photos from my five months as a student in Galway

Friday, April 29, 2011

Barcelona

In mid-April I traveled to Barcelona, Spain, along with my apartment-mate Maggie and friends Tara and Barbara - I think one of the most beautiful and fascinating cities I have been in. Above is the view as we left our hostel on Day 1 (the panorama was worth climbing the massive hill it was situated on!)
Day 1: Our explorations began with a walking tour of the old quarter of the city.

Barcelona is filled with beautiful buildings; the one above is decorated with sand mosaics.


The Parliament of Catalunya, sporting the flag of Spain and the flag of the Catalunya region.

What our tour guide dubbed the "protest del día" - apparently a pretty ordinary occurrence.






The 1992 Olympic torch, in front of the church of Santa María del Mar, built in the 1300s.

Lunchtime tapas... tiny but delicious!

The monument of Christopher Columbus

Parc Guell, designed by Antoni Gaudí and one of Barcelona's most famous parks




Parc Guell = Candyland?







Day 2 started with a visit to the Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Familia, the church designed by Gaudí.

Construction started in the 1880s and is supposed be completed by 2030 - the sign above shows the towers and portions of the exterior left to be built.

Enormous and incredibly intricate - difficult to imagine what it will look like once completed.


The architecture inside, so unique from any other church I've seen







Loving the sunshine and palm trees!

An afternoon spent at Barceloneta Beach

A little too chilly to swim... but we did stick our feet in the Mediterranean.



Gardens at Montjuïc hill







Just some meditation in the park.

A great view of the city from Montjuïc






Barbara and I in front of the Palau Nacional, which houses the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya



The Font Mágica of Montjuïc... fountain show set to music entertained us for a good hour, at least...

Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina

Have now seen musicians trying to make money everywhere, including... the metro. (This one happened to be terrible, all the more amusing.)

Day 3 began a morning walk down Passeig de Grácia, reputedly one of Barcelona's prettiest streets

Palm Sunday vigil in Barcelona was an unusual experience - no palms in church, but plenty of street vendors selling what were arguably the biggest Palm Sunday palms I've seen.

Casa Batlló, a house designed by Gaudí

...Rainbow fish?

La Pedrera, another of Gaudí's designs

La Boqueria, Barcelona's largest and most famous market





Enjoying our delicious La Boqueria lunch outside

Parc Ciutadella - where we unexpectedly stumbled into a huge Earth Day Fair

Really awesome street band


Catedral de Barcelona (completed about 1450), celebrating Palm Sunday vigil



The second encounter of the day with spontaneous street dancing...

...complete with live band!

Delicious paella dinner for our last night

Barcelona's old Roman walls



A final view from our hostel's hill looking out on the city, closing out a wonderful trip.