Gaudi, Tapas, Siestas...Barcelona

Hola from Spain! I’m currently sitting in the train station in Sevilla, waiting to get back to the ship in Cadiz. We arrived at the port of Cadiz on Saturday morning, September 5. It was quite exciting to see land for the first time in eight days! That afternoon, a group of about a dozen of us flew to Barcelona, where we spent the remainder of our time in Spain. We stayed in Plaza Reial off of La Rambla in a very well known hostel named Kabul.

What we saw

Barcelona is home to several exquisite architectural wonders, thanks to Antoni Gaudi. We visited three of his major projects:

- La Pedrera, built as an apartment building and now open as a museum. We went inside, and saw a room furnished in the early 20th century style, which Gaudi had designed. The most amazing part was standing on the roof terrace – there were beautiful views of all of Barcelona. The building had two courtyards, and a very unique design.

- Sagrada Familia is the most well known building in all of Barcelona. Gaudi began building the Church during his lifetime, but never finished before he died in 1926. To this day, the project remains ongoing and is funded solely by donations. Although we did not go inside, the façade was incredible.

- Park Guell was my favorite site in the city. The crowded spot was home to structures covered in beautiful mosaics. Gaudi’s famous mosaic lizard sculpture greets guests upon entering the park. We visited around 6pm, so we were able to see the beautiful pre-dusk sun over the city.

We also visited a beautiful Mediterranean beach in Barceloneta, and spent many hours roaming around the city. Although we felt like extreme tourists, we took a double-decker bus tour that you could hop on and off of, which made seeing the city very easy, plus we learned a lot!

What (and when) we ate

For anyone who knows me well, I am an adventurous, and GOOD eater! One of the things that I am most looking forward to throughout the voyage is being able to taste the authentic cuisines in each port country that we visit. Boy did I do a great job in Spain! Every night, we did as the Spaniards do and waited until nearly 11pm to eat a delicious array of tapas (and of course we tasted some wonderful sangria, too!). My favorite meal was a late lunch of paella, so fresh that I think some of the fish were still swimming in it! I think I could really get used to the Spanish way of life…although I am not a good nap-taker, after eating dinner until after midnight, a siesta is much needed the next day!

Spain was a great first port country – although culturally different, being in Europe made our transition from the United States to the world unknown a bit more comforting. I was able to use some of my high school Spanish, and feel very inspired to continue learning the language if I can fit it into my schedule back at Penn.

I will try to post a series of pictures from Spain in our next port, Morocco, when we arrive on Thursday. Adios amigos!