Well this week has obviously flown by, as dad arrived yesterday afternoon. The week was an easy one..meet with all of my local friends...ate on top of El Corte Ingles on Tuesday, and on Wednesday night I went to this really cool bar that looked over the Cathedral, and on Thursday night I went to this Mexican restaurant which was fun because I have been having Mexican withdrawals since I have been out here haha. I went out every night this week, I didn't have much school work to do..which was nice! Although it has been raining in Barcelona for a week straight, it has finally cleared up and was perfect today!!
I met dad at our hotel yesterday around 1:30ish and our hotel is alright. Nothing crazy but it was pretty cheap so it is fine for just a few days! After we talked for a little bit and got settled in the hotel we decided to walk around. Our hotel is very close to the port, so we started there and then eventually walked all over.
Outside the Maritime Museum, which is basically where the ships were made years ago..
A few pictures around the port..
We then walked down Las Ramblas and stopped at La Boqueria and some of the little shops and made our way towards El Barri Gotico, my favorite part of the city.
I took my Dad around Plaza Catalunya and the center of the city, and showed him where the metro stops were and where IES was located. We then stopped at Fargi and had a few cappuccinos before we walked to El Gotico.
We stopped at the Barcelona Cathedral, which usually is free to enter but of course the few times I have been there I have had to pay. But the Cathedral was pretty nice and I saw some parts of it that I never did before. We walked around El Gotico for some more time, and then made our way towards El Born which is another one of my favorite parts of Barcelona. Of course I was talking off my dads ear about everywhere we went.
Museu de la Historia de la Ciutat..
Outside Santa Maria del Pie
Legend of St. Jordi, killing the dragon...which is shown everywhere in Barcelona.
The next few pictures are from inside and outside of the Cathedral..
After we got done walking around, we stopped in Born at a restaurant/bar called Princesa Z3, and we ordered some tapas and I believe we had patatas bravas, pan con tomate and some stuffed mushrooms, which were all good. We stayed there for a while and talked and then headed back to the hotel to shower and figure out dinner plans.
We tried finding this Italian place I found online but couldn't find it and stopped at this local place which was around El Gotico. We had some pretty good wine, pasta, dessert and of course some coffee. We were both exhausted and went back to the hotel for an early night.
We slept in until 11ish, which felt great because I really didn't sleep much during the week. I wanted to show dad Passeig de Gracia and all of the modernist buildings and some of Gaudi's works.
This first building is Casa Lleo Morera, by Domenech i Montaner.
The next one is Casa Amatller, which is by Puig i Casafalch. This is a private house but you can go access the ground floor, and there is also a museum inside. The outside is covered with signs because it is currently being renovated.
The third house we walked by was Casa Batllo, which I have talked about before but is by Antoni Gaudi.
The next is Fundacio Tapies, which was designed by Domenech i Montaner, and it is filled with sculptures by the famous Catalan artist, Antoni Tapies.
And the last house we walked by was of course Casa Mila, or La Pedrera (The Stone Quarry) which is also a work of Antoni Gaudi.
We decided not to go inside any of the buildings because it was a beautiful day today, and we didn't want to spend too much time inside.
We planned to make a small circle and head towards UB to grab some lunch at a bar that I always eat at, which has outdoor seating. We walked down Rambla Catalunya, which is another famous street, and there were tons of small stands filled with people preparing for Semana Santa.
Chocolate eggs, and other candies and figures that were for sale. Pascua means Easter in Spanish.
Some of palms that were for sale today, and tomorrow the boys will carry the plain braches and the girls will carry branches with some sort of decorations on them.
We walked to Cerveseria Universitat, which is where I sometimes have lunch outside. Dad eating patatas bravas, of course haha.
I decided that I wanted to show dad Montjuic because it was really nice outside, and there was a lot of Montjuic that I still wanted to see.
Dad before we began our 10 mile hike up the mountain.
Walking through Jardines Laribal, which was on our way up the mountain.
A picture of dad a little bit higher up on Montjuic..
Next we headed to the Olympic Stadium because I still never entered inside the stadium. This is outside the front of the stadium and is where the 1992 Olympics were held. This stadium was much smaller than normal stadiums and the facilities were not as nice as I expected them to be. But this stadium was built before the Olympics for an International Exhibition which was in the 1920's or 1930's, if I remember correctly.
It's cool to think about how the Olympics were held here, but I still don't believe how small the stadium was!
Dad inside the stadium..
Picture of the Olympic Museum, which we decided not to go inside because the day was so nice. I've heard the museum is really interesting though!
I heard about a Castle that was on the top of Montjuic, and I really wanted to find it. We kept seeing signs with arrows pointing in the direction for the Castle, but we just kept walking and walking. It literally took forever until we finally made it there, but it was well worth the walk!
Here are a few pictures outside the . For many years it was a symbol of terror and was used as a prison and torture center for political prisoners. It is said that the Castle was laid in 1640, and today there is a Comic Museum located inside.
Great view!
A couple views from the top of the Castle..
Dad in the middle of the Castell de Montjuic
Awesome view of the city..
Dad and I with the Mediterranean and some of Barcelona in the background..
Probably my favorite picture from the Castell de Montjuic!
The Architecture Museum, which was almost all the way back down the mountain.
Fundacio Joan Miro...Joan Miro is one of Catalonia's most famous painters. We didn't go inside the museum but there are over 11,000 works donated there. The architecture was designed by architect Joesp Lluis Sert.
After we got back to the hotel we relaxed for a few hours before dinner. I talked to my friend Nick, whose parents are also in Barcelona and we decided we were going to go out to eat. We all met in Jaume I and Nick's host mother suggested a restaurant called Bilbao, which had typical Basque tapas, or "pinchos" as they call them. We had a nice sized group of about 11 people or so, and eventually some of Nick's track friends joined us as well.
Some of the pinchos from the restaurant..
The group of us in the restaurant!
Dad and I at dinner..
Picture of the "kids" haha:
The whole group again, with the Cathedral in the background, of course..
After dinner we all went to a local bar that Nick's friends took us to, which was fun. Everyone went their separate ways and we took the metro back to the hotel. Tomorrow we have many more things to see, so will most likely get an early start to the day! I will post again before we head to Rome!!
