“Barthelona”

This last weekend I met my best friend Amelia ‘Mimi’ Moses in Barcelona. Since she is studying in London this semester, we had to find a weekend to travel and this past weekend was the only one that really fit both our schedules. We both arrived in Barcelona around 7pm Friday, February 5th. We stayed in the center of the shopping area at an Airbnb with a couple living in Barcelona, Marta and Tyler. Tyler coincidentally is from San Luis Obispo, California and has lived with Marta for some time now but they plan to get married so he can have citizenship and eventually the same for Marta in the States. Well, they had the cutest apartment and had a room set-aside for us for the weekend. Once we got settled in and freshened up a little after a long day of traveling, we hit the city and found a nice tapas place. It was a decently warm night, so we sat outside for dinner. We stumbled upon a couple cute restaurants and happened to be near the Basilica de Santa Maria del Pi. It was a nice view as we ate and caught up. After a couple hours we explored the streets a little more before heading home. It was almost 1am and we knew we had a long day ahead of us on Saturday.

Saturday we had to hit all of the tourist sights, but not before our morning coffee. We started off in the Plaça de Catalunya, which was the main shopping plaza that also included some fountains and was a very beautiful area, especially with the mountains and blue skies in the background. The beauty baffled Mimi since there is a pretty big difference between Barcelona and London, but even I was a little taken aback since Barcelona is much more North of Valencia and thus doesn’t look quite the same. It was difficult to walk around the city without our surroundings distracting us.

Well, we finally made it to the metro stop that would take us to our first destination, La Basilica de la Sagrada Familia. As we walked back up to the city from the metro station, I looked ahead of us and wondered where to go after that. I realized I hadn’t looked up the actual location of the Basilica. Well, I turned around and realized there was no need for a map because it was right there.  I was at a loss for words. At first glance, I was stunned. I have never seen anything like it. The intricacies in the outside of the building are incredible and I cannot imagine how long it took to complete the building. We continued to stare at the front of the building; it was so spectacular that we needed a longer stretch of time to fully take in all the beauty. Around La Sagrada Familia they have a small pond and paths where plenty of people were taking advantage of the sun and warm weather. After, we walked around the Basilica and just about every side of it was as beautiful as the front.

Unfortunately, they were doing some construction on parts of the building, so our pictures have a couple cranes in the background, but that does not take much away from its beauty.

Following La Sagrada Familia we headed even more north and into the mountains towards Park Guëll, where Antoni Gaudí demonstrated his own artistic talent in the architecture. The metro took us close to the town, but we had to walk a little to find the actual park. But once we saw where the metro left us we did not mind the walk one bit. We were out of the bustling city of Barcelona and were left in a town much further north, up the mountain a little. Mimi made a comment about how quiet it was where we were walking, which is very true. We had found a suburb, essentially, of Barcelona. We reached the park and realized we needed to actually pay to sit on the bench with the mosaics that everyone sees. The tickets were 8euros apiece, but it was worth it. While we waited for our time slot we grabbed some lunch at a nearby restaurant. Since it is possible that weekend could be the only time Mimi stays in Spain this semester, we had to order Paella to share. Although Paella outside of Valencia is not Paella, Barcelona makes a close second. Finally it was our time to enter the park. The mosaics were very beautiful and the architecture is very rare and odd. The view from the top with the long bench was absolutely beautiful because you can see from the park all the way to Barcelona and the Mediterranean Sea.

By the time we finished at the park we were tired and had a vague plan for what to do next. First, we stopped around the plaza by our apartment to do some shopping. The streets were filled with people, seeing as everyone goes out to shop on Saturdays here. Then, we returned home to take a quick siesta and regroup before leaving again. By the time we were done with our siesta it was about 8pm, so we left for dinner. We went to a very cute Tapas buffet restaurant with about 15 or so tapas set out. It was good for Mimi so she could try multiple different dishes in one night.

Sunday was a difficult day for both of us because we did not want to leave each other to return to school and our responsibilities. We went out for coffee and lunch and walked around the plaza some more for some last Catalunya experiences. Also, since it is Spain, we had to stop for churros and hot chocolate for Mimi. Since I already had churros in Madrid, gelato was more appealing to me. We packed up our luggage and cleaned our room up for Marta and Tyler then headed out to the train station and the airport, going our separate ways.

Now that I have seen the province, I can make some reflections on my observations and compare then to what we have learned about Catalunya in my Spanish culture class. First of all, they speak Spanish, English and Catalan. Catalan is very strange, but also a little easier for me to understand because it is essentially a mix of Spanish and French. But, that does not mean I can understand every bit of the language. Everything in the city is in Catalan so it is a big adjustment. However, my Spanish was sufficient to get Mimi and I through the weekend since Castellano (Spanish) is spoken in all parts of Spain. It is even more interesting because we have learned that Catalunya has a large sense of nationalism within their province. That is why there is talk about the province becoming its own country.  Another interesting aspect is comparing the use of a provincial language between the provinces of Catalunya and Valencia. Valencia has a provincial language of Valenciana, but very few people speak it. Actually, my host mother has mentioned multiple times that she does not like that the schools are pushing Valenciana more than English. So, the older generations here do not generally speak the language, but the younger generations do. It is the opposite in Catalunya; there everyone speaks Catalan and it is preferred over Castellano. This is one of the many reasons the Spanish culture here is so incredibly interesting and intricate. Because of the extensive and troubling history, they have more difficulty with nationalism and each individual province is very different. The plethora of experiences throughout this trip will slowly help me grasp the diversified Spanish culture that in my opinion is one that everyone should experience at some point.