Spain: Barcelona (And Figueres)

Casa Batllo, aka Casa dels ossos (House of Bones in Catalan)

We got up on Wednesday morning and caught a train bound for Barcelona. The train ride was great. Possibly my favorite part of travelling is the train and bus rides, where you just sit and watch the countryside out the window. There are no demands on you to find out where you are or where you are going, no stress of figuring out what's going on--just sit back, relax, and take in the scenery. You get to just sit and be for a few hours. Anyway, we passed through orange trees and tunnels opening onto cliffs dropping down into the sea. I loved it.

Once we got to Barcelona, I wasn't entirely sure whether I liked it or not. Our hostel was kind of crappy. Usually, hostels provide blankets and pillows, but not sheets or towels. That's fine--I (or rather, Mom) made a sleep sheet before I left and I carry it around with me so I don't have to pay extra for sheets. However, this hostel charged for blankets as well. I think that's absolutely ridiculous and completely unacceptable. There was free internet, but the computers rarely worked, and there was no common room or anything. Fortunately, there was a kitchen, and (a crappy) breakfast included. So if you're ever in Barcelona, do NOT stay at Sun and Moon hostel. It kind of sucks.

Christopher Columbus

Anyway, we were still exhausted, so we hung around the hostel for a bit before heading down to the port to check things out. The port is beautiful. There's a statue of Columbus there, despite the fact that Columbus was neither Spanish nor Catalan, and he's pointing at Africa, for some unknown reason. I love this. Not only is there a statue of him in some random Spanish city he has no connection with, but he's pointing in the completely wrong direction. Way to go, guys, way to go. Although, apparently, he wrote his journals in bad Spanish mixed with Catalan and Portugese...and later on, in Latin and Greek. We just sat on a bench by the port for a while, listening to the water. It was lovely.

Santa Maria del Mar

The next day, we got up and toured Barcelona. We went to the basilica Sant Maria del Mar, the cathedral/basilica Le Seu, a park, and Barcelona's Arc de Triomfe. We also went to the history museum of Barcelona, which was really interesting. The museum was built over some Roman ruins, so you got a audio guide that would explain all the different parts--the little church, the laundry shop and where clothes were dyed, the fish-monger's shop, and the wine factory. It was pretty cool. There were also remains of frescoes and mosaics (and mosaics are now pretty much my favorite things ever). After that, they talked about the medieval Barcelona, and you know me--I was enthralled. I don't remember a thing I learned, though, except that they talked about Charlemagne and the Carolingians, because it was a really long time ago. We also did a bit of shopping, because I needed a black skirt, as we planned on going to a church service on Christmas eve, and I felt it was inappropriate and a bad reflection on Americans to show up in jeans. Do you know how hard I looked for this skirt? Apparently, there are no reasonably priced, decent black skirts in all of Spain. It was the most annoying thing ever.

The day after that, the 21st of December, we took a train up to Figueres, the home of the Teatre-Museu Dali. Figueres was the birthplace of Salvador Dali, and where he chose to set up his museum. I expected it to be an odd place, but not quite as strange as it turned out to be. A lot of it was too weird for me to really appreciate. However, I really like how he plays with perception, and there was an exhibit on some jewelry he made that was really cool. I also got to see his tomb. That night, when we got back to Barcelona, I finally found a black skirt.

La Sagrada Familia, Passion Facade

Saturday, we devoted nearly the entire day to the works of architect Antoni Gaudi. This man was absolutely insane. First, we went to La Sagrada Familia, a cathedral he designed. Work started on this cathedral in the heat of Catalonian Romanticism, when use of the Catalan language and pride in being Catalan was at it's height in the late 19th century. Construction began in 1882. It still isn't finished. It, in fact, won't be finished until 2026 at the earliest. That's 140+ years of construction on ONE CATHEDRAL! Good lord, people, can't we hurry things up a bit? Of course, part of the problem is that Gaudi died before completion and now people are bickering about whether or not certain parts are true to his vision, and also some crazy Catalan anarchists destroyed part of the cathedral and Gaudi's workshop suffered hugely during the Spanish Civil War. Personally, I didn't like La Sagrada Familia that much, because it was way over the top and too cluttered. Not my tastes, really. But I thought the idea of making the columns in the nave look like trees was pretty cool.

Roof of Casa Batllo

Next, we headed over to Casa Batllo, which is a crazy house that kind of looks like a sea monster or a dragon from the outside. I loved Casa Batllo. Inside, there are few straight lines and it's all designed to be very organic and look kind of like the sea. The roof is apparently supposed to evoke St. George killing the dragon. And it's a decent sized dragon, too, not these wimpy little ones that you see in so many depictions of St. George! Anyway, this, I think, is my favorite Gaudi.

Park Bench at Parc Guell

Finally, we went up to Parc Guell, which also contains a lot of Gaudi stuff. There's his park bench, which is the longest in the world (quite a distinction, I know), two of his houses, some arches, statues, mosaics, and so on. Wikipedia tells me that part of Cheetah Girls 2 was filmed there. Aren't you glad you know that?

The next day, we tried to get a train to Montpellier, but we missed the early one, so didn't end up leaving until 5:30 or so. It was annoying. Anyway, I was tired, and really sick of Barcelona, so I hung around and read. Soon enough, we would leave Spain behind.