Wow, what can I say, Barcelona is my favorite city in Spain that I have seen thus far. It's a very cosmopolitan, urban hub. The city is so expansive, but easy to get around with the Xarxa de Metro (Metro System in Catalan). You could lose yourself in Barcelona and wander around and see something new everyday, in terms of global cities, it's the more refined, less abrasive, less towering building-cousin to any major city in the US. Barcelona is a very different city, where people talk slower and people speak Catalan, Castellano or even Euskera compared to the fast talking Sevillanos. Catalunya as a region is quite a contrast from the laid back atmosphere of Andalucia. The language of Catalan itself is part French and part Spanish.
The weekend started with a late flight from Sevilla to Reus, a city 66 miles southwest of Barcelona. Flying out on a low-cost carrier such as Ryan Air, it was very non-descript. So far every plane I have been on in Europe I've had to walk across the tarmac to board the plane, quite different than the airports I've been too. My group stayed at this hostel called, Hostes Potau. This was a very no frills, family-run hostel that looked like it came out of the Franco-era, however it was a place to lay our heads for the evening after a long day of traveling. Friday night was lo-key by just going to a bar and getting some drinks and just discussing about the trip.
On Saturday, we took the RENFE from Reus to the Barcelona-Sants station to grab the Metro or in Catalan, the Xarxa. Our started off with us hitting the ground running and seeing as much as we could in a day. We went to Montjuic, literally translated-"Mount of the Jews" which has a view of the city to where you can see the Sagrada Familia. Montjuic is where the Jews in Barcelona had to live because they weren't allowed to anywhere else in Barcelona at the time. Near the area was the Olympic Museum for the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona and the Estadio Olympico which hosts one of the football teams in Barcelona, The Estadio Olympico while not as visually arresting as the Bird's Nest in China or the Water Cube, the Estadio Olympic is based on Roman architecture and an homage the legendary colliseums of that time period. The Olympics help put Barcelona back on the map not only for themselves but for the people of Spain.
In the time of the Spanish Civil War or Guerra Civil, Barcelona was one of the major non-Franco cities. Speaking of the Civil War, the Basilica of Santa Maria, a Gothic structure was set on fire and the wood burned, leaving the stone where you can still see the charred marks on the walls and ceiling.
One of the other many things we saw and conquered was the Picasso Museum. This was Picasso Museum #2 for me. You might remember from a previous post where I went to his town of birth, Malaga. Barcelona was home to Picasso from 1894-1907. The Picasso Museum was gigantic compared to the one in Malaga, but personally I liked the collection of art of Picasso's in Malaga better, however it was neat to see things Picasso painted that were not Cubist or surreal, but everyday life such as his academic figure studies or his paintings of friends and family.
Towards the end of the evening we walked around Barcelona in search of buildings by Antoni Gaudi, one of the most famous architects of the 20th Century. Very impressive and surreal compared to his American contemporary, Frank Lloyd Wright.
The night ended with us going to eat dinner at a Catalan restaurant, where everyone either got grilled chicken or sausage. I decided to be the adventurous one and said, "Hey that sounds like that might be good." I ordered "conejo a la brasa." For those of you who don't speak Spanish, it was a rabbit grilled on the BBQ. I got served part of a rabbit, with the half being the head still attached, no floppy ears or eyes still intact though. It was really good actually, white meat so it automatically tastes like chicken, The night culminated with us heading down to the beach in Badalona( a town across the river from Barcelona) where our hostel was and a 15 minute metro ride from the city center. We sat and talked by the water till 2 or 3am before we decided to back and get some sleep and continue on the next morning. The hostel in Badalona was funky, eclectic, and super cheap. This one is in tie for the hostel in Malaga. Six of us shared a room, where as the night before it was three to a room.
That was Day 1. Read on for Day 2.
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