Barcelona, Spain

This past weekend we headed to Barcelona for a long weekend. Both Jeremy and I have been to Barcelona before, so we were excited to spend more time in some of our favorite places as well as be a bit more picky about the exact things we wanted to see. We were able to get to use our spanish skills and enjoyed being able to *somewhat* communicate with people in their native language. Barcelona is know for its food, its architecture and mostly it's fun and exciting vibe.

We started the trip with a visit to one of Antoni Gaudi's creations, Casa Ballto. This unique house was inspired by all things related to the sea. Gaudi's architecture is unlike anything we have ever seen and each room or building is filled with detail and significance.

The wall tiles fade from a light gray to a dark midnight blue as they ascend up the center "light well" of the house. This is to evenly spread the light throughout the house. The windows are bigger at the top where the tiles are dark blue and they are smaller at the bottom where the tiles are light gray.

 

Looking through the wavy glass at the blue tile walls makes one feel as if they are under water. 

 There are almost no straight lines in the entire house. 

 

Creative pieces of architecture are scattered throughout the city. 

Making a quick stop at La Boqueria to get some breakfast, and some candy, before heading to our cooking class! Spain has the best gummies, hands down.  

 

 Getting started at Cook and Taste!

One of the things we were looking forward to on this trip was taking a traditional Spanish cooking class. This experience did not disappoint and we learned many new cooking tips, both for Spanish and every day cooking. The class was about four hours long and included the food we made and all the wine we could drink.  The menu consisted of roasted red pepper and saffron soup served on top of seared tuna, grilled melon with seared anchovies and olive vinaigrette, seafood paella, and cream Catalan. Delicious!

After the class we went to the Joan Miro museum. He is a modern Spanish artist who uses a lot of color and crazy figures in his work.

After visiting the museum, we walked through the sculpture gardens which offered expansive views of the city. Then we rode the gondola to the top of one of the mountains to an even better view.

The last day of our trip we saved to go to La Sagrada Famalia. This church is the architectural masterpiece of Antoni Gaudi. Construction on the church began in 1882 and is still being carried out. It is set to be finished in 2040. Gaudi knew from the outset that he would not live to see the end of his creation, however he left detailed plans with which are still being honored to this day. This is one of the most amazing, inspiring and unique buildings in the world. There is so much to see and so many things that are yet to come in the construction.  Seeing this modern cathedral being built is a testament to both,  Gaudi, the workers, planners and other architects that are creating his plan. The pictures do not do this building justice. It is the perfect blend of reality, nature, history, fantasy, modern and classical design. I can't say enough. Hopefully the pictures will fill in my gaps.

The passion facade. This side of the church portrays Christ's journey to the cross. It is stark and stoic. The pillars are bone-like. The figures are square and rigid.

 

The pillars twist, rotate and spread towards the ceiling. Amazing.

A shot of the ceiling from below.

A model of the finished product.

It is a reverent and holy place. This door has the Lord's Prayer engraved in Catalan. It also has part of the prayer "Give us this day our daily bread," carved in hundreds of different languages.

This is the Nativity facade which portrays Christ's birth and early life. It is very detailed and contains many hidden animals, figures, and symbols. It is intricate and beautiful.

 

From here we a took a trip to the beach. The water was perfect. 

 

We had one last dinner of sangria, tapas and pintxos before heading back to Zurich. It was a great weekend and has officially moved Barcelona to the top three of our favorite cities!