Barcelona

If you havenºt noticed yet, the apostrophe key is not where itºs normally at on the Portuguese keyboard, so Iºm getting the little degree symbol in itºs place and Iºm too stubborn to fix all of them, so Iºm going to leave them the way they are.

So I really enjoyed Barcelona while I was there. It was a combination of everything. I was there for NYE, I got to see a lot of interesting sights in the city, and Renee met me there, and it was fun to hang out with her for almost a week, since I hadnºt seen her in 5 months.

Barc is a major city with the shopping and the malls and the wide streets. Itºs also got the narrow alleyways and a bit of cobblestone, though not really enough to mention. Itºs very modern and very Spanish. Well, I guess you would have to say itºs more Catalonian than Spanish.

The northeast section of Spain calls itself Catalonia, which is sort of like how old school Texans feels about being part of the United States. Thatºs what I heard anyway. They know they are part of Spain officially but wouldnºt mind being their own country either because they consider themselves pretty different. Hence the different language. I learned Spanish while I was in Barc but not nearly as much as in Madrid or Salamanca.

When I first stepped into a museum in Barc, I noticed that there were 3 languages on signs that were written in multiple languages. Before I knew what was going on, I thought the first one was Spanish, then French, and then English. But after asking somebody, I found out that it was Catalonian, Spanish, and then English. I was surprised.

I enjoyed the Gaudi architecture in the city, if you remember from an older post I made. The museum of contemporary art was cool, even though there wasnºt that much art to see. I missed the Picasso museum, but that didnºt bother me that much. I will be able to see Picassoºs art in other places in Spain hopefully.

I did a LOT of walking through the city. Every chance we got, we walked instead of taking the subway. I only used the train when I was short on time or really tired from walking too much that day. I was glad that Renee had the same viewpoint on walking as I did.

The beach in the Barceloneta area was very nice. It would be a sweet place to hang out in the summer. When we were there the sand was cold and wet. We took a lot of pictures as a group and to say we saw the beach.

The water fountain light and music show was a must see for me. Since I like water and all. I would definitely go see that again if I went back.

Overall I think Barc is a great place for visitors to go see. Thereºs quite a few attractions and a lot of nightlife. The tapas was excellent (though more expensive than other ones I had, although Iºm sure there are cheaper places too that I didnºt find).

The staff of my hostels and the other travelers in met at the hostel were probably the best part of it all. I seriously never thought I would meet that many cool people at once.