From New England to Old England : Hola Barcelona!

It was great to spend the entirety of four days in Barcelona. It’s the city I have spent the most time in thus far (other than London of course). We finally got to soak up some sun and warm weather, and eat outside! Getting to our hostel was a bit rocky as it was about 9 o’clock at night, so very dark, and we barley spoke the language. We had a map and directions but we had to ask a couple of hotel receptionists for better ones. We also felt a bit vulnerable wearing such large backpacks, targeting us as being obviously foreigners, but we made it to the hostel and dinner was waiting for us when we arrived. Yes, that’s right, the hostel we stayed in provided dinner, which was cooked every night at 9. So we ate and then waited for Liz and Megan to arrive.

The next morning we let ourselves sleep a bit after travelling the night before, before setting off to explore the city. We first headed to La Rambla, a street with many shops and outdoor booths and food, which we frequented the next four days.

La Rambla

We took the day mostly to wander and ended up finding a gorgeous church.

Liz outside the church

Pictures don't do it justice

My new favourite architect is Antoni Gaudi. Our first day we came across a house he designed, called Casa Batlló. The outside is like nothing I’d ever seen before.

Casa Batlló

We decided on a whim to take an audio-guided tour of the house. I am very glad we did because it is a gorgeous house with every nook and cranny carefully planned to give one an under the sea feeling. There are no 90-degree angles in the house and the splashes of colour are so vibrant.

Flower pots in the courtyard

The walls surrounding the main stairwell are covered in blue tiles, which get darker as you proceed upwards to continue with the underwater theme.

It was so beautiful and warm out we decided that going to the park was the best plan. So, of course, we headed to Park Güell, which was also designed by Gaudi. Situated at the top of a hill, we had an amazing view of the city from the park!

We walked around for quite a while and did not get to see then whole thing. It is just so huge and like the house, there was so much detail from the structures to the mosaic used to decorate it to the flower gardens. Oddly enough there was no grass at this particular park, only sand. However, this did not take away from the splendour of the area.