Carnaval! Mi primer vuelo a Barcelona y Sitges! [Carnival! My first flight to Barcelona and Sitges].

Hello again friends and family!

I hope you're ready to read about a weekend filled with fun and sightseeing!  On February 18th, my roommate Rochelle and I, along with two more of our friends, Katie and Brenna hopped on a flight from Valladolid and flew to Barcelona!  We had been planning this weekend for a long time (since we originally got here in Spain) and since we had the following Monday and Tuesday off of classes, we decided we would take that time and go see a great city!

Well...our weekend started off a little rough.  The Valladolid airport is actually located in Villanubla, which is a small village about 20 - 25 minutes outside of Valladolid.  There is a bus however, that runs between the airport and several stops within the city of Valladolid.  Our flight left at 3:30, and the four of us had planned on taking the 1:15pm bus to the airport!  Well, Rochelle and I were walking to the bus stop near the train station (a little late, as usual) when we found out from Katie and Brenna that the bus came and left at 1:05pm!  We knew the bus would be making another stop at the bus station around 1:30pm, so we hauled ourselves over to the bus station and made it there by 1:25pm.  After a phone call to the bus company to see if the bus had already left, we watched it pull away from the bus station, without us on it.  Well, that answered that question!  The four of us decided to take a taxi to the airport, which ended up being 6 euro a person.  It wasn't the end of the world, and we all made it in time for our flight...but I guess I won't rely on the airport buses to be on time anymore!

The flight from Valladolid to Barcelona didn't last an hour!  It was maybe 40 minutes, tops.  So we landed in Barcelona, and from there we found the train station, bought our tickets to Sitges, and we were on our way!  I don't think I have ever had a more beautiful commute.  The train ride was a 20 minute train ride along the cost of the Mediterranean Sea. We just happened to be arriving in to Sitges as the sun was setting, and we could watch it sink lower in the sky as our train weaved in and out of the mountains.  I was speechless at the beauty we were experiencing.

 Here's a panoramic photo I took of the sunset along the beach in Sitges.  It's a small fishing town just south of Barcelona, but it's absolutely beautiful!  I wish this photo could do it justice, but unfortunately, it cannot.

 Here's another photo of the beach that night, along side the Mediterranean Sea.  The sunset was absolutely gorgeous!

  And finally, they had all of these "street performers" on the beach, and here was a man who was making gigantic bubbles!  Behind him you can see a sand pyramid.  There were a ton of really intricate castles and stuff lining the sidewalk by the beach!

That night we went to the grocery store, got us some food for the weekend and decided to go back into Barcelona the following day (Sunday).  Sunday morning we woke up, and took the train back into Barcelona, and spent the whole day there.  Before I start telling you about Barcelona, you should know two things we learned.  1.)  Barcelona has Subway. And you betcha, we all got a sub. It tasted great.  And 2.) Barcelona is a really unique city.  It's located in the Autonomous Region of Cataluña, and because of that, they have their own official language called Catalán. However, it's also in close proximity to France, and because of that, we found people who spoke French, English, Catalán, as well as Castellano (which is the Spanish language I speak).  It was neat in that there was this unique mixture of European cultures I haven't experienced before, but at the same time it was confusing, because I never knew what to speak to people.  Apparently though, if you speak Castellano to someon who speaks Catalán, you should be fine.  They're both dialects of Spanish, and for the most part, they'll understand you (Catalán is actually more of a mixture between French and Spanish - for example the word for Exit in French is "sortie", in Castellan it's "salida" and in Catalán, it's "sortida".

Anyway, you could say it was a day of architecture, because we basically walked through the city admiring works by the famous Spanish architect, Anton Gaudí.  We started at Casa Batlló, which looks like this:

It's got amazing architecture, with really vibrant colors on the sides of the walls.  The day we were there it was overcast for a while so the first time we saw it it wasn't as colorful, but we walked past it later in the day, and this is what it looked like then!












After finding this place, we walked around until we happened upon the Sagrada Familia.  Construction on the Sagrada Familia commenced in 1882, however, Gaudí did not take over until a year later, in 1883.  Gaudi died in 1926, with the cathedral not finished. As of today, 2012, construction is still not complete (which explains all of the cranes in my photos).  Construction passed the mid point in 2010, and the projected completion year is 2026, on the centennial of Gaudi's death.  An art critic said, "it is probably impossible to find a church building anything like it [Sagrada Familia] in the entire history of art", and it has been called, "the most extraordinary personal interpretation of Gothic architecture since the Middle Ages".

Well, here she is, folks:  (This is for you, Aunt Kathy!)

This photo was taken a few blocks away from the church - it's absolutely monstrous.  The cranes and scaffolding are representative of the work left to be done on it.  It's breathtaking, awe inspiring, and absolutely phenomenal all at once.  I've heard the inside of it is a 'must see' but I chose to admire the outside for this trip.  I'll be in Barcelona 2 more times before I'm done with my semester here, so I'm sure at some point I will visit the inside of it.

    And here's a photo of (left to right) Katie, Rochelle, Me, and Brenna in front of the Sagrada Familia.

There were so many people around it, it was insane!  But it's a must see if you go to Barcelona.  Heck, even if you're not looking for it specifically, you're sure to find it, as it sticks high above the rest of the buildings in the area.

After visiting the Sagrada Familia, we decided to make the hike up to Park Güell.  This is a park that contains many sculptures and buildings also created by Gaudi. I thought the coolest part of this park was that you can climb and climb and climb, and soon you're on top of the city of Barcelona.  It kind of feels like for a moment you're on top of the world.

This is the famous tile lizard that's in the Park.  It was really neat to see, but there were SO many people around it taking photos, it was insane!  

  After that, we walked back down to where the train station was and hopped a train back to Sitges for the night.  We knew that on Sunday night there was a huge parade in the streets of Sitges to celebrate their Carnaval (similar to Mardis Gras) so we wanted to go back for that.

Here is an example of the dancers that were walking through the streets - there was music playing everywhere, people in costumes all over, and a ton of dancing going on! 

Here's another example of a float from the parade!  Like I said in one of my earlier entries - Spaniards sure know how to throw a parade!  They've out done any parade I've ever seen!









The following day, Monday, we decided just to bum around Sitges and spend the day there.  It's a really small village, but it's beautiful nonetheless.  We spent most of the day near the Mediterranean Sea, enjoying the sun.

 



All in all, our Carnaval weekend turned out to be a success!  We had a lot of fun in Sitges, and got to see the city of Barcelona, too!

I'm really looking forward to spending some more time in Barcelona with Chase and with my parents soon!  I cannot wait!

I hope you enjoyed my pictures from this adventure - I'm sure there will be more to come!  :)




Besos y abrazos,

Erin!  :)