Barcelona: Days 1-3
(Last Updated On: August 21, 2011)
Our first stop on our honeymoon adventure was Barcelona. Though Brittany had been here only 2 years ago, this was all a new experience for me. We jumped right into things, getting directly on the Metro from the airport. I always find those first moments of travel in foreign countries, from the airport to the first hotel, to be the most surreal of any trip. The jet lag and the sudden immersion into something totally new and different combine and lead to a state of heightened awareness, not unlike that of a good ski mountaineering trip. It is probably the main reasons I love to travel, it’s just another way to get out of the comfort zone.
Despite being quite tired, we had a lot of daylight left, so we started off by walking the streets of Barcelona. While I don’t consider myself to be a city person, I do enjoy their feverish pace and mass of humanity from time to time. Brittany has done quite a bit of traveling in Europe, and Barcelona ranks as her second-favorite city, right behind Paris and it was easy to find reasons why. The narrow crowded streets, some of them dating back to Roman times…
The details…
The Cathedral…
Our time in Barcelona continued with walking tours of the city’s sights every day. Many of the highlights included the works of architect Antoni Gaudi, so much so that we’ll be doing a separate blog entry just for him. Our hotel was located on La Rambla, a busy street for both pedestrians and vehicles alike. My favorite feature of the hotel? The 24-hour buffet, highlighted by a beer tap. Try that in the states… La Rambla:
Nighttime:
We visited the waterfront, where Columbus was greeted by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella upon his return from the new world:
One of the many highlights was watching a performance at the Palau de la Musica Catalana, a UNESCO designated World Heritage Site. The performance we saw was an interesting mix of Flamenco dancing, tap dancing, and opera. Of course, the building itself was quite a show as well:
On our last day, we visited the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya and the grounds of the 1992 Summer Olympics. I remember the ’92 Olympics quite vividly- both for the original “dream team” as well as the lighting of the torch via a flaming arrow:
On a final note, you may have noticed the word Catalonia come up. It refers to a semi-autonomous region of Spain (along with Andorra and part of France), and an area where the residents speak Catalan. While I was aware of this before visiting Barcelona, I wasn’t aware of just how different Catalan is compared to Castillian Spanish, which is what the rest of Spain and Latin America speak. I was looking forward to speaking a little bit of Spanish (the only language outside of English that I speak- barely), but quickly found that this wasn’t going to happen. Catalan isn’t even remotely similar to Castillian, in fact I had an easier time reading Portuguese in the Azores than I had reading Catalan in Spain. It’s its’ own language, with surprisingly little in common with either French or Spanish. The works of Gaudi, coming up next…
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Complete List of Honeymoon Trip Reports:
Barcelona
Gaudi
Spanish Pyrenees
Climb of Tosa d’Alp
Cardona Castle
Montserrat
Five hours in Lisbon
Horta Part I
Horta Part II
Island of Faial
Island of Pico, Day 1
Portugal and The Azores Highest Point: Montanha Do Pico 7,713′
Watching Whales & Swimming with Dolphins
Pico Adegas, Gardens, and More
Island of Pico
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