Eight Days A Week: Spring Break in Barcelona

This week is Semana Santa, or Holy Week, in Spain, the week leading up to Easter. It also marks spring break for those of us studying abroad, and I planned a trip to Barcelona for the first part of the week. My mom surprised me by deciding to come and visit and spend 4 days in Barcelona with me! This was a big surprise, since my parents had already determined they weren't coming over; and plus, Mom doesn't speak a word of Spanish so it was really brave of her!

We met up in the airport and navigated the metro to our hotel. The first night there, we walked to the Arc of Triumph, a landmark that would become our route back to the hotel for the rest of our stay. That night there was a huge fair going on around the arc, which was fun to walk around and look at all the open markets. We went to a cafe off of the Park Cuitadell, only to find that they weren't serving food (so we ordered a pitcher of sangria instead)! That was definitely one of the issues we had in Barcelona: the mealtimes. Our hotel was outside of the city center so the small places around us were pretty set on the typical Spanish mealtimes. We had a good evening despite that, and found a different place and ordered Spanish tapas: croquettes, tortilla, and Irish potatoes.

Santa Maria del Mar

The second day we walked to the Gothic Quarter of the city, where the city center becomes winding little streets with shops, landmarks, and restaurants scattered throughout. The big museums were closed on Mondays for some reason, but we saw St. Mary of the Sea church, the Barcelona Cathedral, the famous Music Hall, and St. Pere church. It was a lot of walking, and we looked at bus tours that the city offered for the next two days.

We started off Tuesday waiting in line at the Sagrada Familia, the huge cathedral designed by Gaudi. I had heard a lot about the Sagrada Familia, especially that it was hard to get inside, so we arrived early. The cathedral has 2 facades: the Nativity, with the familiar scene surrounded by ornate animals and figures; and the Passion facade, which shows several scenes carved with curves and geometric figures. The inside was incredible! It looked like something out of the movie Avatar. Gaudi was inspired by many different forms found in nature, from flower and tree shapes, to geometric shapes and spirals. We were also able to climb one of the towers and look out over the city and the construction- the cathedral is still not completed. The missing piece is a massive dome, which would rise over the 100-meter-high towers. It will be truly awesome!

Sagrada Familia: Nativity facade

Not 15 minutes after our visit, the Sagrada Familia was hit by an arson attack in one of the towers. The place was evacuated of 1500 people, and Mom and I were lucky to escape the mobbed park on our tour bus. We next went to Park Guell, a famous site also designed by Gaudi, and from there around the city and back to the center, where we saw 2 of Gaudi's houses. Truly Barcelona was Gaudi's architectural playground.

We also enjoyed Basque pinxos (pinchos are like tapas, small portions served with drinks, only with large toothpicks holding them together) at a place called Euskal Etxera, which was a highlight of the trip for me. It was so cool! I thought of Dad, and of home in general, with the appetizer-like servings. There were some pretty interesting combos of flavors, and although we had to scrape some very strong fish out at one point, it was really great.

On Wednesday, we went to the Picasso Museum, which was really interesting. I didn't know Picasso started out with realistic portraits and landscapes, and the museum showed his evolution really well. My favorite part was seeing his variations on the Spanish painter Velazquez's famous painting, Las Meninas.

We continued on the tour bus to see some upper-class parts of the city, including the old Royal Palace, the soccer stadium, the 1992 Olympic stadium, a monument to Christopher Columbus, and finally the beach!

We woke up before dawn on Thursday to start our respective journeys...it was an amazing trip with my Mom :) we bonded a lot and enjoyed the sights together, and it is probably the longest amount of time I'll be spending with family for the summer, so it was well worth the problems I had actually getting to and from Barcelona! Luckily Mom's longer and more complicated trip was easier than mine. Thanks for reading: up next, the Semana Santa processions in Granada.