Barcelona

Our cruise ship left from Barcelona, Spain, so we arrived a couple of days early to see the city. We were able to spend two nights in a really nice penthouse apartment with our friends Katie, Ben and Jason (and Katie's mom) located in Plaza Catalunya, one of the main squares in the city. Matt and I ventured off on our own to tour during the day, returned to the beautiful apartment balcony for a sunny picnic lunch, and shared two memorable evening meals as a group.

Views from our apartment balcony

First things first, Barcelona (apparently pronounced Barthelona by Castillian Spanish speakers)  is the capital city of the autonomous community of Catalonia within the Kingdom of Spain. Catalan is the main language spoken, along with Spanish and Aranese. It is also important to mention that Barcelona is filled with the distinctive architectural works of a Catalanian named Antoni Gaudi.

On our first day, we took a self-guided tour of Las Ramblas, a busy pedestrian walkway in the city center. There were the typical street performers and artists found on many main pedestrian walkways throughout Europe, but also outdoor vendors selling birds and other pet supplies.

One of the most memorable parts of our walk was detouring into La Boqueria produce market (designed by Gaudi), where we shared a container of strawberries and wandered through the tightly packed stalls selling everything from dried fruit and spices to live shell fish and whole legs of ham. 

Knowing that we had a week of travel ahead of us, we took it pretty easy in Barcelona, but made sure to visit the Sagrada Familia (Holy Family) church. Gaudi worked on this church from 1883 to 1926 and it's still not finished.

Despite all of the cranes, this structure is as beautiful as it is strange. The facade of the church looks like it could be melting or blistering. The colorful spire tops are reminiscent of the colorful domes on the Church on Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg, but in person, it's possible to see that the little balls are actually covered in mosaic tiles rather than solid enamel.

From the back, this looks like a completely different church, complete with futuristic archways and Darth Vader-like guards in Gaudi's rendition of the Crucifixion (see below).

Later in the afternoon, we ventured to Gaudi's Casa Mila/La Pedrera with its melting eaves and unique iron balconies. This picture was taken just minutes before the rain started to pour, prompting us to take cover in Starbucks.













On our second full day in Barcelona, we visited Casa Batllo, otherwise known as the 'House of Bones'. This building, one of Gaudi's most famous, is located on what is called Mancana de la Discordia (Block of Discord), perhaps due to the contrast of other neighboring buildings, like Casa Amatller (see below).

Taking a quick break on  the man-made Barcelona beach just hours before we boarded our cruise ship...