Montserrat Hiking, outside Barcelona

 

While in Barcelona we took a day trip up to Montserrat. A train ride and then a little yellow cable car going up a tiny cable later and we were on a little mountain. The neat part though is that it houses a monastery atop it. There were a lot of school groups flitting around so we only hung out at the basilica briefly and then headed off toward a hike.

 

 

 

Oh this part was so nice! We'd been in big cities for almost 2 weeks now and as soon as we hit the dirt path we felt at home. My introvert, Joshua, was in such a fabulous mood :) The craggly rock formations jutting up in all direction and unique plants sticking out added up to a great hike, we think it was around 4 miles and we got up to 4,055 ft altitude.

 

 

 

We snacked on gummi bears and corn nuts we got out of a vending machine and basked in the calm sunshine all afternoon. It was the perfect break from the city. Lucky for us most people took rack trains up to get views so we were mostly on the trial by ourselves the whole time able to chat and goof off. Then that night we headed back into the city for some bikinis and sangria :)

 

And that's it, that's our whole trip! We had such an amazing adventure and feel beyond blessed and grateful that we were able to find time to go do this. Mostly we were excited to spend 16 uninterrupted days together with no work or phone calls or other people, just time to spend with each other. The different countries and cities obviously were pretty amazing too :)

Tapas, La Rambla & the rest

 

After our Gaudi biking adventure we ventured into St. Josep Mercado where the have juice for 1 euro in flavors like kiwi-coconut, blackberry-banana, and papaya-raspberry. We went back for so many juices while we were in Barcelona! We also had colorful empanadas full of mushrooms, cheese, and spinach. To just go ahead and say it-we at a lot in Barcelona!

 

 

 

our hotel courtyard, our room was one of the ones with the cute balconies

 

Our hotel was near a place called Tapas 24 that you walk down some stairs into an open air kitchen full of colors, fresh bread, tomatoes on vines, and pitchers of sangria. We loved this place so much we went twice! Our favorite dish- the Bikini 24 which is thin slices of bread sandwiching buffalo mozzarella, fresh sliced jamon, and black truffle (Oh how we miss it!)

 

Besides the Gaudi tour we wandered around a lot. They have beautifully curated shops in the Gothic quarter full of locally made treasures. The streets are narrow with roll up doors that open to so much visual delight and for me temptation (I love pretty thing, I'm sorry). The Barcelona cathedral is also in the Gothic quarter and has spires dripping in the gothic style reaching toward the sky.

taking a break between Gaudi's

 

eating doner in a little park late at night

 

 

 One night we went to a small pub that boasted craft  beers from all over the world so we tried a few from some other countries. In Europe when you want a beer you just order a beer- no choices, just a light beer. Joshua was very excited to get an IPA in Barcelona!

 

La Rambla is a walking road encompassed with shops on either side and littered with stalls selling everything, including the pepper pictured below :) It was always packed with people.

 

 

Sorry this one was very random and non-sequential but that was what was great about our time in Barcelona. We didn't have many set plans and did whatever we were feeling in the moment and went on long walks to nowhere.

 

Next though we went for a great hike at Montserrat!

Pit Stop Madrid

After Seville we took a train into Madrid. We were only here that afternoon and evening so very few photos but some of the best stories are from here! We started off starving and went to Mercado de San Miguel in a beautiful glass walled warehouse space with stalls and stalls of tapas. They had every kind of tapa you can think of and we tried a hefty amount of them while sipping on sangria and vermouth.

The Puerto de Sol plaza was full of larger white males all in blue jerseys and we thought wow they can't be Spanish. We come to find out Real Madrid is playing Schalke a German team that night in Madrid. The whole city was teeming with people in jerseys. So that evening we met some Australian guys in our hostel and went out to a fabulous tapas dinner with them, the ones where you order a drink and get a free tapa- excellent! Then we all headed to an Irish pub to watch the game and yell at two teams we didn't know anything about. The game even had 7 goals and 50/50 possession so it was a really excellent exciting game. Then we had some wine out of a real leather skin and walked back toward the hostel.

But, as we were walking I heard my name. Coming down an intersecting street was a man I played soccer with in Cincinnati starting my freshman year in college! He was visiting family in Palestine and was over with a friend to watch some soccer matches in Europe. This guy was always so nice to me and actually passed me the ball, big deal for the only girl playing. It was really amazing to get to run into him (in another country nuts!) and catch up! He was always someone I admired so it was fun to get to introduce Joshua to him.

But for Madrid that was about it. Not too much sightseeing but a lot of culture packed into 3/4 of a day. Next morning we walked to the train station, which was adorable and had turtles. We watched the turtles for awhile but I became to distressed because some kept falling onto their backs and waiting for them to flip back over was stressing me out :) Joshua rolled his eyes at me :)

Next up our longest stay in a city the whole trip- Barcelona!

Barcelona via Bicycle

 From Madrid we ended at our last city Barcelona. WOW! This one will take a few posts so we'll start with us renting some high sitting city bikes to lazily weave around the city in while we took ourselves on a Gaudi Architecture Tour. Joshua was the excellent navigator and I was the itinerary maker.

First stop was Sagrada Familia, it's an unfinished cathedral that is still under construction with a completion date set for 2026. I won't go into it's whole story here but Gaudi's vision was very unique and a mixture of gothic and art nouvea. The exterior was a lot of scaffolding so not many photos but it was still so detailed, hand work evident everywhere, and ways of expressing story that are unparalleled. Once we both walked inside though we had no words. I barely have any still. The geometric stained glass lets in an ombre of cool color on one side and warm color on the other basking the structures in hues that make your insides feel lots of emotions.

The structure is uniquely Gaudi's and they are to emulate trees and branches. Columns reach toward the very tall ceiling starting sometimes as octagons to squares to circles. Shapes slide in and out of one another in ways you never could have imagined. We loved that this building's interior wasn't covered in religious statues or paintings but that made it more spiritual. The basilica was swarming with people but you barely noticed because you were to busy having your own emotional experience.

These are the doors to the Passion Façade which in and of themselves are amazing! Okay no more words on Sagrada Familia, only an experience I can't truly describe.

 After that we hopped back on the bicycles and pedaled up what I'm pretty sure is Barcelona's only hill, so hot, to Park Guell. Gaudi designed this park with organic forms, unique structural members that play with the landscape and down to unique tile layouts and ornate designs.

Last stop on our homemade bicycle tour was Casa Mila/La Pedrera which is an apartment complex that Gaudi designed. Ornate ironwork balconies and a whimsical rooftop terrace were our favorite parts. The rooftop terrace provided a great view back to Sagrada Familia too.

The sculpted shapes and holes that presented unique views of the city made this terrace a surreal playground. We went around touching surfaces and spires that whipped in unusual shapes while covered in mosaic tile.

This is another apartment building of his, Casa Battlo. We also went by during the day but love how delightfully creepy it was at night. In the day it's actually a really beautiful rainbow of tile and the courtyards are ombred in blue tile to emulate the dissipation of sunlight.

You love Gaudi now too don't you?!

It was a wonderful, whimsical, playful day that I did a terrible job describing!

Next the rest of Barcelona :)