Day 1 of Spring Break: Barcelona
We actually flew into Barcelona the night before, but that evening wasn't very exciting. Just train rides, metro rides, finding dinner and walking to our hotel.
The real fun started the next day as we toured Barcelona like we were on fire! Looking back through the pictures, I can't believe how much we got done in 1 day. I was pretty impressed with us! We really had no agenda for Spain, we kind of just wanted to walk around and soak it in. If we saw something, or read something we wanted to see...then we would head off to try to find it. The first part of the day was our Antonio Gaudi part...This guy was a very imaginative architect!
La Sagrada Familia Basilica
This is probably Gaudi's most famous works. Even though he wasn't the first Architect he came on after the structure had started being built, and he wasn't the last...because, even now... a century later, it is still unfinished. 8 of the 12 spires are complete...so you can still hear stone masons chipping away at stone as the work on the unfinished spires.
The girls liked it. There is a lot, visually, going on, on this building. You could probably stare at it for hours and still find something new to see!
The girls love flea markets and tourist stands!
Matt found an Argentine Materia!
He was so happy! They also served the best empanada's ever...it was a very delicious lunch!
So far, Barcelona has been full of color.
Another Gaudi structure.
This is an apartment building he designed.
This Gaudi building was designed to look like a dragon. Kind of an ode to St.George I suppose. The roof is the dragon scales, and the balconies are the skulls of the dragon's victims This was on the "block of discordance", basically a bunch of architects trying to out do each other with their designs...and there were some pretty funky ones too, but also some pretty ones...
A pretty one...
A funky one...
We then took a cable car up to Barcelona's
Castille de Montjuic
It was a fortress we had seen on the hill top as we flew in over Barcelona the night before.
Beautiful views!
For our evening we decided to do a walking tour of old town Barcelona.
It started in this Plaza...where a massive pillow fight was going on.
Not sure what the significance was, but there were feather's and pillow fluff everywhere.
As I was trying to take a picture of this alley way with Matt....
This lovely gentleman photo bombed my picture. He laughed and laughed when I snapped the picture anyway. It was a fun moment.
I love the spanish tile on the fountain...this used to be the main water source for horses as you headed out of town.
Part of the old Roman wall that surrounded Roman Barcelona...then called Barcino.
The arch and the oversized stones are Roman...the rest was build around it.
Cathedral of Barcelona
Outside the Cathedral this gentleman was playing some Spanish Steel Guitar...it was wonderful.
For dinner we wanted to try some local cuisine.
We were served an assortment of Tapas (like appetizers...but in Spain they make a meal out of them), to include clams, squid and some items I didn't recognize!
We also had some delicious Paella...a spanish rice dish. This quickly became my favorite dish in Spain!
It was a memorable first day of our Spring Break...I think what made it most memorable is Hannah...our pickiest eater, tried clam and squid. And she lived to tell about it!
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