Back in Barcelona
I ended my Christmas trip with a visit back to one of my favorite cities Barcelona to visit my roommate from when I lived in Pamplona, Marina. Be it Gaudí's colorful and modernist buildings or the sunny Mediterranean feel of the city... there's just something about the Barcelona that captures my heart every time I visit.
Marina had work on Friday so I spent the day sightseeing and walking around the city. First up was la Sagrada Família, Gaudí's unfinished masterpiece. Construction of la Sagrada Familía started in 1882 and is still ongoing (its anticipated year of completion being 2026, the centenary of Gaudí's death). Gaudí designed the church to be an expiatory church meaning that its construction has and continues to rely on donations. He claimed that "The expiatory church of La Sagrada Família is made by the people and is mirrored in them. It is a work that is in the hands of God and the will of the people."
I didn't realize how pricey all of Gaudí's buildings were, and as much as I wanted to visit all, I settled with the Casa Batlló (the cheapest Sagrada Família ticket starts at €15 while normal priced tickets for Casa Milà and Casa Batlló are around €20 each). So instead, I admired the Sagrada Família from the outside, which is pretty amazing still. I started off with the front facade of the church called the Fachada de Nacimiento ("Nativity Facade"). I went to the small park across the church to snap a picture and admire it from a distance, then crossed the street to see the details up close. This facade was the first to be completed and is portray's Christ's birth and childhood. This facade has three portals (the rightmost one is covered by trees) which represent Hop, Charity and Faith, and is topped with four towers. The Nativity Facade faces the east where the sun rises, a symbol for Christ's birth.
Marina had work on Friday so I spent the day sightseeing and walking around the city. First up was la Sagrada Família, Gaudí's unfinished masterpiece. Construction of la Sagrada Familía started in 1882 and is still ongoing (its anticipated year of completion being 2026, the centenary of Gaudí's death). Gaudí designed the church to be an expiatory church meaning that its construction has and continues to rely on donations. He claimed that "The expiatory church of La Sagrada Família is made by the people and is mirrored in them. It is a work that is in the hands of God and the will of the people."
I didn't realize how pricey all of Gaudí's buildings were, and as much as I wanted to visit all, I settled with the Casa Batlló (the cheapest Sagrada Família ticket starts at €15 while normal priced tickets for Casa Milà and Casa Batlló are around €20 each). So instead, I admired the Sagrada Família from the outside, which is pretty amazing still. I started off with the front facade of the church called the Fachada de Nacimiento ("Nativity Facade"). I went to the small park across the church to snap a picture and admire it from a distance, then crossed the street to see the details up close. This facade was the first to be completed and is portray's Christ's birth and childhood. This facade has three portals (the rightmost one is covered by trees) which represent Hop, Charity and Faith, and is topped with four towers. The Nativity Facade faces the east where the sun rises, a symbol for Christ's birth.
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| The front facade |
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| Zoom in on the details |
I next headed to the other side to check out the Fachada de la Pasión ("Passion Facade") which includes scenes from Jesus' last days. Like the Nativity Facade, it's also topped with four towers.
Unlike the Nativity Scene, it's much plainer, a representation of sorts of Christ's simple and humble life, especially during his passion and death. This facade faces the setting sun and is likewise symbolic of Christ's death.
While the inside of the church is also beautiful and interesting, there's still so much to appreciate from the outside! From the Sagrada Família I walked to Passeig de Gràcia where two other famous Gaudí buldings are: Casa Milà and Casa Battló. I stopped by Casa Milà first to snap some picture of the outside. It's also known as La Pedrera or "The Stone Quarry" due to its facade's resemblance to an open quarry.
Further on down Passeig de Gràcia is the Casa Batlló, a building designed by Gaudí for Josep Battló. The Batlló's lived on the first two floors and rented out the upper floors as apartments. I paid the €18,50 student discount to get in. It was much like I remembered and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
Like most of Gaudí's works, Casa Batlló is instantly recognizable by its facade. The facade features colorful tiles and mosaics and its balconies resemble skulls while the pillars resemble bones. Locals even call the building Casa del ossos (House of Bones).
The apartment of the Batllós (as well as most of Gaudí's work) is known for foregoing straight lines, and instead you'll see many curves and everything seems to swirl. You can see below the rounded windows and frames.
The staircase leading to the other apartment floors and the roof is decorated with rich deep blue ceramics. When light enters from the glass pane directly above, the staircase looks especially beautiful.
The Casa Batlló rooftop is supposed to represent Sant Jordi (St. George) and the dragon. Sant Jordi is quite the popular figure in Catalunya, and also happens to be the patron saint of the region. His legend goes that there was once a dragon that terrified a small village for centuries. It originally would get the village's livestock but its appetite was not appeased and soon demanded a child from the villagers each day. To choose which child would be the first to be sacrificed, the villagers put the names of all the children in a bag, and one was drawn - the princess'. Then along comes an unknown knight (Jordi) to save the day. Jordi goes off to the dragon's lair to fight it, and after some cunning and trickery, stabs the dragon in its heart. From the blood of the dragon's heart, a rose tree started to grow. Jordi picked one of the roses and offered it to the princess. On April 23 which is Sant Jordi's day, Catalunya celebrates its version of Valentine's day. The boys give their beloved red roses, while the girls give their boys a book (why a book, I'm actually not certain, haha). Going back to the roof -- the arch takes the shape of the dragon's back with the tiles made to look like scales, and the turrets are supposed to be Sant Jordi's lance.
From Passeig de Gràcia I strolled down La Rambla, Barcelona's famous busy pedestrian boulevard. There were still the famous flower stalls, cafés and newspaper stands set up along the street, but surprisingly the street performers were nowhere to be found. Years ago you would find three or four within a 100 meters of each other. I did end up seeing several of them later on, but they were situated much further down La Rambla near the end, where the Colomnus monument is.
At around lunch time, I headed to one of my favorite spots in the city, Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria (I feel like I say every other spot is my favorite, but I just love this city!), which is off La Rambla. Barcelona has over 40 markets, but this is the largest and best.
It's such a colorful market filled with everything you can imagine, and it's so much fun to walk around. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves!
After sampling some food from the market, I wandered off to Barri Gòtic, the city's oldest quarter. Plaça Reial is just a few feet off La Rambla, but the charming open square provides a breather from the bustling crowd of La Rambla. This square even features lamp posts that were designed by Gaudí, and are in fact one of his first known works.
It was a fun full day of revisiting some of my favorite places in the city. On Saturday, Marina and I set off to visit Montjuïc. From her apartment, we ended up walking the wrong way but we happened upon the Hospital de la Santa Creu i de Sant Pau (Hospital of the Holy Cross and Saint Paul). It was actually my first time to see the building, and how beautiful it is. We didn't make it inside but it's supposed to have 16 lavishly decorated pavilions.
We turned around and walked in the right direction to Montjuïc. Located on one end of Barcelona, Montjüic is a hill that overlooks the city. One of the famous attractions in Montjuïc is the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, pictured below.
The museum is supposed to have an outstanding Romanesque art collection, but with another hefty entrance fee, Marina and I spent the morning looking over the city, making kwento, and reminiscing instead.
On Sunday we started off the day with mass at Santa María del Mar, a beautiful Gothic church in the Ribera quarter.
We had lunch courtesy of Marina's Peruvian roommate. She, her mother, and her aunt cooked us up a Peruvian feast. Back when my sister and I were in Peru, we weren't very impressed with the Peruvian cuisine. Afterwards, people would tell us how much they loved Peruvian food, so we started to wonder if maybe we just weren't eating the "right" dishes. Haha. The Peruvian food I ate that day was pretty good, though I'm still not quite convinced.
In the evening it was back to Granada for me. I had bought my ticket months earlier, and was able to buy a train ticket on promo for only €18. Considering it was a 12 hour train ride, that was pretty much a steal. I left Barcelona at around 8pm, and was able to sleep most of the way (we made stops at a few cities which meant people getting on and off, but it was otherwise fine). I arrived a little after 7:30am (to such cold weather which made me instantly miss Catalunya), made it home, showered, changed, and was off to work!
I'm really thankful for such a wonderful vacation getting to catch up and spend time with family and friends. :)
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| The back facade |
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| Zoom in on the details |
Further on down Passeig de Gràcia is the Casa Batlló, a building designed by Gaudí for Josep Battló. The Batlló's lived on the first two floors and rented out the upper floors as apartments. I paid the €18,50 student discount to get in. It was much like I remembered and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
Like most of Gaudí's works, Casa Batlló is instantly recognizable by its facade. The facade features colorful tiles and mosaics and its balconies resemble skulls while the pillars resemble bones. Locals even call the building Casa del ossos (House of Bones).
The apartment of the Batllós (as well as most of Gaudí's work) is known for foregoing straight lines, and instead you'll see many curves and everything seems to swirl. You can see below the rounded windows and frames.
The staircase leading to the other apartment floors and the roof is decorated with rich deep blue ceramics. When light enters from the glass pane directly above, the staircase looks especially beautiful.
The Casa Batlló rooftop is supposed to represent Sant Jordi (St. George) and the dragon. Sant Jordi is quite the popular figure in Catalunya, and also happens to be the patron saint of the region. His legend goes that there was once a dragon that terrified a small village for centuries. It originally would get the village's livestock but its appetite was not appeased and soon demanded a child from the villagers each day. To choose which child would be the first to be sacrificed, the villagers put the names of all the children in a bag, and one was drawn - the princess'. Then along comes an unknown knight (Jordi) to save the day. Jordi goes off to the dragon's lair to fight it, and after some cunning and trickery, stabs the dragon in its heart. From the blood of the dragon's heart, a rose tree started to grow. Jordi picked one of the roses and offered it to the princess. On April 23 which is Sant Jordi's day, Catalunya celebrates its version of Valentine's day. The boys give their beloved red roses, while the girls give their boys a book (why a book, I'm actually not certain, haha). Going back to the roof -- the arch takes the shape of the dragon's back with the tiles made to look like scales, and the turrets are supposed to be Sant Jordi's lance.
From Passeig de Gràcia I strolled down La Rambla, Barcelona's famous busy pedestrian boulevard. There were still the famous flower stalls, cafés and newspaper stands set up along the street, but surprisingly the street performers were nowhere to be found. Years ago you would find three or four within a 100 meters of each other. I did end up seeing several of them later on, but they were situated much further down La Rambla near the end, where the Colomnus monument is.
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| La Rambla |
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| Flowers stalls |
It's such a colorful market filled with everything you can imagine, and it's so much fun to walk around. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves!
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| Bars |
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| Empanadas |
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| Eggs |
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| Fresh fruit salads |
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| Turrón |
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| Spices |
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| Fruits and vegetables |
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| Sweets |
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| Spices |
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| Chocolates |
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| Plaça Reial |
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| Some of the Barri Gòtic's 15th century buildings |
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| Admiring the architecture of Barri Gòtic including this bridge |
It was a fun full day of revisiting some of my favorite places in the city. On Saturday, Marina and I set off to visit Montjuïc. From her apartment, we ended up walking the wrong way but we happened upon the Hospital de la Santa Creu i de Sant Pau (Hospital of the Holy Cross and Saint Paul). It was actually my first time to see the building, and how beautiful it is. We didn't make it inside but it's supposed to have 16 lavishly decorated pavilions.
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| Hospital de la Santa Creu i de Sant Pau |
We turned around and walked in the right direction to Montjuïc. Located on one end of Barcelona, Montjüic is a hill that overlooks the city. One of the famous attractions in Montjuïc is the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, pictured below.
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| Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya |
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| Me and Marina |
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| View from Montjuïc |
On Sunday we started off the day with mass at Santa María del Mar, a beautiful Gothic church in the Ribera quarter.
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| Santa Maria del Mar |
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| Interior of the church |
In the evening it was back to Granada for me. I had bought my ticket months earlier, and was able to buy a train ticket on promo for only €18. Considering it was a 12 hour train ride, that was pretty much a steal. I left Barcelona at around 8pm, and was able to sleep most of the way (we made stops at a few cities which meant people getting on and off, but it was otherwise fine). I arrived a little after 7:30am (to such cold weather which made me instantly miss Catalunya), made it home, showered, changed, and was off to work!
I'm really thankful for such a wonderful vacation getting to catch up and spend time with family and friends. :)
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