After three months apart, Josh came to visit me in February. We met at Munich Airport and set off for our first trip to Barcelona. Unfortunately, the airline we booked with went bankrupt two days before our flight...so it became a long day of traveling, especially for Josh! We started our trip with a four hour layover in Brussels. It gave us plenty of time to get used to seeing each other in 3D again... we got so used to Skype! So we made the most of it...
We spent our first day in Spain exploring some works of Barcelona's most famous architect, Gaudi.
Park Guell
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| Park Guell overlooks Barcelona |
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| Next stop, La Sagrada Familia |
La Sagrada Familia, an ongoing work of Gaudi
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| What the finished building will look like |
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| The doors of the entrance to the church |
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| The stained glass was beautiful! |
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| The pictures can't quite express how gorgeous the church was in person.. |
The second day we explored downtown Barcelona visiting La Boqueria, the open air market; Las Ramblas, the main street in Barcelona lined with shops and restaurants; and Barri Gotic, the gothic quarter of town.
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| The view from the top of our hotel |
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| Entrance to La Boqueria, a foodie's dream come true... |
We bought Spanish cheese, meat and bread to make a picnic dinner later that night!
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| The end of Las Ramblas leads to the port of Barcelona. |
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| A statue in honor of Columbus |
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| Port of Barcelona |
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| We had some bad luck with the weather.... it was freezing! |
Walking through Barri Gotic
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| The Post Office |
These are ancient Roman walls dating back the 4th Century
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| Santa Maria del Mar, Gothic church |
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| Views from the top |
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| The Crypt |
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| Garden area behind Santa Maria del Mar |
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| We drank from the fountain for good luck! |
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| Something we were not supposed to take a picture of.... |
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| Sangria in Spain, claro que si! |
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| We ended the night by going to see FC Barcelona play! |
The next day we went to Tibidabo, an amusement park on top of a hill overlooking Barcelona!
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| We rode this tram to the top of the hill! |
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| It was snowing at the top! |
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| The church at Tibidabo |
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| Bailey's and coffee to warm up! |
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| The Arc di Triomphe.. we hopped off the metro to take a picture! |
Our last day in Spain we took a guided tour to Montserrat, about an hour out of Barcelona. The tour took us to Santa Maria de Montserrat, a monastery on top of the mountain where we watched the oldest existing choir in Europe perform. The choir is made up of boys under the age of 16 who attend the school at the monastery. They are chosen to attend the school based on their voices alone. To take in the beauty of the mountain, we walked down a path lined with modernista sculptures depicting the life of Jesus. The tour also included a traditional Catalan meal at a small restaurant in the town of Montserrat and wine tasting at Felix Cellars.
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| La Moreneta |
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| The angel Gabriel |
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| What is left of the original monastery |
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| This bird followed us all the way down! |
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| This sculpture of the Ascension is a collaboration of three artists, designed by Gaudi |
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| The church on the side of the mountain |
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| The view from inside the church |
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| Finally some sun! |
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| The boy's choir performing |
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| Walking to the restaurant, through the old town of Montserrat |
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| The Cava is resting at Felix Cellars |
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| The caves were dug out by the winemaker and his friends |
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| Seashells in the walls, the area used to be underwater! |
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| The disgorging, capping and labeling are all done here by three people! |
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| Perfect way to end our first trip together! |
