For those of you wondering, Barcelona is technically a part of Spain. However, if you ask someone who lives there it is NOT in Spain.... it is actually in an area called Catalonia.The people who live here wanted to be separated from Spain and actually don't even speak Spanish. They speak Catalonian, which is actually closer to French than Spanish. Don't worry, we didn't know ANY of this until our tour guide informed us.
We decided to go to Barcelona because we were just sick and tired of the cold and all of our cold weekend trips. The weather was PERFECT in Barcelona. It was in the high 50's the whole time! Which may not sound that warm, but after walking around all day in 20-30 degrees PLUS snow the past several trips, this weather was heavenly. You'll see in many pictures we don't even wear coats! :P
Here are some pictures from the trip:
La Rambla, which we found out should really be Las Ramblas, was our first stop on the walking tour we took our first day. It's one of the top places that travel sites say you must visit, for what reason no body knows. It's an area of the city that is simply famous for being famous.
There was some type of festival going on while we were there. We were never able to figure out what it was for, but we did notice that their costume choices were a little interesting....
This is the Barcelona Cathedral, located in the gothic area of Barcelona. Our walking tour took us all around the gothic area, a place I would have probably not thought to explore otherwise! But we were glad that we did.
This is one of Picasso's homes. It is located in what USED to be the red light district. The area was cleaned up when the Olympics were held in Barcelona :)
The moment the sun came out we went picture crazy! It got extra warm and sunny and immediately put us in good moods! Also, we suddenly noticed that there were palm trees everywhere!
At the end of the walking tour, our guide took us to a small bar where we were able to get beers for only 1 euro! Not too bad of a deal!
This is the famous Sagrada Familia. The unique thing about it is that it is still under construction. The artist who designed it, Gaudi, was killed by a train before it was completed so to this day it is still being worked on.
We were amazed at how different the front and the back of Sagrada Familia looked! In fact, when I saw the front I thought we were in the wrong place! It is just so unique, we have never seen anything like it. And of course, we thought it would be a good place to take our traditional Coug flag shot :)
Another tradition: Starbucks! And don't worry, I got my Barcelona mug too :)
Gaudi did a great amount of the architectural design in Barcelona. This is one of the houses he designed. There is no where else in the world I think you could find a style like his.
This was another one of Gaudi's creations.
Our second night we went and watched a Flamenco show! I think I got a little bit inspired and wanted to try out the moves that the dancers were doing :P
After the Flamenco show, we went and had unlimited Tapas and Sangria! This was included in the cost of our ticket. Don't worry, we made sure to get our money's worth!
While searching for a place to go dancing, we stumped upon the Mediterranean ocean! We decided to cross one more thing off of our bucket list and take a walk in the water. Even at 2 am the water wasn't too bad!
On our second full day we took a gondola ride to one of the highest points in Barcelona.
The view from the top was gorgeous! It's too bad that pictures do not do nearly enough justice of what it really looked like.
I think the sun got to us and we of course had to pose and take ridiculous pictures :P
Amazing view of Sagrada Familia. Once again, it is too bad that these pictures hardly do any justice for the view.
Couldn't have asked for better girls to be traveling with!
This was part of the park that Gaudi designed. His artwork is so unique. None of it is even a little bit similar.
This is part of a fountain that unfortunately was not running while we were there. This lizard is in almost every postcard of Barcelona.
We made a second trip to the beach during the day. It was SO beautiful! Unfortunately it was way too cold still to swim, but we got our feet wet and just enjoyed the site of it.
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