Barcelona!!

I’m just about to leave Barcelona, Espana and make my way to Civitevecchia, Italia- right outside of Rome.



I am having the time of my life. We started out the first day in Barcelona walking the entire city. We probably walked a total of ten miles the first day! The architect Gaudi made many beautiful buildings in Barcelona, including, La Sagrade Familia, a megachurch that began construction in the late 1800’s and won’t be finished until 2030. We were able to climb the tiny staircases in the giant spires, where we took great photographs of Barcelona. We saw many Gaudi buildings and had excellent tapas and wine- wine, by the way, is super cheap in Spain. A glass of wine was usually complementary with tapas, and if it wasn’t, you could buy a bottle for 5Euro. We then had an amazing meal (dinner in Spain starts around 9:30) after more exploring of the city.



Day 2 in Spain started out with a trip to the Museu de Picasso. He had a really interesting Parisian stage- lots of soft lines that I had never seen of Picasso’s. Then we settled in to watch the Spain v. Chile game, where Spain won. The European’s love them some football. Also, we continued eating and drinking wine every five steps. Spaniards have breakfast, then tapas at 11:00, lunch at 2, more tapas at six, and then dinner from usually 9:30 to 2:00. I loved their schedule. We went out to a few bars as well- everyone here is so nice and just takes life slow.



On the third day, my favorite, we took the train about an hour outside of Barcelona to a vineyard where Cava, Catalonian champagne, is harvested, pressed, and distributed. This vineyard had 30 kilometers of underground cellars that go 5 stories down. It was built in the 1500’s, and then expanded upon on at the turn of the century. The tour was 6 Euro, and felt like a private tour. We took a mini corporate train through the cellars, where over 8,000,000 bottles of Cava are being aged. The tour was 2 ½ hours, including the tasting at the end. A magical, tucked away place that seemed like a dream to myself and three friends. After spending the day in the tiny town nestled in the wine country, we headed back to Barcelona. That night, my entire SAS “family”, the 10 teachers and my friend Serena, went to a Flamenco show and then out for Paella.



On our final day, I got up early and wandered to Gaudi’s public park, Park Guelle, and strolled through the mountainside neighborhoods. After that, we hit the beaches, where about ¼ of the people are nude, and the water is a beautiful turquoise. We sprung for a ride in the gondola (sky car) over the city to the mountains and back…. Then back to the ship. These are just the highlights, I fell in love with the city the first day.



Chrissy and I are breaking away from the group- we take turns traveling in 3 and 4’s anyway based on what we want to do, and are planning our backpacking trip around Italy. We are now shortening our time in Venice and heading to a town called Cinqua Terre- five cliff side villages on the Western coast of Italy. Then to Naples where we plan to hike Mount Vesuvius and explore Pompeii.