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| 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!) |
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| Day 1: Our explorations began with a walking tour of the old quarter of the city. |
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| Barcelona is filled with beautiful buildings; the one above is decorated with sand mosaics. |
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| The Parliament of Catalunya, sporting the flag of Spain and the flag of the Catalunya region. |
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| What our tour guide dubbed the "protest del día" - apparently a pretty ordinary occurrence. |
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| The 1992 Olympic torch, in front of the church of Santa María del Mar, built in the 1300s. |
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| Lunchtime tapas... tiny but delicious! |
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| The monument of Christopher Columbus |
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| Parc Guell, designed by Antoni Gaudí and one of Barcelona's most famous parks |
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| Parc Guell = Candyland? |
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| Day 2 started with a visit to the Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Familia, the church designed by Gaudí. |
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| 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. |
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| Enormous and incredibly intricate - difficult to imagine what it will look like once completed. |
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| The architecture inside, so unique from any other church I've seen |
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| Loving the sunshine and palm trees! |
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| An afternoon spent at Barceloneta Beach |
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| A little too chilly to swim... but we did stick our feet in the Mediterranean. |
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| Gardens at Montjuïc hill |
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| Just some meditation in the park. |
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| A great view of the city from Montjuïc |
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| Barbara and I in front of the Palau Nacional, which houses the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya |
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| The Font Mágica of Montjuïc... fountain show set to music entertained us for a good hour, at least... |
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| Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina |
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| Have now seen musicians trying to make money everywhere, including... the metro. (This one happened to be terrible, all the more amusing.) |
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| Day 3 began a morning walk down Passeig de Grácia, reputedly one of Barcelona's prettiest streets |
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| 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. |
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| Casa Batlló, a house designed by Gaudí |
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| ...Rainbow fish? |
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| La Pedrera, another of Gaudí's designs |
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| La Boqueria, Barcelona's largest and most famous market |
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| Enjoying our delicious La Boqueria lunch outside |
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| Parc Ciutadella - where we unexpectedly stumbled into a huge Earth Day Fair |
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| Really awesome street band |
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| Catedral de Barcelona (completed about 1450), celebrating Palm Sunday vigil |
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| The second encounter of the day with spontaneous street dancing... |
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| ...complete with live band! |
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| Delicious paella dinner for our last night |
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| Barcelona's old Roman walls |
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| A final view from our hostel's hill looking out on the city, closing out a wonderful trip. |
