A Week in ESPANA!!! Part 2 Barcelona

Spain, Barcelona

Yes I made it to the place that was the cover of my Spanish texts book in High School.  I started marveling over this imaginary land of people what looked they can be from anywhere in the world since Sophomore Year.  Yes Ladies and Gents Barcelona is my Hawaii.  After flying on the best low budget plane EVER www.vueling.com my cousin and I headed for our 1^st trip to CATALUNYA!!  Barcelona is considered the capital of Cataluña not Spain and they locals are trying their best to keep separate the history of their culture.  The language is this fused mixture of Spanish and French due to this regions history and location which it was conquered by the near by French.  All signs giving directions were written in Cataluña 1^st then Spanish and if you are lucky English.

First the airport was the most tranquil place I have seen. Airports are usually very un organized and loud.  But not here! Gives you that big city yet easy going vibe straight out the gate.  Ok not only was this our first adventure in Barcelona it was also my 1^st really www.airbnb.com experience as well.  If you don’t know about this site, in short, it’s a site that coordinates short term rentals of home owner’s spare rooms or full apartments at a good price and great locations.  We were with two of the most accommodating host. We flew in at 1 am so trying to find their apartment was not going to be good but they offered to come pick us up (for a price of course) but that beats the expensive cost we would have paid for a Taxi.  Our newly build condo was close to the Selva de Mar Metro stop which was walking distance to the beach and the downtown attractions.  One of the first things I do in any city especially if they have a metro/train/underground system is get a MAP.  This helped me weave through the town like I lived there. In during our short time there we tried to get as much as we can  in without any official tour of the city.  Usually at this time I would suggest getting on a hop on hop off bus so I can as much in as I can of a city. 

City attractions that we were able to visit:

Les Rambles was basically a strip filled with cheaper stores  and great fashion as you go up from the beach area to the city center at Plaza de Catalunya.  Didn’t realize how much of a Spain was influenced by fashion just like Rome, Paris, and London.  This is after all the home of ZARA!

On our first day into the city near Plaza de Sant Jaume we notice that tickets were on sale for the soccer match! After leaving in Europe for a year I think there was no way to leave the continent without watching some live FUTBALL! So I realized I didn’t know much about soccer because I thought it was going to be all night since I am use to “American” football and we missed have the game. Lol #smh The stadium was huge and we sat right in front of 2 avid Barcelona fans. 

There is so much to see in this city and there is big mixture of modern and historic architecture. Due to Gaudi’s designs and influence on modern art it was evident just by walking to various places in the city that the city pride its self on this creativity. All of the Gaudi’s sites are a MOST SEE especially the apartment building, la Pedrera and the Sagrada Familia and the Park (my favorite) Parc Guell, take the local city bus #24 north for best city views from this location.

The city was have managed to keep the historical structures still in tact  like the original Roman walls of the where they inhabited when ruling. We also able to visit the Catedral it was very magical and grand within the Roman the walls. The areas along the port are very modern and were mostly built for the past Olympics here.  All in All Barcelona was another place I felt I had to come back.  I love Cities!! Especially if they give me a reason to come back and felt a connection to explore Barcelona during the summer. Can’t wait!

Check out some of my Pics for the trip: