I spent the most of last week being enferma (sick). I've still got a bit of a cough left over but the most of last week was going to class, sleeping a lot, and enjoying the beautiful weather (sunny, 70, with a bit of wind).
But on Friday morning, we embarked via hella-expensive Renfe train to Barcelona! Just another dingy hostel, but what a beautiful ciudad (city)! First of all, not knowing Spanish is enough. But in Barcelona, Catalan is spoken everywhere. From appearance, it looks like a mash-up of Spanish, French, and Italian. Spoken, it's uninterpretable. While the language is interesting, the city streets are even more of a wonder. The carrers (street in Catalan) are littered with incredible Gaudi architecture. We visited Gaudi's masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia. The enormous cathedral, conceptualized over 130 years ago, is one of the most unique buildings I have ever seen.
Among other touristy things we did, my favorite was climbing to the highest point in the city, the top of a big hill in Park Guell. The 360 degree view from the top was more than I have ever seen before, and the photos don't do it justice.
On Saturday night, we all gathered for a mini-botéllon in a nearby park and headed to Camp Nou, the largest fùtbol stadium in Europe belonging to the best team in the world, having held the winning La Liga title for 3 years and the Champions League for last season, FC Barcelona. We got the worst seats but still had an incredible view to the Barcelona v. Málaga game. Barcelona won, 2-1. Amazing stadium, amazing victory. Go Barça!
Besides the incredible sights, we did endure a few bumps along the way. Our hostel, despite the incredible location along Passeig de Gracia, was absolutely shit. They only had bedding and towels for an extra charge, and stacked twelve beds in each large but drafty room. Needless to say, we spent most of the night out on the clubbing avenue La Rambla or climbing up to the top of Park Guell for a midnight view of the city. Also as Barcelona is well known for the pickpockets, a few members of our large group were robbed. They catch you off guard, appear to be friendly and strike good conversation with you in English. They ask where you're from, try to relate to whatever place and distract you for a good time to reach into your back pocket and take your belongings. For anyone who wants to visit Barcelona, beware the pickpockets.
So far since I've been back, it has been the start of something new in Valencia: Las Fallas! The festivities started on February 28th, and go all the way until March 19th. Every day, there is a marching band wakeup call to the city at 8am. There is also a daily enormous fireworks display which they call La Mascleta, occuring unusually promptly at 2pm. The fireworks are incredibly loud, reaching up to 120 decibels, and thousands of people gather every day to see and hear the commotion.
As Fallas draws closer and closer. the streets are starting to light up with signs and decorations. I look forward to March 15th when all the falles (constructed statues) are finished, and the 19th when all but one are burned in the ceremony called La Cremà.
Hasta luego!
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