The Segrada Familia

When I woke up around 3 pm I was completely disoriented and forgot that I had gone to sleep in the hostel...my new Barcelonean home for the next few days.

We got ourselves together and decided to find our way to the number one tourist destination: The Segrada Familia.

We decided to navigate our way by a little walk around to enjoy the city-something you can't do on a metro...It was wonderful. The little cafes, the shops, even the pavement (sidewalk) which was tiled with a floral pattern was so picturesque and just how I would imagine spain to look. Almost every building had a balcony made of black rod iron fashionably shaped into neat curves. Floral type molding covered many of the entrances to these buildings and the windows and such. No building looked the same really. And most had some type of design or color to them. Though it was a large and modern city, the history here was evident on every corner.

We reached the basillica called the Segrada Familia (The Holy Family) which is an ongoing construction site vistited by millions of people each year. The designer, Gaudi, spent 40 years on it before dying in 1926 and the work is expected to continue for many years to come. Despite the fact that his entire vision has not yet been completed..this was the most unique basillica I encountered on all of my travels. There was just soo much to look at and I think I could stare for hours and never truly see all of the details of the building. The statues depict many of the events in the life of Christ and the disciples. The nativity facade (my first picture there) was very Gaudi like. I still am amazed by it looking back on my pictures.

The nativity facade was no less impressive..even though it was obviously not as old nor as Gaudi-like as the other side of the basillica.

The statues were beautiful. But I wondered what it would be like to go to church where Judas' betrayal of Jesus stands right next to the door way- a constant reminder of human nature....just the thing to get some good worship going I suppose....

We wandered on and found our first Tapas bar which we decided was definitely authentic Spanish because the guy working the counter spoke absolutely no english. This was agood chance for us to test our spanish skills- even though the only thing I could make out on the menu was ham and cheese. Of course our spanish didn't come in very handy as in Barcelona the people speak what is called Catalan...but we managed for the most part. I discovered quickly that pork is a staple food item in spain....

(My travel buddies outside the Tapas Bar, our first dining experience )

By this time in the evening we were dead tired of walking...but determined to make it to Park Guelle...an entire park that is designed by Gaudi... this is when we discovered that Barcelona is built on a very very steep hill......we walked what seemed like forever and were sad that the park was not lit up enough for us to enjoy it...we trekked the miles back to the hostel promising to return tomorrow....and ready to ride the Metro.

Barcelona and a Grand Beginning

Since I could not take my laptop along on the trip, I suppose I will just have to start from day one, using my journal entries and memories to blog on the experiences. Hopefully it will flow enough to understand.

The first day was essentially part of the day before the first day of travel
->meaning that we did not sleep the night before our flight to Barcelona, Spain. I had spent the day collecting maps and directions info online while Kristie gave Bobbie Jo the grand London tour, when they got back around 10 pm and we started getting everything together, we realized that we would have to catch a very early bus to London Gatwick Airport- early as in 3 am....or so I thought....

at about 1am I rechecked the bus times and realized the bus headed out was at 2~~!!! Our last hour of packing was a bit of a frantic moment for me. Even though I had spent most of the day getting ready, I felt so unprepared~! Packing everything for 8 days into one backpack just didn't seem like it should cut it, I knew I had to be foregetting something...but as 1:50 rolled around it was time to be on our way.

We strolled down Iffely Road pretty briskly considering we were on the verge of missing the bus...luckly we made it with time to spare. Me worrying about potential disasters soon became a theme of this trip. Bobbie Jo and Kristie tended to be a little less worried so I guess we made for a well balanced group.

After nearly a 2 hour wait in the airport, we were finally seated on the plane around 7 am- finally, time to go to sleep!We booked the cheapest flights possible- this one was with Easyjet (sounds reliable eh?) so I wasn't sure what to expect- but all went smoothly and I woke up just as we were flying over a mountain range north of Barcelona. As this was only my 3rd flight destination ever- it was my first opportunity to view mountains from a plane- and I suppose any mountain range at all outside of the Appalachians, they were absolutely breath taking.

From the sky Barcelona appeared very brown- as opposed to England which was very greenish- The tan color of the beach sand seemed to fade right on into the hundreds of buildings and on into the hills behind them. Barcelona was massive. Luckily the streets were on the grid pattern and not the crazy circle arrangement like Lexington- so navigation wasn't bad but I don't want to even know how many miles we walked over the city.

We caught a bus from the airport to the city, and ended about 10 minutes walk from our hostel. The walk up via Rumbla y Catalunya seemed endless as we were loaded with our backpacks and I had not dressed for such warm weather. When we finally stumbled upon the entrance to our hostel we were pretty perplexed as it actually looked like a respectable building in the center of the city- I had imagined the hostel to be more like a concentration camp with 20 bunkbeds in a dark and dingy room- since our method for choosing the places were based on the cheapest bed we could find in the city, we were certainly risking that possibility throughout the trip - but this place seemed fine enough- It came complete with free internet access, breakfast, kitchen access and balconies overlooking the city from the kitchen area-

there it is...so normal looking we almost missed it.

view from the hostel balcony looking down via Rumbla y Catalunya

Our room mates were three girls from Sweden who were living in Barcelona for over a month- the hostel was alright but there is no way I would want to stay more than a few days. Another guy there, Abe was from the states and was now working there as the kitchen cleaner and in town as a translator. He had been traveling the all over and ran out of money when he got to Barcelona- so he stumbled upon the job at the hostel which gave him a place to live as well- he was telling the room how he had earned enough money over the past few months to move on to South America soon- I suppose I knew some people spent much of their lives traveling around, but I never new "world traveler" could qualify as an ultimate occupation- to see whatever you can and start work where ever you happen to run out of money- and live until you make enough to go to the next place---I'm curious what it would be like, but not sure I would be cut out for it. But I guess if my life were paycheck to paycheck it might as well go hand in hand with a little adventure. I know I would never have the guts to just go for it though.

So there we were, with our grand entrance to Barcelona, and with in an hour of arrival all three of us were dead asleep for at least 3 or 4 hours. Some hard core back packers, eh?