A Day in the Life; Barcelona, Spain
Introduction
Over the summer, I was privileged enough to take a trip to Europe, including Madrid and Barcelona, Spain and Rome, Italy. Out of the three places we
spent some time in, Barcelona was by far my favorite. Barcelona had an atmosphere that was warm, and loving. I had a strong sense of feeling “home” while I was there, even though I was nearly 5,000 miles away from anything familiar. Barcelona really have something to offer for everyone. Their is a beach, many amazing museums, and a lot of history!
Brief History
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain, (Madrid is first) with 1.6 million people. One of the big major events of Barcelona was the Spanish Civil war in 1936 and ending in 1939. It was a war between the Republicans and the Nationalist. As the nationalist continued to expand and take over more territory it eventually led to their win in the war.
In 1992 the Summer Olympics were held in Barcelona, which the building is now a tourist attraction. Many say that the Olympics coming to Barcelona was a great thing that really transformed the city. Because of the building
and things that had to be done to prepare the city to hold the Olympics really opened up the city and invited more people to come to it, not only for the Olympics. The three votes on where the 1992 Summer Olympics should be held had Barcelona in first for all three votes. It was an event that changed the way Barcelona forever.
What to do
When I was in Barcelona, the thing that I found most interesting was La Rambla. La Rambla is a stretch of side walk that is .75 of a mile long and leads you straight to the ocean. All along La Rambla there is vendors selling a variety of things. Also, behind the vendors there is buildings, many that have restaurants in them. We ate at an amazing seafood place that had fresh seafood right from the ocean. It was actually an outdoor market, but at the seafood counter they also cooked meals. After we ate we went right around the corner and bought some of the most delicious fruit ever! La Rambla is mainly a strip to walk, and in a way, sort of reminded me of New York City Tmes Square. It is a very central and cultural place to learn about Barcelona, or to use it to get you to the beach!
The beach that is a 20 minute walk down La Rambla is the Barceloneta Beach. The beach is beautiful with a wonderful white sand. We visited the beach early in the morning one day, and there was a layer of fog that was hanging low and halfway covered some of the hotels on the beach. It was an incredible view. One thing that I would warn before going to this beach or any Spanish beach, is that many are nude beaches. We were a bit shocked at first when everyone around us was topless. It was a bit of a culture shock, but for them it is very common. At Barceloneta beach, the water was a perfect swimming temperature in June when we were there, but the sand in the water was not very foot friendly. There was many large rocks and pebbles that made it uncomfortable to stand in and let the waves crash in on you. Overall, an extremely beautiful beach with some lovely and reasonably priced food places within seconds of the perfect tanning spot.
When you get away from the heart of Barcelona, there are some amazing site seeing with historical backgrounds. My personal favorite was the Sagrada Familia Cathedral. The detail on this cathedral is incredible and the story behind it is even more so. The cathedral began construction in 1883 when Gaudi began working on it. He worked up until his death in 1926 when the entire project was only about a fourth of the way completed. They are still to this day working on it! When we toured it over the summer there was still so much construction going on that we couldnt get very close on some sides to see the detail. The final completion of the building is set in 2026, which is exactly 100 years after Gaudis death. The detail on every single part of this cathedral is impeccable. I could have spent hours looking at all of the sculptures put into one building. As you walk around the building looking at it, you can tell where the parts are that are older that Gaudi may have been
alive for and the parts that have been added in more recent years. All of the towers, pillars and scenes in the building represent different biblical things. The height of the tallest tower not is taller than one and a half Statue of Liberty’s. The tallest tower, representing the Virgin Mary is yet to be built. A really beautiful and break taking site seeing place!
One last place I would highly recommend if anyone is traveling to Barcelona would be Park Guell, which was also created by Gaudi, the same as the Sagrada Familia. Park Guell was created in 1900, about 20 years before Gaudi’s death. The majority of the park is make of tile. the walls and benchs in some parts are made of crushed tile that has then been put together to make something beautiful. I thought that the entire park looked like a little candy cottage, because of all of the different shapes and beautiful and vibrant colors. At the top of the park there is an open space that overlooks the park and the rest of Barcelona. Many people may not know this, but I found it pretty interesting when we were there. Parts of the movie The Cheetah Girls was filmed at this park, along with an episode on America’s Next Top Model.
Another attraction to do in Barcelona is the chocolate museum. The museum has many sculptures made out of entirely chocolate. Many of the exhibits are things that are around the city of Barcelona, such as a few that are at Park Guelle and a sculpture of the Sagrada Familia. The coolest part of this museum may be that the ticket to get in, is a delicious chocolate bar that you can eat as you walk through and look at all of the sculptures. When you look up close, it is easy to tell that it was made out of all chocolate. Its something like you've never seen before!
How to Communicate
Barcelona is part of Spain that speaks Spanish a little differently. They speak what is called Catalan. When you hear others speaking it you won’t initially notice any difference, because it is very similar. Spanish is understood as easily as Catalan. Only about 75% of Barcelona speak Catalan, so over half, but there is still a portion that can not speak it and still continue to speak Spanish. While we were there, majority of the places we went and the people we talked to also spoke english well. Language is not a huge barrier in Spain because most of the people there learn English at a young age.
Cafe Con Leche — By far the most important phrase while traveling in Spain. It translates in english to coffee with milk, which is basically what it is, except better. Cafe Con Leche is very popular during the morning meal, even though breakfast is not that common of a meal for them. Cafe Con Leche was one of the things that I miss most about their food.
Churros y Chocolate- Possibly the most delicious desert in all of Spain. At restaurants that have chocolate and churros, you can watch them make the churros fresh in front of you, and the chocolate is warm and so good that when you run out of churro, you can just eat the chocolate!
Paella- a Spanish dish that consist of rice and depending on what you order, some kind of meat, of course with many spices. You can order a seafood paella or a mixed, which includes a variety of things. Paella is a very common mean in Spain.
The clothing in Barcelona is a little different than here. In Barcelona, even though the temperatures year round are warmer than what we may be used to they still dress as if it is colder. During June when I was there, majority of the people were still wearing jeans and even long sleeves and sweatshirts. Our guide that showed us around the city was always clothes in jeans, shirts, and closed toed shoes. She told us that they have lived there there entire lives, and have become accustomed to the heat. They tend to dress more conservative even when it is warm, compared to the tourist that come wearing what we would think normal on a hot summer day. Showing shoulders in respected places like churches is highly frowned upon too. Wearing a shall or a cardigan with tank tops or dresses is a good idea if going to any highly thought of place is in the agenda.
Meals in Barcelona are eaten fairly late, compared to when America usually eats. Lunch will normally begin about 1 or 2, and dinner you can only get reservations starting at about 7, but most eat at about 9. While eating meals, the talk is often about nice topics and avoids anything that may seem personal or might offend someone, such as politics and ones personal life. For transportation around the city they have buses and underground subways. Many of them make the announcement about the next stop in multiple languages. They begin with Spanish or Catalan, and eventually have an English translation also. Communication in Barcelona is not a hard thing, because many people and many public signs that are translated into English.
Final Thoughts
GO TO BARCELONA! I hope you enjoyed learning about Barcelona. There are so many things to do in the great city, that if I listed them all, you would never finish reading this blog. It truly is an amazing and beautiful place and atmosphere. Everyone is very friendly and excited to help you find where you are going. All of the pictures in this blog are pictures that I took during my time in Barcelona. I would definitely recommend that everyone should go to Barcelona is they are anywhere in the area!
