No Sleep Till Spain: Besos de Barça

This weekend past I took my final trip of the semester & visited Barcelona! My travel companions & I stayed a total of 4 days & 3 nights & saw some of the most fantastic elements of the city. Our first day in we spent a good deal of time walking the city & getting to know the main drag, a street called Las Ramblas. The next day we trekked over to Park Guëll, a beautiful park designed by the famous Catalonian architect Antoni Gaudí with help from entrepreneur Eusebi Guëll. The park was originally meant to be a residential area, but because the buildings were designed so intricately & were priced accordingly, the city forced the duo to stop construction after a lone 2 houses were created. The houses were so pricey that Guëll eventually suggested Gaudí & his family take up residence in 1. Unfortunately, the first day we visited Park Guëll we were unable to get tickets to enter at a convenient time, but were enthused about seeing the area the following day. The afternoon of the first day we had the pleasure of seeing another of Gaudí's works in another area - La Sagrada Familia. This is an absolutely awe-inspiring church, totally massive & colorful & just amazing. Construction of the church began in 1882 & has not ceased to this day, although there is much to see & marvel at when visiting. Gaudí was so afraid someone would try to sabotage his vision of the church that he told his construction workers what was going to be done the day it was to be done, never giving away the big picture of what the church should look like when it was completed. Unfortunately, he died in 1926 before the building's completion. Everything that has been added on to the building since then is a guestimate of what Gaudí intended the building to look like. How cool is that? The church is ridiculously tall, & has towers visitors are able to climb. We were taken by elevator ride up to a decent height of 1 of the towers, & from there had the option to either walk down or take the elevator yet again. Naturally, I joined the party that chose to walk. The tower steps were very narrow, & at 1 point my friends & I reached a point where not only was it narrow but there was no railing on the inside, a person could fall right through! This was intended to give the impression of the spiral of a snail's shell, & needless to say, I was descending it at a snail's pace. But never fear, I did eventually make it to the bottom, & am here to blog about it today. Our third day in we decided to visit el Castillo de Montjuïc, located a little ways outside of the center city where we were located. Fun fact: Montjuïc means "Hill of Jews", & was actually named so pre-Spanish Inquisition, simply because this is where Sefardi Jews chose to be buried. Upon arriving at what we thought was our destination on Montjuïc, we were surprised to find the castle we had come across was not the one we had been searching for & whatever is formerly was had been converted into a museum. However, the museum's interior was beautiful, if not a bit empty, & it's roof offered a breathtaking glimpse of the whole of Barcelona. We also had the opportunity to visit one of Barcelona's most famous markets, La Boqueria. It was chockfull of people & delicious food, & lucky for us it was located near our hostel so we were able to visit on numerous occasions! We returned to Valencia for our last class today, a send-off dinner tonight, & tomorrow we travel to Madrid to catch our planes home. This semester abroad has been such an incredible experience, & I'm so grateful for the amazing things I've had the opportunity to do here in Europe.

La Sagrada Familia