We left for barcelona early monday morning and enjoyed a quick and beautiful bus ride up along the cost. We got to our hotel just to put our stuff down and then headed over to Güell Park designed by Gaudi. It was my first time seing his work and I was totally blown away by his whimsical art and architechture. After the park we headed back to the room for a bit and then headed out to walk down las romblas in search of dinner. We couldnt find the place we were looking for but we came onto a cool resteraunt that had music and great food. We followed up with some more walking down the romblas which is pickpocket central but filled with interesting people.Later that night we went out as a group and had a couple drinks with the teachers at the absinthe bar.
The next day, we had an early start and drove out to Figueras: Dali’s native town. We got a guided tour of the Dali, and saw some of the most amazing pieces of art. Besides some of the mindblowing paintings, there were some really cool structual instillations as well. I really enjoyed the one of Mae West where Dali used furniture of a room to form a picture when looked at 2dimensionally. Also I really had fun with all of the optical illusions with reflections and 3D.It was a pretty rainy day so we didnt get to wander around the town too much.
The last day, we went on a walking tour of Barcelona and toured the Old Town & City Center: Ramblas, Cathedral, Barri Gòtic. The town was beautiful but the people were definately what makes it such a beautiful and interesting city. Barcelona is considered to be the most "european" city in Spain. It is really evident in gracis area which is lined with chanel and Gaudi architecture. After walking around all morning, we left for the Sagrada Familia. It has been under construction since 1882 and is still unfinished! Its a massive roman catholic church that has several different facades all depicting different stories from the bible. The inside is emplty but we could see where they were planning for the choir to sing from and some stained glass had been put in. Our teacher told us that everytime he visits, they estimate it will be only another 20 years until it is completed. When asked why he took so long to finish the church, he said "my customer (God) can wait".
That afternoon we took the chance to walk around and do a little shopping, and we found a pretty cool indoor fleemarket. That night we went to plaza real and hit up a few discotecas that been suggested to us. We finished the night by walking around and playing with the communal waterfountains in the plaza which i had never seen before.
Another early start and we headed back to valencia via peniscola which was a beautiful beach town. We grabbed some lunch there, which took a bit longer than expecte, so we didnt get time to do a tour of the castle there (which was one of 3 of the papal residencies).
Getting back to 'home' to valencia was nice. with only a few more weeks here im really trying to make the most out of the trip and see all that valencia has to offer. we've been taking advantage of the short tram ride and heading out to the beach quite a bit now that the weather's gotten nice. Last night i went to a food and wine festival in the riverbed. for only 10 euro you got 5 glasses of wine and 5 tapas. there were plenty of booths to choose from and the food and wine was just as good as meeting interesting people while standing around tables enjoying the various tapas. This weekend is Easter and there are lots of activities happening down by the beach for the holiday. I hope everyone enjoy's their easter!
until then, have fun
jen
