago

La Sagrada Familia:
...still unfinished and still under construction, since 1882

 Back of the Sagrada Familia is on the left and the front entrance (taken in two pictures) is on the right.

I loved Barcelona, however, it is too much of a modern city. A lot of the people there either speak english and/or catalán. An immersion in Castellano Spanish would be very difficult. Also, Granada is a bit outside of the comfort zone. Firstly, one of the very few cities without a Starbucks. Secondly, it's a smaller city, so you pretty much have to walk everywhere. In Barcelona, the only way to get from place to place is by metro, since things are too far apart, but the way to really get to know a city is by walking and finding the secret places nobody knows about.

Despite all that, Barcelona is still one of the most beautiful cities in the world...to that, I will definitely agree.


Un beso,

Steph