Long Walks Through Barcelona: the good and the bad

Barcelona was definitely one of my favorite parts of the trip to Spain. The sunny weather, the fun, young culture as well as the historical sites hiding all over the city. Barcelona is a cultural center for the Catalonia and the primary language is Catalan. The Catalan people take great pride in their heritage, language, cuisine, and culture.

After the great study tour, we traveled back to Barcelona for some fun, more sight seeing and relaxation. The first sight on our list in Barcelona was one of the top tourist attractions:

Antoni Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia. From the Placa de Catalunya, we were determined to save money and walk the fifteen-ish city blocks to the landmark. And we did it! I enjoyed walking down the sidewalk of Carrer de Mallorca and looking up to see the tall spires of the unfinished church. Antoni Gaudi is a native Catalan architect who has created many masterpieces all over Barcelona including Casa Batlló and Park Güell. His work is said to “speak to the senses.”

The Sagrada Familia does just that. Its beautiful idiosyncratic design can’t help but wow you. Construction began in 1882 and has continued on and off but there is a big push to get construction finished by the 100^th anniversary of Gaudi’s death. After the picturesque exterior, I did not expect the construction zone interior of the Sagrada Familia.

It was about ten euro to get inside and only a small section was open to walk around. While that seems like it would not be worth the money, I’m glad I did because I was still floored by the intricacy of the finished interior. I also do not know when I will make it back to see the Catalonian landmark. The Sagrada Familia is not only one of the top tourist attractions in Barcelona but it is also a living monument to the people of Barcelona and the Catalans. Because the church is still in construction, it placed on a world-wide stage and admired by many.

Following the long walk back, we ran into some friends, Megan and Caitlyn, from America and decided to grab dinner at a bar where they were meeting some other friends. We were walking along and it was all fine and dandy for a while but neither Caitlyn nor Megan knew how to get to the bar, all they had was a general direction and a street name. Usually, I am all about adventure and finding new, local spots to really get to know the culture but after our long journey to the Sagrada Familia and back, I was in a hurry to find a place to sit down, rest, and refuel. We continued to wander in search of the bar and I remember recognizing a few of the sights that we had seen on our walking tour with ­­Dr. Womack-Smith and Antoni Durá. I even got a glimpse of the port, which is a huge part in the success of Barcelona as a prosperous city. The water and the ancient Roman walls allowed for good protection from invaders. The port also was in Roman times and still is today, a great source for commerce through trading. After seeing how close to the port we were and thinking about how far that meant that we walked, I urged the group to choose a spot to eat and we could meet up with the other friends later. Maybe that was my mistake but the place we chose was definitely sub-par. I expected most places near the port to have excellent paella. Paella is originally a Valencian dish due to the Moorish influence and it consists of rice, vegetables, meat and/or seafood. Because of its popularity, paella has spread up the coast of Catalonia to Barcelona. Cultures, including Catalonia, can be easily recognized by their cuisine. At the particular restaurant that we went to, my vegetable paella tasted like Rica A Roni from a box – not good. I was so hungry at that point that I was just glad to have food and ate it anyway. Maybe, we should have known that the food would not be that good because the restaurant had signs advertizing their weekend flamenco shows, which is not native to Barcelona. Luckily, this was not my only encounter with paella and I generally found it to be very tasty. Paella can also be viewed as a Catalan monument because it was all over the streets of Barcelona and Valencia.