I don’t know if you’ve heard the new song Barcelona by Ed Sheeran, but it describes the city in 3 minutes and 11 seconds. Unfortunately, our arrival to the city was less than welcoming but once we settled it was everything I could have wished for. When we got into Barcelona, we thought that our airport was closer to the city than it was and it took us over an hour to get to the station. From there, we thought we were within walking distance from our Airbnb but ended
up being too late to meet our host and had to find a safe locker storage to be able to complete what we wanted to do that day. We ended up having to cancel a lot of our plans, but we decided to choose a maze called Parc del Laberint in Horta which was in the
middle of a park. As our luck would have it, the maze was closed for renovations, so we sat down in the upper part to learn the history of the place. Again, we were handed a French guide and were unable to learn what we had hoped. As you can tell, it wasn’t our day. What I can say, is that the park was absolutely stunning and that while we were in it it felt as though we were in a huge game of hide and seek. Because we wanted to do everything on our list with our limited time in Spain, we went to Parc Guell and bought the last tickets available. We walked around the outer park and enjoyed the incredible and different architecture that Gaudi had created for it. The artist works with mosaics and abstraction and the hike around the whole area helped me see the city from
above. Once it was our turn to go into the actual ticked area, Brittany had lost her ticket but because it was already dark and they saw that we had paid for them we were able to go in and see the remaining part of the “museum”. Viewing the city from so high up helped me get a grasp of Barcelona and the differences of each niche. After our dinner, we went to the Mirablau bar where we ate as much as we could and because it was so high up, we we saw all of the lights of the city below us.
The next day, we got up early to take pictures and get ready for the long day ahead of us. We went
to Mercat de la Boqueria to get breakfast and walked along la rambla to see the local vendors and eat. We made our way to la Catedrale and through all of the distractions of shops ate at a small restaurant for lunch. Of course, we had sangrias and tapas in la rambla to fill us up before the rest of our adventuring. We went to the Monumento di Cristoforo
Colombo which was close to the water and got a biker cab to ride through the streets to the Picasso Museum. Our journey was quick and we were
able to feel the breeze, taking in the beautiful city of Barcelona. The night ended at the W hotel where we went for aperitivo and ate all of the tapas we could. I will never forget this night because the W is right on the water and I was able to
reflect on my time in Barcelona as a happy one and as a city that I would like to potentially live in one day. The beach was warm and the water glimmered with the lights of the city around us.
Our last day was as jam packed as the rest. We slept through our reservation at the Sagrada Familia but were still let in without a problem. I cannot believe the history, thought, and beauty that is the Sagrada Familia. The outside may look a little daunting, but each of the
tiers and statues have a specific story and purpose for the story. Inside is filled with light and color and each tower is meant to make you feel like you are in the woods. With one side of light coming in with cool colors and the other in warm colors to come in and out with the sun. It has been under construction for 135 years and will not be done for another
10 years. I could have stared at the interior of the church for hours, no photograph will ever show the sheer beauty of it. Walking through the city we
encountered a huge arch called Arco di Trionfo and went through another park to find our next destination. The Palau Guell was very different than I would have thought and the guide walked us through the palace as if we were living in the time. My favorite part of the museum was the rooftop which had different sculptures and abstract pieces that
overlooked the city. Our last stop was the Palau de la Musica Catalana which had some of the best acoustics I’ve ever heard. The ceiling in the hall was much like the other colorful pieces we’d seen that weekend and brought light into the room. Barcelona was the first trip I had had where I really planned the bulk of the visit and even though we didn’t get to see everything we’d hoped, I learned about planning and organization for any trip and how to do it realistically.
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