Barcelona Reunions

Oh, Barcelona. We meet again, my old friend. Last Friday (the beginning of Arkansas's spring break, just for clarification), I took a little trip to Barcelona. I've been to Barcelona before, but that was three years ago, way back in my junior year of high school; needless to say, I was excited to get back to what was for many years my favorite place in Spain.

Not only did I reunite with the incredibly cool, youthful city, but I got to meet up with a few of my favorite people--mi madre and a couple of my aunts. After a 3-hour, high-speed train ride, I arrived in Barcelona--alone. Took a taxi to what I thought was my family's hotel; of course, that was before I knew that there were two Hotel Constanzas in Barcelona. Luckily, Google Maps had
steered me straight, and I showed up at the right one. After about an hour of catching up with my mom, the four of us met to see the city.

We stumbled upon the Casa Battló, one of Antoní Gaudí's many incredible works in Barcelona. I'll blog about him and his work later, but for now just be satisfied with a picture or two.

Exhausted from travel (my family's journey being much longer than my own) we sat ourselves down at the restaurant next to our hotel. And discovered....Catalán Bread. It was incredibly good, and we had it at every meal after that. A specialty of the Cataluña region of Spain (which includes Barcelona and much of the north-eastern part of Spain), it's basically an artisan bread with olive oil and a tomato sauce on top. But SO. GOOD.

We hit the town hard the next day, starting off with a trip to La Boquería, a huge open air market. And for you food fans, WE SAW MARIO BATALI!!! Orange crocs and all. After that minor shock, we joined a free walking tour of the Barrí Gotíc (Gothic Neighborhood). We had a fantastic tour guide, and we learned an incredible amount of the history of the Barrí Gotíc. An area steeped in history, we learned of Columbus' triumphant return to Spain, the Spanish Inquisition, religious figures, civil war, and the current desire for Cataluña's independence from Spain.

They have certainly worked hard to distance themselves from the rest of Spain. I truly felt as though I was in a different country, and I had a pretty good amount of culture shock in the 3 days that I was there. Cataluña has it's own language--some say it's a dialect of Spanish, some say it's a mixture of Spanish and French, I say it's a language all it's own--and that language predominates. There's often no translation between Catalán and Spanish on signs, menus, etc. To further distance themselves from the rest of Spain, Barcelona and the rest of the region outlawed bullfighting, something that spread to the north essentially as a tourist attraction. Cataláns are very proud of their culture, and work to preserve it--including their style of dance. Every Sunday, outside the cathedral, people of all ages (although most above 30, and most of them above 60) come together to dance the typical Catalán dance.

That afternoon, we took a bus ride through Barcelona, then toured another house built by Gaudí (I swear, more on him later.)

Sunday morning, we had our day planned out. An hour at the Picasso Museum, which illustrates Picasso's transformation from a typical, talented painter to the master of cubism that he ultimately became. I particularly enjoyed his various interpretations of Las Meninas, a painting by Velazquez on display at the Prado Museum here in Madrid. Then it was off to the cathedral to see some Catalán dancing. Then we headed to the Sagrada Familia Basilica, yet another work designed by Gaudí. Some 120 years later, the recently consecrated basilica is still unfinished. However, I think that it's one of Gaudí's most stunning and ambitious works that will be cherished for generations. Here's a few pictures, just to give you an idea.

After a not-so-delicious lunch (although it did include paella--"pah-EH-yuh"--a Barcelona staple), we took one more bus tour (hooray for obvious touristy things!) that took us to the beach, where the water was freezing. I think my aunt's reaction sums it up:

And finally, after 3 filled days of touring, it was time to bring my family to Madrid, so I could share my new home with them. But that's another story, for another day.