Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Living large in Barcelona, Espana

November 28- December 2, 2013

Barcelona- city of beautiful Mediterranean beaches, amazing architecture, delicious food and a beautiful language (Catalan).   I have always wanted to go back to Barcelona since I briefly visited their on a high school graduation trip and Scott had never been there.  So, we convinced his parents (Roger and Anita) to make a family trip out of it.
  We arrived late in the night on Thursday, but woke up to a beautiful sunny day on Friday morning.

We had to start the day off right with some of Roger's Dakota Maid pancakes!  This is the lovely view from our balcony- great pick Anita! 

After our bellies were full of pancakes, we jumped on the metro and headed to Park Guell.  This is one of Gaudi's (famous Spanish architect) many masterpieces.  It's basically a big park/garden with lots of funky architectural accents.   The weather was so beautiful and we had a great time just exploring and seeing all the colorful tiles. 

























After exploring Park Guell, we meandered through the streets of Gracia (a hip part of the city with some funky shops and restaurants).  Of course it was siesta time- 4pm- so everything was closed.  We then headed on to La Sagrada Familia.

La Sagrada Familia is a beautiful church designed by Gaudi.  Building began in 1882 and is still not completed.  It is supposed to be finished in 2026 and will then be the tallest church building in the world. 














The next day we did a night trip to Casa Batllo- another of Gaudi's creations.  It was an apartment building that he redesigned in 1904.  It is also known as Casa dels Ossos (House of Bones) because the outside of the building and many parts inside look like bones joined together.  After exploring, Anita and Roger took us out for a delicious meal of tapas and sangria.









Some more eclectic pictures from our trip:


Scott pondering the meaning of art at the Picasso Museum.

Anita and Rog outside the Picasso Museum

View of the cool 2 story round-about from our balcony at night time.


 The 4 pictures just below are from La Boqueria Market in Barcelona right off La Rambla street (the main walking street).  It was a crowded market full of local charm and many colorful fruits, vegetables and all kinds of fish I have never seen before. 

They even had Italian truffles.  As we learned while visiting Tuscany, white truffles are very valuable.  They were in a glass case here and being sold for 2400 Euros!!









Scott and Rog with a very popular street performer  on La Rambla street!
 

And my favorite activity of all, Flamenco dancing!  It was Anita's idea to see a performance and we stumbled upon this small place offering a night show.  There was live music that really reminded of the Gipsy Kings and a male and female dancer.  See the video above.  Of course, it was WAY better in person.  Plus, the show came with a free glass of sangria : )  

 
 And that is how it's done in Barcelona!  : )

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