Ciao tutti,
I bring you updates on my latest international trip! Earlier
this month I traveled to the Catalonian capital of Barcelona! It was my first
time in Spain, and I had heard many great things about Barcelona. Luckily, this
fantastic city definitely lived up to my high expectations.
We spent our first day exploring the city by foot, stopping
by the statue of Christopher Columbus (funny story: apparently it is thought
that in the statue Columbus is pointing to the “New World”, when in fact he is
pointing to his homeland of Genoa, Italy).
We also strolled down the main pedestrian area of La Rambla,
passing through La Boqueria, a large open market full of all kinds of fresh
produce.
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| La Rambla |
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| La Boqueria |
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| La Boqueria |
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| La Boqueria |
We then found a place to sit down and order some sangria,
followed by a stroll past the Casa Batlló to admire Gaudi’s interesting
architecture.
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| Sangria in Spain |
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la Casa Battló, displaying the interesting
architecture of Gaudi |
The next day we spent the morning walking along the harbor,
eventually ending up at the beach. The weather was perfect all weekend long, so
we had no complaints J
After a quick siesta, we headed up to Montjuïc, a hill on
the west side of the city. Atop this hill sits one of the greatest places (in
my opinion) in Barcelona – the Olympic stadium! As host to the 1992 Summer
Games, Barcelona has a great stadium as well as a fantastic Olympic museum,
full of fascinating information about the Barcelona Games and Catalonian sports
in general. I thought it was absolutely amazing and I wish I could have spent
all day there.
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| Olympic and Sport Museum of Barcelona |
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| inside the museum |
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| inside the museum |
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| inside the museum |
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| Olympic stadium |
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| inside the Olympic stadium |
After that, we stayed at the Monjuïc area to watch the
sunset and then see the show at the Font Màgica, a spectacular light show at
the grand fountain at the base of Montjuïc.
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| looking out over Barcelona |
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| Font Màgica |
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| Font Màgica |
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Standing at the fountain, looking up at the MNAC
(the National Art Museum of Catalonia) |
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I had to include this somewhere:
an awesome statue of a thinking bull |
On our third day in Barcelona, we spent the morning
exploring the Gothic area of town before heading over to Parc Güell to observe
some of Gaudi’s most amazing work. Take a look for yourself:
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| exploring the Gothic area |
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| exploring the Gothic area |
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| exploring the Gothic area |
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| Placa Reial |
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| Churros with hot chocolate! |
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| At Parc Güell, looking out over Barcelona |
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| Parc Güell |
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| Parc Güell |
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| Parc Güell |
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| Parc Güell |
We then stopped by the Sagrada Família. Unfortunately, this
spectacular church was closed for the day due to a special event, so we weren’t
able to see inside. It was quite a bummer because from what I’ve seen
online,
the inside is absolutely incredible.
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The ever-present cranes (construction is
not expected to be finished until 2026) |
We continued on towards the Gothic cathedral, where we were
allowed inside:
Our last morning we spent walking through the Parc de la
Ciutadella, enjoying the sunshine and beautiful sights before having to head
back to Bologna.
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| My attempt at being artsy |
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| L'Arc de Triomf |
I miss Barcelona already. It is a great city, full of
beautiful architecture and great food. Plus, I must admit that the whole
“siesta” thing is pretty great – I don’t know if I’ll be able to work that into
my daily schedule once I return to the States, but I sure will try!
Ciao for now,
Augusto
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