BARCELONA

I should have known Barcelona would be amazing because as soon as I stepped out of the metro, BAM, Gaudi. 

I was so shocked.  I did not expect to see a "tourist site" so quickly and so close to where I was! 

It's such a tragedy to hear what happened to Gaudi.  He was such an influential and talented architect, and he was killed walking across the street by a car.  At the time he died, he had a beard and long scraggly hair, so when the ambulance came and he got to the hospital, he was not treated with urgent care.  No one knew who he was.  Within a few days he died.

My hostel was three blocks away.  Upon checking in I was greeted with so much interest and generosity.  I highly recommend anyone staying in Barcelona to stay at Barcelona Central Garden.  It was quaint and had a beautiful courtyard area outside.  Yeah the showers could be a bit bigger but hey, nothing is going to be perfect.  The location was amazing and we could walk everywhere!

My first afternoon I took it upon myself to start walking around.  I was quite hungry and decided to try out some tapas!!!  I ate at this tapa restaurant, Tapa Tapa.  It was OK.  I got two vegetable tapas and it was $11!  I closed out and started walking around.  Five minutes later I saw this awesome Baguette place!  Yes, I ate again!  It was only five euros!!  It was delicious too.  Much better than the tapas I had! 

Ok so now I am really off!  I just started wandering the streets, finding beautiful building after beautiful building.

Check out the interesting uniforms the police have to wear.  :)

Barcelona is so beautiful and neat.



My favorite thing in Barcelona was the day tour I did.  I learned SO much about the history of not just Barcelona, but the entire world.  Barcelona's history is so vast, it blew me away.  From Judaism and Christianity, to Pablo Picasso to Christopher Columbus!  I have fallen in love with Barcelona!

Where Pablo Picasso went to art school!!!!

This art school was in the red light district of Barcelona.  One of Picasso's paintings (below) was supposedly inspired by his time in the red light district:

Our day trip folks.  Our tour guide Chris was the BEST!!!

Old Jewish ghetto.  A LOT of history here...

 An AMAZING art shop we passed.  I WISH I could have stopped in here!!

Trippi Square.  A lot of interesting history here, too!

These were delicious!!!



My last night in Barcelona I decided to do a Paella cooking class!  The chef took us to the market to buy items for the Paella. 

Lamb head anyone?  He said no one eats it, they just use it for flavor in soups, etc.  Yum  

I could literally write paragraphs about what I learned in Barcelona, but I kind of want this to be a tease (and not to give everything away) to inspire you to go visit Barcelona!  It is seriously now one of my favorite cities, and I will definitely be back to visit!!