Barcelona

Welcome back readers! On to Part 3!

For other posts:

Click here to read about Paris (Part 1 of our vacation)

Click here to read about Madrid (Part 2 of our vacation)

December 24
Barcelona!

We hurried from the airport to our meeting point at the Hard Rock Cafe so we could check in for the hostel. It was an apartment style hostel so there was no check-in area in the building.  Carly and I were blown away by how nice and clean our Barcelona hostel was!

Click Read More to continue!

 The hostel was called Apartment RamCat (because it's located on Las Ramblas and Placa Catalunya) so there were cat decorations everywhere

 Free internet!

We quickly unpacked and raced to the grocery store which was closing in an hour!  We had to stock up on food for the next 2 days because we knew everything would be closed.

We purchased:
- Pasta
- Sauce
- Parmesan cheese
- Bread
- Butter

We were living like kings.

Carly cooking our first dinner!

I was overjoyed that we had a gas stove! Finally easy cooking with no smelly iron coils!

Wrong.

The stove wasn't able to light the burners.  It only provided the gas so we had to light every flame with matches. Not so bad. But, the flame wouldn't keep unless you held down the burner's dial for 1-2 minutes. So the beginning of every meal was a cavewoman-like attempt at creating fire. We got much better at it after our first day.

Since it was late when we finished dinner, we got ready for bed (in our Christmas boxers!) and waited for Santa to come and bring us presents.

December 25

Christmas Day!

We woke up refreshed and ready to get out and see the sights of Barcelona.  The metro system was working until 6pm and a few attractions were open all day (surprisingl) so we were relieved we wouldn't have to spend the whole day cooped up in Apt RamCat.

I gave Carly her Christmas present

A funny face washcloth that says "Bestfriendatops" "You'll be my special friend for the next 65 million years." It's cute and just creepy enough to be funny and not totally weird.

My Christmas present from Carly was being able to eat while in Barcelona because I ran out of money. I gave her a washcloth; She gave me continued life. Such good friends!

After breakfast, we went to see La Sagrada Familia which is a famous basilica in Barcelona AND the one thing I've been waiting to see since we started our trip!!  We were only able to see the outside but if you've ever seen pictures of La Sagrada Familia, you know that the outside is truly breathtaking.

 Nativity Facade

 Birth of Jesus

 Coronation of Mary

 Mary on her way to Nazareth

 The unfinished Glory Facade

 The Passion Facade

 The Passion Facade

I don't think there are enough cameras in Barcelona to capture every detail about the exterior of this beautiful basilica (it's not a cathedral, as I learned while visiting).  It's actually classified as a minor basilica. Yeah. Minor.  Almost every well-known Biblical story or scene is pictured on the Nativity and Passion facades.  Carly and I actually recognized many of the stories depicted without having to look at the guide signs. In my opinion, one of the best features of this basilica is the depiction of various Bible stories because it makes the basilica more relateable to the everyday person and not just an imposing house of God.  

It's so big and gaudy because it was designed by Antoni Gaudí (gaudy, Gaudí, get it?) and he knew that he was building this basilica for his favorite client, God, and he knew that money was no object and God was patient enough for his masterpiece to be completed. It has been under construction since 1882 and is expected to be completed around 2026-2028 and is funded solely from private donations and admissions ticket fees.  

So you KNOW I'm going back when it's finally completed! It was recently consecrated by Pope Benedict XVI so it is open for visitors and you can see the interior pictures in a bit.

I could seriously talk about this basilica for hours it really fascinates me but if you want to do more research on your own, check out the basilica's website here.  

After the basilica, we walked up the most impossibly large mountain to Park Guell.  Park Guell was also designed by Antoni Gaudi and was meant to be an area of luxury homes for the rich of Barcelona but the project fell through over the years and now it's just a big tourist attraction. 

 The famous dragon at the entrance.

 ANTM anyone?

 Where Gaudí lived on the premesis

We were absolutely exhausted after visiting Park Guell so we went back to RamCat and napped. Since it was Christmas, we decided to relax for the rest of the night and just stay in.

December 26
Good thing we stayed in last night because we woke up early today so we could get inside La Sagrada Familia!! I was so excited I was literally jumping around our room.  Last time I was in Barcelona, the interior wasn't open for the public and I couldn't wait to see what was inside.

 Veronica above the entrance on the Passion Facade

 The interior!!!! Featuring the Luke and John pillars.

 Completed stained glass windows

 An actual giant clam shell for holy water

Ceiling

 Many parts of the interior are still unfinished, like the stained glass windows. 

 Mark and Matthew pillars

 The crucifix suspended over the altar supported by the Peter and Paul columns

 More unfinished stained glass windows

 Crypt beneath the altar. Gaudí is buried here.

 Skylight

 The organ behind the altar

Better view of the skylight

One thing Carly and I noticed immediately was that there were no lights inside.  All of the light was coming in from the innumerable stained glass windows.  The inside was very clean looking and felt very fresh, unlike many other basilicas or cathedrals which have that dark, heavy Gothic feeling to them.

Like the outside, the interior is full of meaning and symbolism.  The most obvious example is that the 6 main support columns for the basilica are named after Peter, Paul, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

More information about the interior and symbolic meaning of the shapes included in the design can be found at the basilica's website here. 

We also went to the Barcelona cathedral, which paled in comparison, but was nice none the less.

After the cathedral, we ate lunch.  We both ordered hamburgers which can only be described as thin patties of raw meat. Literally the grossest thing we'd ever eaten.  In fear of having probably eaten E.coli for lunch, we had to go back to RamCat and rest.  That night, we were going to the Magic Fountain which is what Carly has been waiting to see this entire trip.

So we get to the Magic Fountain...and it's not on. Nothing. Nada. No water at all.  After a depressing 10 minutes we returned to RamCat and Carly checked the computer. Turns out the fountain isn't on on Mondays, Tuesdays or Wednesdays. Today was Monday. We were going to go on Christmas Day night, a Sunday, but we decided to stay  instead. We were both really sad we missed it!

Not wanting to sit around RamCat for another night, we walked Las Ramblas, a famous market/shop street, for an hour or so before returning to RamCat.

December 27

Our last full day of vacation :(

We started out at the Barcelona Aquarium!

 Strangest fish I've ever seen. It's called a Mola I think?

 Stingray

 Shark!

 Octopus

 Leafy Sea Dragon

 Massive iguana

 Jellyfish

Clown fish

 Grossest thing ever

Giant salamander! And a frog.

Carly also got to see the penguins so it was a good aquarium trip. It did smell really bad in there but I just chalked that up to all the little kids running around breathing on stuff.

The aquarium is on the coastal area of Barcelona so we made our way to the beach! It was freezing and very windy but we managed to get some fun pictures next to the Mediterranean Sea.

 Windsurfers having fun

Me trying to touch the water. I was terrified I would get soaked.

Many tries later I finally touched the water! 

Naturally lol.

After the beach, we returned to RamCat to pack for our flight back to Newcastle.  To celebrate our trip, we went out to the Hard Rock Cafe.  We went there because it was obviously touristy and I didn't feel like speaking Spanish anymore. We had so much fun!

December 28

We woke up at a reasonable time and headed for the airport.  My Mom and brothers were meeting me in Newcastle later in the day and I couldn't wait to see them! Thankfully, our flight was only 2 hours.  The captain came on the intercom and informed us that high winds in Newcastle would make our landing a bit difficult but not to worry.

I had taken my medicine by this point so I really didn't care about anything.  Dropping out of the clouds was awful!  We went up, down, left and right as the wind threw us around like a leaf in the breeze.  We finally landed and everyone started clapping. Confused, Carly and I started clapping too.

Overall, our trip was amazing, hilarious, and very typical of Carly and I.  We're planning our next big trip which will happen in March so stay tuned for details!

If you have any questions about the places we visited or if you're interested in travelling there yourself and want more details, feel free to email me RebeccaAFaller@gmail.com!

I've been typing these posts for seriously 3 days so it might be a week or two until I post again.

For other posts:

Click here to read about Paris (Part 1 of our vacation)

Click here to read about Madrid (Part 2 of our vacation)

xoxo

Becstar