The Adventures Begin

So I’m sitting in the Barcelona Airport trying to figure out how to sum up the last five days of my life in one short blog post. I’m not sure I can do it, and this might get unbearably long, but I have so much to tell and so many emotions to express, I’ve just got to make it a long one. We arrived in Barcelona around 10:30 pm, Spain Time, which it turns out is an hour ahead of London, which we didn’t know until we got here. The plane ride was okay, except for these rather obnoxious English dudes who sat a few rows in front of us and refused to shut up for more than ten seconds. Oh, and the ads running every half hour or so—apparently that’s how RyanAir can be so cheap… they run advertisements the entire flight. But we got to Barcelona and I immediately started sweating because I was wearing half of my clothes. I’d had the brilliant idea of bringing my laptop along, so my backpack was severely limited on space. Therefore, I

reasoned, wearing the clothes there was the most obvious solution. It worked, the only problem being that I just about died of heatstroke on the way to our apartment, and this was at night. We took the train from the airport to Clot, the metro station that would become most familiar to us, and walked to our apartment, which was thankfully very close. The reason we had an apartment instead of staying in a hostel was because we had found one that we could rent for 5 days that was relatively close to the city center and was actually less per person per night than a hostel would be, and it was nicer because we didn’t have to live with 12 strangers.

The day after we arrived, we went straight to the Sagrada Familia. This is the basilica designed by Antoni Gaudi that is literally the most interesting building I’ve ever seen. It’s been under construction since before Gaudi’s death in 1926, and it was weird to see so many cranes and scaffolds around the building. We didn’t go in that first day, although we did later. We walked from there to the beach, which we discovered wasn’t the smartest thing we’d ever done. It was quite a long way. But the beach was gorgeous and I may have freaked out a little when I saw the Mediterranean in real life. I mean, come on, this is the sea that Greece was built off of, where Odysseus and Aneas sailed, what Marc Antony and Septimius crossed to get to Africa. That water was literally the stuff of legend, and I got to swim in it!! We had decided relaxing after our hectic travel day was in order, so we lazed around on the beach and in our apartment that day.

The second day we bought a three day train pass, which was probably the smartest thing we’ve ever done. Maybe not ever, but pretty close. It gave us unlimited rides on both buses and trains for three whole days, and we definitely used it. We first went to La Ramblas, the gorgeous street market in old Barcelona. The street began with the Plaza de la Catalunya, which boasted a few fountains and statues and monuments and such (all absolutely stunning, of course). The street itself wasn’t quite as impressive, because I kept comparing it to the market I saw in Chichicastenengo, Guatemala, until we went into a side market that was bursting with so many fruits and candies and various goodies as well as interested people. That part was pretty cool. There was also a side plaza further down Las Ramblas that had yet another fountain and lots of innovative handmade things. There were coin purses made from old cassette tapes and handbags made with vinyl records, burlap sacks literally made into dresses and bags, old silver spoons and keys made into gorgeous jewelry, things like that. Las Ramblas itself ends with a huge monument to Christopher Colombus, pointing (presumably) in the direction of the Americas. The base of the monument included statues of Ferdinand and Isabel, the Spanish monarchy’s supercouple who united Castile and Aragon as well as sponsored Columbus’s original journey to the Americas. The monument itself was surrounded by lions, and we snatched the opportunity to take pictures on the back of a lion because when can you ever do that again? There were also these really cool living statues at the end of Las Ramblas, of people like Picasso and Columbus, as well as these weird/scary dragons and golden angels. I got a picture with the John Lennon one (just for you, Bob!) that someone has on their camera somewhere. These were cool, but a little bit creepy because they were so. good. at. being. statues. Really, you didn’t realize they were real people until you noticed them just barely moving.

After eating some ridiculously overpriced food for lunch, we made our way toward the Museum of Contemporary Art. There was so much to see here, I honestly can’t retell it all. There were so many interesting interpretations of art and what art is, and how expression can be limited in ways but expanded in others. Some art I enjoyed more than others, such as the piece with books hanging from the ceiling and the words ‘TO READ’ emblazoned on the wall next to them, or the piece that included a rusty bedframe bolted to the wall, grafitti on the building outside, and a large painting inside. One of the final paintings that stuck in my mind was a large grayscale painting that seemed to represent a river, with animals drinking at the banks, during a rainstorm. For some reason, the composition of the painting and the technique used really worked for me. Another really cool one was called “An Exercise in Illusion” and featured three statues of Chinese men (with no feet? Still don’t know what that was about) in front of a long curtain. Turns out the curtain was painted on a cloth that was then hung on the wall, but it was painted so realistically that I didn’t notice it until I saw the title of the piece and endeavored to take a closer look.

The next day began with the Arc de Triomf. I hadn’t realized, until coming to Barcelona, that many European cities have an Arch of Triumph, not just Paris. This one was very interesting, made out of red brick and intricate statue work on the top. What we didn’t realize, walking up, was that there was a huge yoga demonstration going on right in front of the Arc. This was actually kind of cool to

watch, if you ignore the fact that I speak literally zero Spanish and therefore couldn’t understand a word the instructor was saying, and I probably would have joined in if I hadn’t been wearing a dress. We wandered down the park into what we now know were the grounds for the World’s Fair when it was held in Barcelona. Simply by luck, we happened upon the Ciutadella Cascades, which were stunning. The fountain even started up while we were standing there, so we had to re-take the pictures with the water running. I wish I knew what the fountain was built for, but there weren’t many explanatory  plaques around and I wouldn’t have understood them, anyway. I guess it’s enough that it was beautiful, and unexpected, and amazing to see. We unfortunately had to leave the grounds before exploring much more–we had church in the Catedral to get to.

 

Church was an interesting experience. At first, a few of us couldn’t even get into the building because we weren’t wearing appropriate clothing. Sleeves were necessary, as were shorts or skirts that were closer to the knee than most. To get in, a few of us had to buy cheap scarves from the vendors in the plaza and use them as shawls. Once inside, we had to convince the Spanish guard that we, a group of American college kids, really were here for mass and should be let into the front of the Catedral. Furthermore, it was a Catholic mass, which I’m not really too familiar with as a Presbyterian, and it was entirely in Spanish. I spent a lot of the time trying to guess the pitches in the sung responses and admiring the architecture of the Catedral itself, alternately watching the priest at the front of the church giving a sermon that I only caught a few words of (corazon and monde, if you’re interested). It was really interesting to be a part of, though, and I’m really glad I had the experience. The coolest part may have been when we walked outside, and there was a band playing on the plaza steps while multiple groups of older Spanish men and women doing traditional dances. It was really awesome to see such spontaneous enjoyment by people so different from us, but so similar in all the ways that count.

 

Lunch was stellar–I had a waffle with caramel sauce and I just about died and went to heaven. Not only have I been waffle-deprived for close to a month, this particular waffle was made spectacularly. That was my sustenance for our hike to Parc Guell. This involved a walking up a rather steep hill and walking through a bunch of trails made of dirt and horribly placed rocks, but the view was definitely worth it. Not only for the great view of Barcelona itself, but for the amazing Gaudi architecture. The colorful tiles and organic shapes make his designs incredibly unique and unbelievably interesting to look at from various angles. Literally any angle, actually, is new and exciting to look at. It was beautiful to see, especially because the weather was just as gorgeous as the architecture and the sun made the colors shine all the more brightly. I wish that we had had a bit more time to explore the area better, but it was sunny and hot and everyone was a bit crabby and tired. So after gazing at the buildings that looked a bit like something out of Dr. Seuss in awe for possibly longer than was entirely necessary, we headed back to the apartment for some well-deserved rest.

The next day we headed up the mountain to Tibidabo. We weren’t sure what to expect, exactly, but it was basically a huge church, a lookout point, and an amusement park for small children. We, being the incredibly mature college students that we are, probably had the most fun on the teeter totter and the slide maze. I think Cat even got part of it on film. It was a gorgeous day, and playing around like a kid was so much fun. The views were amazing, too. I learned how to take a panoramic shot on my camera on this day, so I got a few good photos from the lookout point and of the church. I’m not really sure why there was a church overlooking an amusement park on top of a mountain, but it seemed to work for the Barcelonians (is that even a word?). After Tibidabo we made our way to Parc Montjuic. Walking up to the parc involved many, many stairs, a few pillars that held up nothing, and the Magic Fountain, which unfortunately doesn’t run on Mondays. The Art Museum, at the top of all the stairs, was gorgeous to look at, even if we couldn’t get in (it’s closed on Mondays?). The sun was setting around the time we were exploring the parc, so we got to observe how the building changed in different lights. We also discovered, completely by accident, the Olympic Stadium from the 1992 Summer Olympics. It was a really impressive set up, and I wish, again, that we could have explored it a bit more, but it was getting dark and late and we were all rather tired, so we headed back to the apartment after taking a rather large amount of pictures.

The last day we had together in Barcelona we used to see the inside of the Sagrada Familia.

The line was incredibly long the first day we saw the outside, and thankfully when we went on Tuesday it wasn’t quite as ridiculous. Seeing the inside was definitely worth the 11 euros, though, because I’ve literally never seen anything like that before in my life. It was absolutely stunning. The ceilings were incredibly high, and the pillars were huge but didn’t really seem like it because the space itself dwarfed everything inside it. The stained glass windows were partially finished, and the colors streaming through them played on the white walls like music. I don’t even know how to describe the feeling you get when you walk inside–just that everything is bigger and better and more beautiful than anything else you will ever see. Despite the fact that Gaudi, the architect, died in 1926, construction is still going on. They only recently finished the inside and Pope Benedict dedicated the basilica just last year. Underneath the main part of the basilica is a small museum dedicated to documenting the construction of the Sagrada Familia, from the original conceptual drawings to the current plaster molds being thought up and worked off of in the present day. One of the most interesting things I saw was a demonstration of how Gaudi created his arches. He would hang string between two weights to create the ‘perfect arch,’ as he saw it, doing this multiple times in the same piece to form the basic structure of the building he was to create. He would then observe the hanging strings through a mirror to see what the arches would look like right-side up. Another example given was how he created the splaying disks on the ceiling. This was again done with string and plaster, although I didn’t fully understand how it worked. Needless to say, Gaudi was an incredible genius and looking at his work left me a bit speechless. Okay, a lot speechless. It got to the point where I just had to sit down inside the basilica and stare at everything because I couldn’t take it all in anymore. It was amazing.

After the Sagrada Familia, we headed back to the beach for one last relaxing day before leaving. The others left for Ibiza on Wednesday morning, and I stayed behind because my flight back to Cambridge wasn’t until later that night. I cleaned up the apartment a bit, looked through my photos, did some laundry, and generally tried to reflect on my time in Spain. It was truly incredible, and I’m so happy I went. We had gorgeous weather and the monuments were stunning and the Mediterranean was fun to swim in and I even got a bit less pale. But I was ready to come back home to Cambridge, I think. As much as I loved being in Spain, I missed England quite a bit. I ended up sitting next to a lovely British couple from Norwich on my flight back, and we had a great talk about a ton of things, which made the flight go by much faster. They were really so sweet, they even bought me a soda during the flight. On the train back from Stansted Airport, I met a woman and her daughter coming back from seeing a show in London. It made me realize that travelling on my own would be quite fun, because I’m much more open to talk to the people around me when I don’t actually know any of them. That, however, could also have been that I was just really excited people were speaking English again.

Barcelona was amazing. England is amazing. I’m so happy to be here, to be supported by all of you reading this, and to have this opportunity. I appreciate every single second of it, from the cold and rainy bits to the unbearably hot and sunny bits, from the tiring bits to the infrequent boring bits. I love the learning, the growing, and the travelling, which is it’s own form of learning. I love it all, and I can’t wait to see more.

With happiness, excitement, and gratitude,

Bryn