Are
you sick of pictures of Barcelona yet? No? Good, because I’m not!
Last
Wednesday, Hayley, Shiva, and I ate breakfast at the hostel and then headed out
to the gothic quarter of the city! Our first stop was the Santa Maria del Mar
church. The inside of the church was absolutely beautiful, and the ceiling was
huge! Definitely worth a visit if you're ever in the area.
From
the church we took a short walk over to the Parc de la Ciutadella, a park
filled with orange trees, fountains, and people enjoying the sixty degree
weather. We wandered around the paths, saw the sites, and contemplated picking
an orange (I exercised my amazing self control and refrained. Go me.).
My
favorite part of the park was a giant fountain in its center. Gold, marble, and
statues, oh my! But seriously, it was beautiful. You can even walk up the
stairs for a good view of the park.
After
leaving the park and wandering around the gothic quarter, we headed to the
Palau de la Musica--an old, fancy music hall--to try to get tickets to tour the building.
Unfortunately,
tickets for the Palau de la Musica were already sold out by the time we got there. I definitely wasn't expecting that. It was worth the
visit, though; the building was really interesting from the outside, and it was
tucked away down a really pretty alley.
From
the Palau de la Musica we walked to the Cathedral de Barcelona, the only
cathedral in the city. Hayley and I toured the building and took an elevator to
the roof, where we had a fabulous view of Barcelona.
We
grabbed lunch in the same square as the cathedral, at a small restaurant
offering a veggie friendly lunch special (note: if you’re vegetarian/vegan and
going to Barcelona, plan ahead! a lot of the food is meat based). For
ten Euros I got white wine, bread, a dish wish pumpkin, green beans, and
potatoes, a fabulous Spanish omelet with cheese, and coconut flan. Needless to
say we left stuffed and happy (and we didn’t just have the wine to thank).
After
lunch Hayley and I went to the beach (Shiva met up with a friend from childhood
who was studying abroad in Barcelona)! The marina was super pretty; there were
so many boats, and the weather could not have been more perfect.
It
was too cold to swim, but we had a blast walking along the beach and dipping
our feet in the Mediterranean!
After
our walk on the beach, Hayley and I went to the Picasso
Museum to meet up with Shiva. The walk to the museum from the beach was really pretty, and Hayley
grabbed a tasty gelato along the way. The museum itself was okay; some of the
Spanish to English translations were super funny!
We
ended the night at a swanky bar, where we got drinks and relaxed before heading
to the hostel to make dinner. Hayley and I got yummy sangria (we were in Spain,
after all!), and Shiva got a mixed drink. After the bar, we grabbed the metro
back to the hostel, made dinner, and went to bed. AKA we had another successful night raging in Barcelona.
