Barcelona: Becoming intimate with Antoni Gaudi

I underestimated Barcelona. Not only does it feature magnificent fountains and detailed statues in almost every major plaza (there are a total of 68 throughout the city); there is also some of the most unique and ahead of its time architecture in the second largest city of Spain.

My three days in Barcelona were spent mostly on foot. Laura and I flew into Girona--the wrong airport-- which was about an hour outside of the city. After taking a bus, we cabbed it to our hostel. We took the first day to get lost in the city after checking into HelloBCN Hostel. The hostel was pretty nice; very modern, clean, spacious and the staff was pretty helpful. This would be our first time on the trip having a room to ourselves instead of sharing one, dormitory style with bunk beds and all with 2-6 other people so we made sure to take our time getting settled before heading out.

It was Sunday, so most things were closed. When we made our way over to Sant Antoni, the market that we saw driving from the bus station, we found that it was closed. After roaming the streets with a tourist map, we found ourselves at Placa Catalunya. We walked down La Rambla street, stopping to take in the beautiful artwork of the street vendors or view a sidewalk performance. A man dressed like a dead pirate was standing completely still, so as to appear as a statue. When Laura took a photo of him, he came to life and rang his bell until we put change in his tin pail to which he exclaimed "gracius" and then went back to being a statue.

On Monday, we switched rooms which also meant new roommates. Hannah and Dan were the couple sharing the other bunk beds in our four-person room. Both were from New Zealand and has great accents. Hannah lost her luggage but still was optimistic and planned to travel throughout Europe with no set schedule or route, while Dan had to head back to New Zealand. I found the two a breath of fresh air and was happy to share short travel stories with our bunk mates before bed.

Even before that, Laura and I used our day to sight-see. We did another bus tour. This one was twenty-one euros but had two routes that we could go on. We only made it through one, but it was well worth the time that we spent. Laura and I sat on the top of a double-decker open roof bus, which was ideal for taking pictures, but we also took advantage of the "hop on, hop off" option that we had while taking the tour. Our first stop was Famalia Sagrada which was a massive structure that looked like a great castle from afar and was even more amazing up close and person. That was just one of many of Antoni Gaudi's great architecture that we would see.



We spend two hours in Parc Guell, a superbly beautiful and gigantic park that Antoni Gaudi also designed. Casa Batllo and Casa Mila were also on the tour, but we decided to visit those two places on their own on Tuesday. I chose to go into the latter (I was being cheap) while Laura, a huge Gaudi fan, spent time in both. What I did get to see of Gaudi's fine work has made me a fan of his work as well. It was unfortunate to learn that the gifted artist lost his life at thirty-one years young when he was hit by a tram (what a way to go).

Click for more pictures of Barcelona!

I can honestly say that I am thankful that Laura pushed me to go to Barcelona. It was definitely a city with a very chill atmosphere. There was a welcoming vibe in the air the entire time that I was there and I am sure that I will be back again; this time I will be less thrifty and cough up the dough to see all of Gaudi's works.