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| The view from Parc Guell |
Parc Guell—another one of Barcelona’s must sees. Based on suggestions from others and travel sites, I knew that this was another place I had to visit, especially after the Gaudi tour.
The park is another one of Gaudi’s creations. Apparently, it was another project for Gaudi supported by Guell. The original plan was to build an estate and eventually more people would build houses in the area. The original plan kinda failed and the only people that ended up living in that area were Gaudi, Guell, and one of their lawyer friends.
It was a Saturday when we went, so it was full of people. Also, the weather wasn’t as beautiful as the day before, it was a bit cloudy at times and there were even patches of rain. The view of the city is incredible, of course. I love the mosaic designs all over the place (I know there’s a name for this technique, but I can’t remember it at the moment). It’s another thing that adds to its uniqueness… I mean, it’s Gaudi.
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| Reminds me of a gingerbread house! |
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| The famous Parc Guell lizard |
The next day was our last full day in Barcelona (sad), so we ended up just wandering down La Rambla and ate more paella and then headed over to the Picasso museum. The museum is free every Sunday after 3 pm, but this particular Sunday was the first of the month, so a lot of museums were free… which resulted waiting in a long line (but at least it moved relatively quickly).
Walking through the museum, it was really interesting to see how Picasso’s work has changed. There’s a complete contrast of some of his early works versus his later works. To me, the style change seemed sudden. Sure, there were changes throughout his career, maybe progressing changes in colors, but from what I remember, there was a sudden change to the more abstract, geometric shapes. I didn’t get an audio guide, so I don’t really know if there were any specific influences. That would be interesting to look up...
All in all, Barcelona may be my favorite city (so far). Not only was it the beautiful weather (for the most part), the amazing views, Gaudi, but I also made some friends at the hostel. First of all, if you ever go to Barcelona and are looking for a hostel, stay in Hostel One Sants. The staff is super nice, they cook dinner every night (free!), and they give you tons of suggestions for places to go, day and night. Also, they say that people can really add or take away from your experience. Not only did I have Yvonne (roomie and awesome travel buddy!), but also, we met some great people at the hostel (the free dinners really add to the social aspect) who we spent a lot of our trip with and who we made plenty of fun memories with! We were actually pretty sad to leave each other, especially since we were all leaving on the same day.
Basically, Barcelona = a week I’ll never forget! I definitely want to go back one day (maybe after learning more Spanish and/or Catalan?!). I honestly can’t express everything in my blog, but at least I try.
Bis x
N
