Barcelona, Spain

Hola, friends and family!  It's been ages since we blogged.  We took a jaunt to The Bahamas (side note:  did you know that The Bahamas are the only country aside from The Gambia to officially have the word "the" in its name?) and had a blast, pics will follow at a later date since I took so many.  We settled in back in Napoli after new years and finally took our next trip last weekend to southeastern Spain. 

Barcelona is located on the Mediterranean Sea and is very much a sea-based city in every way.  The dominant culture there is NOT Spanish.  It is Catalan and the language is Catalan, which is more similar to French than anything else.  For example, "thank you" in Catalan is "merci".  Barcelona is part of a region of Spain called Catalunya, and is currently undergoing a vocal movement for independence.  The Catalunyan government is hoping to be granted a vote for independence in the coming months (like Scotland is currently undergoing from Great Britain).  It isn't a sure vote - the community is split almost 50-50 here as to whether or not gain independence.  The vast majority of people who live here want to be independent, but if they vote for it and it passes, the new country would not be a member of the EU (that's troublesome), so they would rather keep their EU passports, currency, and guarantees.  Spain does not want to release Catalunya as it's a huge money-maker.  It's anyone's guess whether or not the maps will change in the next few months. 

Anyway, without further ado:

 

Our first morning in Barcelona we took a bicycle tour!  I can't believe we haven't done any bike tours in Europe yet... It was fantastic and the weather was perfect.  It felt so good to be on a bike and we saw so much more than we would have!

 

The Placa del Rei is where Queen Isabella received Christopher Columbus upon his return from North America.

 

Other side of the Placa del Rei

 

D in front of the Cathedrale di Barcelona (and our tour guide, Adam, in red).  If you are interested in taking this tour, the company we used was Fat Tire Bicycle Tours.

 

 

The Palau de la Musica Catalana (a magnificent opera house in Modernisme style)

 

The sides of the Palau

 

D on the promenade by the Arc de Triomf

 

Me in front of the Arc de Triomf

 

 

D in front of the Sagrada Familia, the massive church originally begun by Antoni Gaudi that has been under construction for something like 100 years and still isn't finished.   When done, there will be a huge center tower like the ones above, but it will be more than twice their height!  When completed (tentatively scheduled for 2020) it will be the tallest church in the world.

 

D by the Port Olimpic Barceloneta, the former Olympic housing by the beach in Barcelona

 

After our bicycle tour, we went out with a couple we met while cycling.  They had been to Barcelona before and took us to a great little "Asian" restaurant called Mosquito.

 Our new Barcelona friends!

 

The statue of Christopher Columbus by the port on the La Ramblas

A great little bar in the Barri Gotic (the Gothic Quarter) that had 100+ kinds of beer.

 Street art!

 

Day two, we headed up north to visit the park built by Gaudi, the Park Guell.  D spotted this Invader-like piece on the hillside.

 

A smorgasboard of street art!

 In the Park Guell

 

Looking from the Park Guell down into the rest of Barcelona

Wild parrots live all over Barcelona.  Our tour guide mentioned that a decade or two ago these parrots were all the rage as pets, but once people learned how much maintenance and care they required, and how loud they could get, they released them by the hundreds into the parks of the city.  Now, they reproduce in the wild and are living quite well.

 

D by the home of Antoni Gaudi in the Park Guell

What the Sagrada Familia will look like when completed!

Went for a late lunch and got snail and rabbit paella!  Delicious!

 

After lunch D found our first (second?) Invader in the Placa Joanic.  Nice job, D!

First sighting of Dunkin' Donuts in about a year!  The Spanish don't really know the word "donut" though so here it's called "Dunkin' Coffee".  

We began aimlessly wandering all over town.

 

It started lightly raining, so once we got to La Ramblas (the main thoroughfare of Barcelona) we stopped into a cafe for hot chocolate!  I could have sat in here people-watching forever!

Traipsed over to the Casa Batllo, another Gaudi creation on La Ramblas.  It was super expensive to go inside, so we'll save that for another time.

 The Placa de Catalunya

 

Goofing around in the rain

Barcelona is a very street art-friendly city.  We loved it!

We ended up having such a great time.  Two full days in Barcelona was not enough, and we're already talking about going back.  We've loved Spain and have enjoyed both of our trips there (Mallorca is loosely Spain also).  At some point, when we can, we're already talking about taking an extended vacation here.  It's been one of our favorite destinations!