Dos Dias in Barcelona

The adventure has officially begun!

John and I landed in Barcelona Thursday morning after a layover and a long flight out of JFK. Exhausted, the first thing we did was pass out at the hotel for a couple of hours. Kind of lame, but much needed. Also, I think this helped head off the worst of the jet lag; sort of a "reset" button for our sleep schedules. When we felt rested, we got up and walked a mile or so to the start of La Rambla, Barcelona's famous tree-lined boulevard full of shops, restaurants and street performers. We walked all the way down the street, paused at the monument of Christopher Columbus, and walked back up.

Columbus monument

On the way we passed the Boqueria market, and being the food-lovers that we are, we had to go in. As it was getting close to dinnertime, we decided to buy whatever looked good and make a little picnic of it. We had to get Serrano ham and Manchego cheese, of course, but we also got assorted fruits (including cactus fruit, which is pretty but doesn't really have a taste), some crusty bread and some empanadas. It was quite the feast. 

John enjoying a sampler of hams and sausages on a stick.

After our meal we had every intention of going back out to see more of the city, but jet lag caught up with us  and we crashed. But we had to be up early the next day anyway for our all-day tour of pretty much everything Gaudi ever. And what a tour it was.

Antoni Gaudi was a Spanish architect at the turn of the century that became famous for his trippy "Modernista" style. He loved to incorporate organic and flowing forms, so the result is some pretty wacked-out looking buildings.

Case in point: Casa Batllo.

But they were all so cool! Our epic Gaudi tour started off at the Casa Batllo, a house Gaudi remodeled for a wealthy Barcelona family. He was really into curved walls, so there is not a single flat space in the whole building. The story goes that the lady of the house asked him where she should put her piano, since there weren't any flat walls to set it against. Gaudi replied, "Learn to play the violin."

The house is said to represent the legend of St. George slaying the dragon, St. George being the patron saint of Barcelona.

The roof looks like dragon scales!

 His dragon obsession continues with this badass-looking gate:

Whoa.

By the late morning, our tour had made it out to Colonia Guell, where Gaudi constructed this beautiful church for the textile factory workers living there:

Our tour took a 2 hour break for lunch, so John and I headed back down to La Rambla to sample some tapas--awesome--and explored Corte Ingles, a huge department store with several floors featuring everything you might ever need to buy. Then it was back on the bus to see Park Guell, a park full of Gaudi constructions and home to the world's longest bench:

Since Gaudi was so into the integration of nature in his design, the park is full of passages and constructions like this one that utilizes natural materials formed in an organic way:

Needless to say, it was a fun space to explore. After that, we made our last stop of the day: La Sagrada Familia. Gaudi began this project in the 1880s and it is still under construction today, slated to be finished by 2026. It is a church devoted to the Holy Family and funded solely by the Catholic community of Catalunya, not the Vatican. It is immense and breathtaking.

The Nativity facade.

We were blown away by the intricacy of the facades and towers, but we were wholly unprepared for what we saw when we walked in. Neither words nor pictures can really do it justice...let's just say it was like nothing I'd ever seen before in my life, and even an entire day spent immersed in Gaudi's work really prepared me.

Inside the church.

The ceiling of the church.

So after a full day of Gaudi, we stopped back at the hotel to freshen up then headed out in search of dinner. We found some sandwiches and Sangria at a nearby cafe, then caught a cab across town to see what so many of our friends had told us not to miss: the Magic Fountain of Montjuic. This is a fountain that lights up and plays Disney songs. I kid you not.

Light show!

It was truly magical. One of the coolest things I've ever seen, by far. But then again, we had 2 days jam-packed with some of the coolest things I'd ever seen. 

Nice work, Barcelona.