Barcelona

Barcelona has fantastic architecture, thanks to one great man- Gaudi. Barcalona is located in Catalonia, and people there speak Catalan, which I totally did not understand and did not learn (because I thought the whole spain speaks spanish, which was not true).

Catalan is very different from Spanish. Labels are written in 3 languages- catalan, spanish and English.

As you all already know, my bag was almost stolen in Barcelona. We arrived in Girona airport (budget airport outside of barca, stupid budget airlines) and had to take a one hour bus to Barcelona. We only reached Barcelona at 11pm.

When we reached Barcelona, it was dark, we were tired, and we were a little lost because we could not find the metro station.

To cut the long dramatic story short, this stupid guy threw stuff on our backs (I carried my bag in front of me) and told us it was bird shit. I put my bag down to clean it, got distracted by that guy, and his accomplice took my bag. When I turned back to check on my bag, it was gone. But I was fast enough to see his friend carrying away my bag, so I shouted and ran towards him.

He dropped my bag and they left.

I was really lucky because had I reacted a few seconds later, he would have walked out of the bus station. And I was lucky he didn't run (though if he did I would probably be able to catch him). But I was badly shaken that night because I was so close to losing all my money and my passport. And from then on, we were very very careful with our bags.

Anyway, barcelona is a really dangerous city. I've heard of many cases of people being pick-pocketed, it's amazing how swift these thieves are. Conards.

Parc de la ciutadela:




Nice green river.


Nice bottoms.

From the park, we walked over to the sea side:

There were many beautiful buildings lining the sea-side.


We wanted to have seafood there, thinking the seafood would be fresh, but all the restaurants were sooooooooo expensive.


We ended up eating kebab in an Indian restaurant, where we met a Singaporean Sailor who was stopping over in Barcelona because his boss (who owns an F1 team) was there for the F1 that week. Again, he managed to identify our nationality through our accent and the way we mix english and chinese words with glee in a single sentence.

The Barcelona beach wasn't that impressive to me. Pretty small and crowded.


Work of Gaudi.


The Mercat de la Boqueria, a huge market with lots of yummy edibles.


Some old building.


Nice building.
The Catalan style (reflected in the architecture) is very colourful and funky.

The second day we were in Barcelona was the Valentines day (called Sant Jordi there)

There were flower booths... (that yellow and red drape is the catalonia flag)


.. and book stands. Apparently guys will give girls flowers, and girls give guys a book in return.

We went to Barcelona FC camp nou that morning because the place was closed in the noon. (The Man U vs Barcelona match was played that evening there)

Champions League cup, in the Barcelona FC museum. Barcelona FC was founded by a swiss, who lated committed suicide because he was chased out of the club. Sad.


Mes que un club - club motto. (more than a club)
A match was played later that day in this very turf!!! Too bad we didn't see any players training when we were there, but we saw the TV crew laying cables. I watched that match later in my hostel with Barcelona fans.


Parc Guell.


One of the must-sees in Barcelona, with Gaudi's architecture.


:)

Was damn crowded though.

We also visited the Picasso museum. I loved it very very very much, though all his more famous pictures weren't there. But the collection was still none the less impressive, with paintings from different periods of his life (blue and rose and of course, cubism period). We also saw his variations of Las Meninas by Velázquez! (We later saw the real Las Meninas at Prado museo in Madrid).



Sagrada Família church, another of Gaudi's masterpieces. It has been under construction for more than 100 years (since 1882) and is slated to be completed in 2026. Insane, huh.


Status were modeled reflecting the cubism style. Check out the magic square; each column adds up to 33- Jesus' age when he was crucified.


We paid a sum of money to get inside. The interior is still under construction, and you can see the workers working on the scaffold. The pillars here are supposed to resemble tree trunks.

We also visited the museum that explains the inspirations for the designs and the mathematical/graphical details behind it's execution.

I was particularly impressed by how Gaudi used sandbags hanging on strings to simulate the stress distribution among the pillars. The


Gaudi's work, again.


Last but not least, Torre Agbar, which I did not go to but passed by it on the bus back to the airport.

Barcelona is a huge, vibrant city, ideal for young people going with a bunch of friends. Pretty dangerous, though.