Perhaps my favourite part of Barcelona falls right within my own neighborhood. A few mintues walk from the door of my residencia puts me at Arc de Triomf. Much like the french Arc, Barcelona's is overwhelming in its size and detail. It leads into a wide pedestrian pathway where people are often found rollerblading. This pathway leads down to the entrance of the Ciutadella Park. On a sunny day this wide open space is packed with kids, families, and people on bicycles. There are sculptures, a ridiculous fountain sporting a golden horse drawn carriage, and most importantly a beautiful pond. This reminds me of the notebook. There are dangling plants, ducks and seagulls, and row boats that can be taken out on a sunny day. It is the perfect place to spend any afternoon.
La Rambla is the main street of Barcelona. It is filled with crowds of people, flower stalls, and news stands. However, my favourite part is the human statues. Guys and gals dressed in outrageous costumes, painted head to toe, some seemingly floating in the air. Off of La Rambla is a maze of streets that turn into ancient tiny alleyways known as the Barri Gotic. These gothic quarters are the most complete in europe and carry small fashion boutiques, bars, and tiny pastry shops selling churros y xocolate! Taking a different exit off of La Rambla leads you into La Boqueria. This is a huge open air market filled with bustling sounds and wonderfull sights and smells. Everything is brightly colored - fresh. There are fruits i've never seen before, legs of ham hanging in rows, fish so fresh some of it is still alive and chocolates to die for. My favourite is the smoothies. Freshly made of pure fruit, and costing only a euro, they bring your tastebuds to life.
Rainy days and sundays often equal museum days. One rainy day with nothing else to do we decided to visit Museu Maritim. This is a museum for boat building and history of the seas. Some parts were interesting, the rest so-so. All the signs being in Catalan didn't help much! The best part was the building itself. It's in the original building that ships used to be built in so it has huge archways and passages. Another day led us to the CosmoCaixa, a famous science museum in Tibidabo just outside of Barcelona. For a day we were not students studying abroad, but kids amazed by hands-on-science. The CaixaForum is a gallery I visited with my photography class. It was holding the photos of Spain's current top three photographers. The pictures, though mildly disturbing and depressing, told amazing stories. They uncovered forgotten problems such as acid being used against women, and pictures from the middle of an unpublicized war zone.
The immense history of Barcelona leaves it with remains and churches aplenty. Perhaps the oldest remains were the ones I saw during a fieldtrip. The Roman Walls of the city have mostly been destroyed or hidden, but in one placa they can still be seen. Along with these walls is Temple d'Augustus, a temple that contains the original roman columns from when it was first built. Santa Maria del Mar was the latest thing i visited. It was built for families of men out at sea. It is Catalan Gothic which means it is extremely wide for a church. The chandeliers and stain glass windows add beauty to such a simple flat structure. The floor is covered in carvings, and i was suprised to find the skull and crossbones a few times across the floor.
For now everything else seems to be slipping my mind; tomorrow i'll cross something else off, maybe MontJuic.
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