Barcelona and Gaudí Galore

The famous La Sagrada Família

Back in March my boyfriend and I planned an impromptu trip to Barcelona, and by impromptu I mean it.  It was a trip planned in three days and I thought I was going to have a panic attack because we didn't even know where we were staying until we arrived to Barcelona.

Despite the near panic attack, I was still very excited to arrive because I had always wanted to travel to Barcelona.  The plans were finally pushed into fruition this particular weekend as a reunion for my boyfriend and his friends.  I have to point out that the biggest thing I had noticed about discussions of Barcelona is that it seems to elicit strong feelings, everyone either seems to love it or hate it.

To be honest I managed to fall somewhere in between those opinions.  And before anyone gets offended, it wasn't really Barcelona's fault.  The weather was terrible, a mix of rain and cold, and we were so rushed to see the city in only a day and a half. What instead moved me about the city was how kindly I was treated by the BF's friends there.

I was obsessed with the stained glass windows

We arrived to Barcelona late at night, picked up by one of the BF's friends to be dropped off at another friend's house where we'd be spending the weekend.  When we finally arrived at our home away from home for the weekend we were greeted by home-cooked food the family had saved for us from their dinner, I love Spain.

After we shoved food in our face a quick dinner we met the rest of the friends in the center for a night out.  A night out that proved why botelloning gives anxiety, though no worries my #guiristatus and the fact that I wasn't drinking saved me from the whopping 12€ fine.  Kind police officers aside, I still prefer just paying at a bar or club and not worry about my anxiety when I want to salir.

Thankfully the rest of the night was not nearly as exciting and we woke up bright and early, still not sure how we we did it, to tour the actually city of Barcelona.  Which if you couldn't guess is a lot to do in one day, but is possible if you if you A) Don't mind paying for public transportation or B) Don't mind walking until your feet make you want to cry.

We chose B and started out near the center at the Arco del Triunfo and made our way to the world famous Sagrada Família, which is really a church and not a cathedral like many people think.  For those unfamiliar with this beautiful church, it's famous because it was designed by Catalan architect Anton Gaudí and also because as work depends on donations and ticket sales the construction has taken well over 100 years and the church is still not complete (though it's anticipated to be finished in 12 years).

[General Tickets: 14.80€, Student Tickets: 12.80€; to visit the towers too General Ticket: 19.30€, Student Ticket: 17.30€; the Basilica is open 9-8 PM]

After Sagrada Família we then walked to Park Güell, another famous site designed by Gaudí.  For new visitors the rules of visiting the park have recently changed.  The park used to be entirely free but now visitors have to pay to enter the famous Gaudí area of the park, though the rest of the park still remains free and open to the public.

The biggest shock to me when we purchased the tickets is that you're given an entry time.  If you miss your entry time, well then you're out of luck.  Since we had about 45 minutes to wait for our entry time we decided to walk around the free area of the park, starting at crosses that mark the highest point of the park.  By climbing to the top you get a spectacular view of Barcelona, and a nice little hike.  Though be cautious if it's a windy day, seriously had a few moments clinging to the rocks and fearing for my life...

Finally it was almost our entry time to the monument portion of the park so we marched back downhill and had our tickets collected by the security guards at each entry point.  And to be honest, I was not as impressed as I was with La Sagrada Família.  At 8€ to enter, a specific time available to enter, and such a small portion of the park actually designed by Gaudí it was beautiful, but not my favorite spot on our whirlwind tour of Barcelona.

[Online Tickets: 7€, Office Tickets: 8€; the park is open 8:30-6:00 PM October 27 to March 23, 8:00-8:00 PM March 24 to April 30, 8:00-9:00 PM May 1 to October 26]

Too tired to walk back to the center, we took the metro to head to Casa Batlló, a house that was redesigned by, you guessed it, Gaudí.  The roof is said to represent a dragon and the spire on top the lance of Saint George, Saint George (Sant Jordi) being the patron saint of Cataluña.

It truly is a beautiful building, especially with the gorgeous mosaic Gaudí is known for, but at 18.5€ for a student ticket it was just more than we wanted to spend so we just stopped by to see the façade.

[Adult Tickets: 21.50€, Student Tickets: 18.50€, the building is open 9:00-9:00 PM]

After the quick walk-by of Casa Batlló we made our way to La Rambla, the famous Barcelona street that connects Plaça de Catalunya and the monument for Christopher Columbus.

While La Rambla is known for its shopping, it is also infamous for tourists, tourist traps, and pickpockets.  We spent most of our time trying to find a place to wait and stay warm until we met our friends for dinner.  Too cold to walk much further and we hid in Starbucks and naturally I ordered a cold drink, sometimes my intelligence knows no bounds.

After the previous night's dinner at possibly the worst Chinese restaurant I've ever eaten in, at least it had Karaoke, we spent our last morning in Barcelona with a quick tour of the area known as the "Gothic Quarter." This area of Barcelona is famous for the number of buildings that are from the Medieval Period. 

We started the tour at the Cathedral of Barcelona. While the structure of the cathedral is from the Medieval period, few people seem to know that the façade is actually neo-Gothic and was added in the late 19th century.

As we walked through the streets we entered a plaza called Plaça de Sant Felip Neri that is famous for the damage it sustained during the bombing of the Spanish Civil War. During the bombing people were hiding in the basement of the church and 42 people, including children, were killed. Here's a great video about the plaza from Barcelona Blonde (previously Hola Yessica) from her MyBarcelona video series.

It was a shame we saw this area so quickly, and on our last day, because it ended up being one of my favorite parts of Barcelona.  While it didn't entirely win me over on my first visit, I would love to head back to Barcelona one day and explore more of this area.  With bad weather and such little time, it wasn't quite enough to get charmed by the Barcelona that everybody seems to love.  Though this time I'll be checking the weather reports!

Have you ever been to Barcelona?  What are your thoughts?

March Madness

And no I'm not talking about college basketball...

I can't believe I let a month fly by without posting anything, but I guess that's life for you.  Sometimes it can call for more than you're used to.

Spring blossoms on the way home from work.

It's not like March was supposed to be a busy month, the only thing I anticipated was the coming of Spring and hopefully having my clothes start to dry in less than a week (wishful hoping).

Instead March was a month full of extremely high "ups" and equally low "downs": stress, anger, frustration, joy, love, and fun.  It was a crazy month that I guess has kept me posting because I A) Didn't know how to express everything I was going through exactly as I wanted and B) Because I just didn't have the time to sit myself down at the computer and write.

And I really did have posts lined up to write, I even started a few of them: my first Día de los Reyes, Carnaval in my colegio, the process of renewing, and my thoughts on how living in Spain I've grown to love so many different foods.  But then they all just got put on the back burner of my life.

Spanish potluck dinner with friends.

I don't want to bore you all with a long post of every detail of my month, trust me, some of them I would rather not relive.  And that being said, some other ones I will put in their own post (hopefully not several months behind again).

To get over with it I'll start with the worst of the month:

• School drama.  My school is great, don't get me wrong but two situations that had been growing for a while mad March a very stressful month:
• One of my usual teachers was on maternity leave for a few months and a long-term sub was brought in.  Normal, right?  The only problem is that they brought in a teacher whose level of English was not up to what it should be in a bilingual school and she also could not control the class, among many other frustating situations.  I have never been so happy to have my teacher return last week, good teachers make all the difference.

Las Meninas at the Carnaval Parade

• With another grade we are preparing exams, which is frustrating for all parties involved.  The other auxiliar and I started to become way overused (and overwhelmed) with what we were being asked to do, like: solo teaching all of the classes.  It just got to be too much, finally leading us to a meeting to talk through all the issues and miscommunication.  Which was a reminder that when there is a problem and/or you feel uncomfortable, it will only get worse until you talk about it.

• General job stress.  With the crisis in Spain and lack of jobs for most of the youth, we were anxiously waiting to hear back from the BF's company if he would get officially hired like they kept hinting.  My staying in Spain for next year depended a great deal on whether or not he would be able to stay in Madrid with me.  After a long distance relationship for two years we've both vowed to do whatever we could to avoid being in the situation again, making the uncertainty of his job a huge stress for both of us.

• Children are infested disease carriers.  Kidding...only a little bit, at least they're cute...

Sneak peak of las murallas de Ávila.

But like I said before March also had its beautiful moments, worth all of the stress and frustration.

• Finally good luck in jobs!  At the end of the month we finally received good news on both fronts and will likely be here for at least two more years (at least one more for me with Auxiliares as I was officially placed last Thursday!)

• A day trip to Ávila, the capital of the province of Ávila in Castilla y León, with friends.  It's a great small city known for it's medieval wall and it's high number of Romanesque and Gothic churches.  Plus great Chuletón (a type of T-bone steak)!

• An impromptu trip to Barcelona last weekend to visit some of my boyfriend's friends.  It was my first time in Cataluña in general and I had an amazing time getting to know them and the city.  There's nothing better than having native tour guides, especially ones so welcoming!  We didn't get to see everything we wanted, but we both want to go back with more time to enjoy the city and his friends.

• And general exploring and enjoyment of Madrid.  Like watching the Carnaval parade in person, visiting the Museum of Sorolla (one of my favorite Spanish artists), and devouring the Spanish cuisine.  We're a couple that really, really loves food and on the weekends (and sometimes the ambitious weekday) we like exploring different corners and restaurants of Madrid. 

• And finally my dad arrives to visit on Wednesday and I'm beyond excited to see him, as I haven't seen him since August!  I spent most of March planned for his visit and looking forward to his arrival.  It's his first time in Europe so we have plans to travel to some different sights in Europe and Spain.

Now that April is here and the weather is BEAUTIFUL I'm excited to (finally finish the posts I've planned, of course) what this month has planned for me and spend more time walking around and exploring Madrid.  It's such a huge city and there's so many places yet to discover.

View of Barcelona from Parque Güell.

How has March treated you this year?