Sagrada Familia

Sagrada Familia is a land mark that many tourists know to visit when coming to Barcelona, Spain. Antoni Gaudi started this project in 1882, but in 1926 he was hit by a train and died. The construction of the project, slowly began up again but the Spanish Civil War interrupted the process. In the 1950's they began to build again, but is still not complete until this day. They say it will be ready in 2020. Even though the plan never fell through of being a cathedral inside, the outset of the church and the inside resemble a cathedral. Gaudi's designs were very unique and interesting, where his work drew primarily from nature. I have been inside of Sagrada Familia now 3 times and every time I go inside, I seem to find another part of the cathedral that I have never noticed. The mosaic tiles, inside the cathedral that let in the light from the outside are astonishing. Through my abroad experience, I have visited many cathedral and I would have to say that this cathedral is one of the prettiest works of art that I have seen!

Park Guell

Park Guell was designed by a Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi. Before coming to Barcelona, all I heard about was Gaudi's artwork and that I must vista every single piece of his work! Park Guell is a breathtaking garden that is located on the top of a hill in the Gracia district of Barcelona. The little pieces of tile that are put into this park are astonishing and unbelievable. The first time that I went to the park, I walked all the way to the top where I could see all of Barcelona. The view of Barcelona was magnificent! When walking through the park, all I wanted to do was look at each, individual mosaic tile. Each tile as very different, which made it unique. The entire park was made up of different tiles and designs. I did not know until I visited the park again that this site was for a housing complex, but was not followed through. There are different fountains that are located throughout the park. In the middle of the park, there is sand where I see children playing soccer all the time or enjoying a day out with family. At the entrance of the park, there is a multi-colored dragon that has mosaic tile all over it.

Montjuic

Barcelona was selected to host the 1992 Summer Olympics. On the hill of Montjuic, which literally means "Jew Hill", is where the 1992 Summer Olympics took place. One afternoon after class, my roommate and I decided to take a walk from our apartment to Montjuic, since it is only a 15-20 minute walk. We went up the escalators to the top of Monjuic, you were able to see all of Barcelona! It was magnificent! I was able to see Sagrada Familia from where I was standing. We walked to where the Olympics took place after. It was gorgeous up there! I was able to see the big stadium where everything took place, the pool and the track area. The water falls, were beautiful! I heard that you can go back on a Friday or Saturday night from 7-8:30 and there is a light show that comes on. Since this is my last weekend in Barcelona, I am going to spend an hour of my night at the top of Monjuic.

Museu de la xocolata

Since I am obsessed with chocolate, why not visit the Chocolate Museum in Barcelona! While on a days outing, I decided to look up the address for the museum and head towards the direction of it. My mouth dropped as soon as I entered the museum! To enter the museum, you received a chocolate bar that had a bar code on it. That was considered you "ticket". When walking inside, I could smell the fresh aroma of the chocolate. In the museum that was rather small, we saw a chocolate sculpture of SpongeBob Squarepants and of warriors fighting. I found it unique how they could mold the chocolate into figures. When we walked outside of the museum, there was a Culinary School going on that you could watch in the courtyard. There must have been a group of 25 young adults learning how to made chocolate. I enjoyed my "ticket" as soon a we left the museum!

Picasso Museum

While walking around the Gothic Quarter, my friends and I decided to walk towards the Bank District where the Picasso Museum is located on Montcada Street. This is the first museum that is dedicated to Pablo's Picasso's artwork with more than 3,500 pieces of art. When walking through the museum, I found it to be very interesting because it was organized by the years he had created his artwork and how it has evolved throughout the years. When I listened to the audio set, I was able to understand how he started off his work and why. The museum opened up in 1963, with only a few pierces of his collection. The expansion has grown through donations that have been made to the museum. The museum occupies 5 large houses that have art work format eh 13th and 14th centuries. Each house is dedicated to a different part of time that the section was built. Now, the Picasso Museum hosts special exhibitions.

El Raval District of Barcelona

We spent an hour in the quaint area called El Ravel which is a small neighborhood in the Ciutat Vella district of Barcelona. This area is one of the two neighborhoods that borders Las Ramblas. As we started our tour, we went through small narrow streets and ended up in an area where children were playing outside on the swings and playing futbol. It is a residential area where families can relax and enjoy a day out. This area is known for its nightspots, restaurants and bars.

Through our tour, we walked past the MACBA (Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art), which is a large museum containing modern art. This is one of the newest additions that added to the area.The outside of the museum was very contemporary and Xavi told us that this is an area where young students come to hang out and skate board outside. Next we went to the CCCB which is the Centre De Cultura Contemporania De Barcelona. CCCB is one of the most visited exhibitions and art centers in Barcelona. the CCCB also has an auditorium, seminar and lecture rooms that are located inside. The CCCB is a public consortium created by the Barcelona Provincial Coucil.

Towards the end of the tour we went to an area where Xavi told us students hang out at, hang out and skate board. It was interesting to see the perspective from someone who lives in Barcelona on the district of El Raval because I would have never know that this area existed unless I went on this field trip. This area was rather modern, which I enjoyed very much.

The Born District (La Ribera Quarter)

Today, Xavi took our class to the Born District. This was an area that I have never been to before. While walking around through the narrow streets we visited the area where "Els Gremis"used to live. Through out tour of the Born Distrct, Xavi pointed out that there are many streets that are dedicated to the craftsmanship. There are 5 streets that I thought were interesting which are, plaza de la llana (wool), career de les candeles (candles), career del corders (ropes), career del les cotoners (cotton) and lastly career dels mirallers (mirror). I found this to be very interesting because this all started in the 1300's and that that signs are all in tacts till this day. Its very fascinating that all of these streets are dedicated to the craftsmanship and traders in those days.

While walking through the narrow streets, Xavi pointed out an example of "La casa-taller" which was a typical craftsmanship family house. It was the same place where the family lived and worked. The spaces inside "La casa-taller" were very small. Xavi told us that the owners of the building always lived on the bottom floor. The next floor was where the nobles lived and the top floor was where the servants lived. The stairwells were very narrow inside. You could barley fit furniture inside and most the life was in the streets.

While continuing to walk through the narrow streets of the Born District I was observing this area of Barcelona. The architectural aspects distinguished the craftsmanship buildings to the industrial production ones. The streets are very narrow and you can barley fit a car down the street. The buildings were very close together. The architecture of these building are from the 1300's. You cannot fit new furniture into these building because of the size of the doors. The stairs are narrow and most of the buildings do not have elevators. While Xavi was explaining that you can only spend 100-200 euros for rent per month in these apartments, I found that to be rather interesting. Who would ever know that living in these streets could be very inexpensive. 


We past the market called El Mercat del Born where the roof was just recently put on top. It is very modern compared to the rest of the district. At the end of the field trip we ended up at Santa Maria del Mar which a famous church many by the guilds. They were workers for the church in 1329. This is an example of Catalan Gothic Architecture were the floors are covered in tiles. We also saw El Fossa de les Morres which is located right next to the church. This is a park that is built over a cemetery. This park is a square that commemorates the Catalans fall in 1714, as part of the war of the Spanish Succession. 

El Consolat de Mar is as the body of law maritime Catalan and other areas in the sea of the Kingdom of Aragon , to discuss maritime issues and trade and exert criminal jurisdiction.
I have recently been back to the the Born District and have walked around and found many cute shops. It reminds me of "Soho" in New York City. I love to walk around in this area because of all of the unique boutiques that are located in this area. This is an area that I will have to tell my friends to come to when they visit Barcelona.