Field Trip to Cataluña

On Friday morning we were up at 6:45 so that we could leave by 7 for the metro in order to get to the train to Barcelona. We took the Ave, or the high speed train here that goes up to 215 kilometers per hour. It was pretty neat, but I just journaled and slept for the two hour ride. When we got to Barcelona we met our guide, whose name was Cristina. We boarded a coach bus and began a tour of the city. We saw all the main spots including the Olympic Stadium, the Olympic village, the port, the parliament district, the palace, and a beautiful view. After the drive we went to the hotel to check in and then had about two hours to take a break and eat lunch. For lunch I ate two tapas: a Spanish tortilla and a plate of sautéed mushrooms. Very yummy. Then we headed back to the bus and went to my favorite place, I think ever, the Sagrada Familia.

The Sagrada Familia is an extremely famous church designed by the architect Antonio Gaudi. He worked on the design for over 43 years, it was both his first and last project. The building has been being constructed for over 100 years at this point and it is only about 65% complete. It is extremely different from any other church in Europe because in most churches, the biblical story is portrayed in ornate designs on the inside of the church, but Gaudi decided to put it on the outside. The church takes up an entire block, and everything that pertains to it has some sort of significance. For example, the eastern side of the building, the side the sun rises on, tells the story of the birth of Jesus, while the western side portrays his death. The front of the church has the glory and the passion of Jesus. There are 18 towers total: the tallest with the cross on top is for Jesus, the one directly behind it is for the Virgin Mary, and the four surrounding it are for Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The other 12 towers are for each of the disciples. While the outside is spectacular in its splendor, the inside is more incredible than anything I can put into words in its simplicity. The inside is so spacious, the ceilings are so high, and the only things on the ground floor are columns. But the columns go all the way to the ceiling, they are like tree trunks that open up into the ceiling giving a feeling of openness and nature. All of the windows are stained glass, meaning that all of the night that filters in comes in in a variety of different colors, so the color then is perceived as natural. There is no choral box like in all of the famous cathedrals all over the rest of Europe, instead there are balconies all over so that the choirs could sing from above, and it would be like the music would be coming from the heavens and nobody would have an obstructed view. The way to get to the balconies is by spiral staircase, aka straight out of Harry Potter. Sorry, had to throw that reference in there, but seriously it was genius because they took up so little space and kept up the theme of simplicity. The altar is literally a table, nothing fantastic, just simple, again. Also, in all of the other churches and cathedrals I had seen when traveling, there were little side chapels that the rich paid for so that their sins would be paid off and they could get to heaven faster. Nothing makes me feel less religious/spiritual than that. But in this case, the church’s construction is paid for partially in taxes, but mostly in donations. And ever since Barcelona hosted the 1992 summer Olympics, tourism has taken off and the speed that the church is built at has increased exponentially. I also really enjoyed comparing it to what I remembered from when I had visited 6 years ago. The coolest part was that last time I was there, the inside was not finished, and this time it was. The church is supposed to finished by 2026, and I have promised myself that I will return at that time, if not before then again as well.

After the Sagrada Familia, we went to the Picasso museum. I had always just associated his work with cubism, but he was a very talented artist. The things he was painting at age 12 are more intricate than anything I could even imagine. My favorite painting was his interpretation of Las Meninas, it was really interesting, especially after having seen the original painting! Afterwards we found a random place on the street to eat our dinner, and I had some pasta, some fresh salmon, and some vanilla ice cream. We walked back to the hotel along Las Ramblas, the big main street in Barcelona. It was really fun because everybody was walking around on the streets, and I recognized the hotel that I had stayed at 6 years ago! On Friday night I decided to stay in with Katie, Lauren, Ashley, and Thomas and the five of us watched funny YouTube videos and Bridesmaids and ate some ice cream and popcorn. It was lovely.

Saturday morning we had the buffet breakfast at the hotel, which included a Caprese salad and some chocolate cake. All of the nutrients. We left shortly after for Gerona, which is a beautiful city on a river and we got to see an old Jewish synagogue. We heard some legends about the city, and overall it was a beautiful place, but I really would have preferred to have spent more time in Barcelona. However, lunch was delicious. Lauren and I split everything and between the two of us we polished off four dishes, with a little help from Ashley and Danielle. We shared: a Caprese salad (with black olives, actually delicious!), a four cheese risotto, a funghi pizza (mozzarella, tomato, mushroom), and a fettuccini with salmon and spinach. So delicious.

After lunch we boarded the bus and headed to Figueres, home of the Salvador Dalí museum. It was my second favorite place I have been while in Spain (behind the Sagrada Familia, which I kind of liked if you couldn’t tell). Dalí was a very interesting artist and we got to see stuff ranging from statues, to paintings, to jewelry designed and created by him. As a person, I’m not a big fan of him because he seemed to do everything for the financial gain, but his artwork really is pretty cool. My two favorite things were an image that was an optical illusion, it was both Abraham Lincoln’s face and a naked woman’s back, and a room designed to look like a painting when you look from a certain position. In that room, it is supposed to make a face. So the eyes are two paintings, the fireplace is a nose with each nostril as an opening, and the mouth is a sofa shaped like lips. Very cool and creative.

After the museum we loaded ourselves back onto the bus and headed to Puerto de la Selva, which is where our hotel was for the second evening. It was a huge surprise to find that it was on the beach! The water was absolutely pristine and the clearest water I have ever had the pleasure of swimming in. The mountains rose around the little inlet, and all of the houses on them were white. It was literally the most perfect place I have ever seen. Another interesting thing about the province of Cataluña as a whole is the whole idea of potential secession. There are flags everywhere. The flag that just has the red and yellow stripes represents the support of Cataluña as a province of Spain, while the flag with the stripes as well as the blue triangle and white star is in support of the secession of Cataluña from Spain in order to become its own country. While we were in Gerona, we actually saw a bar that was only for people who wanted to go in and talk about the politics and who were in support of the secession. Pretty interesting.

Anyways, dinner in Puerta de la Selva was absolutely delicious. We went with the entire program, teachers included. The first course was a mixed salad, and then they brought out the second course… Muscles. I decided to be a ‘big girl’ and try them, especially since I could see the water they had been taken from only about 200 feet away from me. To my surprise, I actually kind of enjoyed them! I ended up eating 7. No promises that happens in the future… After that we had our main course of paella. I ended up having two helpings, but mine was a vegetable version because the little shrimp heads and squids freaked me out. The dish was sooo yummy though.

Today (Sunday) was a great morning when I first woke up because I woke up to the news that Jen’s soccer team won the state championship!! The rest of the day was spent mostly on buses because we got lost at one point. But we had a lovely lunch where I bonded with some people in the program I hadn’t previously bonded with, so that was good! Then we finally made the trip back to Madrid, and now it is time for me to do some homework and stop procrastinating with blog posts.

View from the Ave (bullet train) to Barcelona

Olympic Stadium

View of the port

Sagrada Familia

Sagrada Familia

Sagrada Familia

Sagrada Familia

Sagrada Familia

Bar to discuss secession of Cataluña

River in Girona

Girona

Bath in the synagogue in Girona

The two different flags side by side

Girona

Outside of Dalí Museum

Dalí Museum

Dalí Museum: Abraham Lincoln's face or a naked woman?

Dalí Museum

Dalí Museum

Dalí Museum

Coke tastes better out of a glass bottle

Beach in Puerta de la Selva

Muscles that I ate! Proof!

Vegetable Paella

Cadaqués

Cadaqués

Cadaqués

Lunch of champions: tapas

Dalí Museum

For some reason the pictures got out of order, but I think they are all there!