Fiona's Day 1

Today we arrived in Barcelona. Our flight got in at 8 after a long night of me trying to sleep but failing miserable. After all was said and done i got 2 hours of sleep. We took a shuttle bus to the Placa de Catalunya, which is a main square in Barcelona. My dad spent the entire busride on some simple exchange rate math. 

The Placa de Catalunya marks the start of a major pedestrian walkway called Las Ramblas. Early in the morning, it wasn't very busy. Spaniards are night owls, so naturally they don't start the morning as early. We took a stroll down Las Ramblas, baggage in tow and found our hotel. We set off down Las Ramblas heading toward the Mediterranean Sea. The end of the avenue was marked by a huge monument honoring Christopher Columbus . Past this was a huge pier that reminded me a lot of our own navy pier in Chicago. It had an IMAX, museums, shops, and even a carousel. After exploring this area we headed back down Las Ramblas. 

We stopped at a place called Palau Guell which is a building designed by Antoni Gaudi. We decided not to go inside because we were hungry and needed food. We headed to la Boqueria. This is a huge market that sells fresh food, ranging from pigs legs to fresh fish to fresh fruit to candy. The stalls were jam packed and sometimes it smelled horrible but it was pretty cool. We picked up a fruit cup to sate our hunger and continued on our way. 

We walked to a neighborhood called Barri Gotic. The first place we visited was the Barcelona Cathedral. This is situated on a large square with many small shops. We sat down at a small cafe where dad got coffee and I enjoyed my very first tortilla. 

Spanish tortillas are totally different than Mexican ones. They are basically potato omelets, and this one was served on a baguette. 😍

After lunch we went into the cathedral. It was amazing, very detailed, very gothic. There were many gold statues around the church, and there were also remains of Saint Eulalia. 

We visited a few small places around the cathedral including two courtyards with small fountains and palm trees. Palm trees are very big here and they can be seen all around town. One of the courtyards we visited had remains of a roman temple from hundreds of years ago when the city was being formed. We visited Jaume Sqaure which holds regional and city halls, and then we were exhausted so we returned for a siesta. Around 5 we woke up, feeling refreshed and ready to go explore. We headed out, walking towards the Basilica de Santa Maria del Mar. This was a simpler, nonetheless gothic, church. After seeing this we went to the Parc de la Ciutadella. This is like Barcelona's Luxembourg gardens. It has many palm trees and plants, as well as orange groves and a boating lake. 

Close to this was the Arc del Triomphe which was a very nice arch built with red brick. Wedged in the arch (which was quite high) was a soccer ball. We headed back to Las Ramblas which by then was really crowded and grabbed dinner. Dad got a bocadilla (sandwich) with smoked ham which I tried. It was super good! I got peilla, or rice, with sausage and peppers. It was amazing! S far, I am loving Spanish food. On the way back to our hotel, we got this yummy straciatella on a stick thing.

My first day in Spain was amazing. It is very commercial here--we have seen many H&Ms, as well as footlockers. There are hundreds of shops, all of them filled with barca uniforms. That's another thing: every where you look you'll see a gelato shop and a little kid in a messi jersey. But then again those are the two best things in life: gelato and messi. 

--
Fiona

d.v. #7