Solo In Barcelona

"The creation continues incessantly through the media of man. But man does not create...he discovers. Those who look for the laws of Nature as a support for their new works collaborate with the creator. Copiers do not collaborate. Because of this, originality consists in returning to the origin." - Antoni Gaudi

Before going on this trip, which I am about to tell you about, I had some doubts about Barcelona. I had heard great reviews from others that had studied there in the past, but I still was not on the bandwagon, but now after visiting it I can say that it deserves the praise. Let me begin my tale.

I had been looking at my calendar for a while, realizing that I wanted to visit Barcelona, but now with only a few weekends left here in Spain, I had a problem. I could make my visit the next weekend that was coming up, or I could wait and hope to go just before I left. Not wanting to chance miss a visit, I decided I would go as soon as possible. This caused a few problems as most other people had their schedules booked, but I didn’t find this bad, because I occasionally like to travel solo, getting lost and wandering in the direction that I think is right, without consulting someone else, and above all without causing hostilities because of this aimless wandering. I also enjoy the peace of it and being able to do exactly what I want to do and see, whenever. So I got online and found out that the train was a better option to reach Catalonia than plane. This was because Ryan Air, one of the low cost carriers in the area offered a great cheap rate that left Friday and came back Sunday for only 70 euros with all the fees added in. The problem with this was that it left Friday at 10pm from Granada, and arrived an hour outside Barcelona in Girona at 1130 pm. Then the return flight was Sunday morning out of Girona at 8am. That would leave me with only a day in the city, so I decided to do the night train, which ended up being only a little more than the flight, and ended up leaving Thursday night, and coming back late Saturday night. The train was about 12 hours both ways, but it was during the night, so I was able to save some money that would have gone to hostels, and I slept actually pretty well, as I am getting this transit sleeping pattern down (before I could never sleep).

The story begins last Thursday, as I left my apartment at 920pm, running behind as always, and hoping that I could still make the 945 train that was leaving Granada. This was the only train that was leaving for the next 9 hours and I had already bought the ticket, so I walked pretty fast. I arrived at the station in time, and was able to get to my seat before all the usual problems started occurring. This time is was my neighbors as neither spoke much English but it looked like I was separating the two of them and it was causing them distress. After a few minutes we switched places, and I left my wonderful seat, to sit next to a gentleman that reeked of foul odors, and was eating a large assortment bag of candy. Shortly after he asked me to move so he could use the restroom, or so I thought. This pattern happened four more times in the next two or three hours, a few of the times I was asleep, and eventually we decided to switch places. So I was able to get his seat that smelled, and the greasy cover his head had been on. Oh well. I flipped the cover and went back to sleep, waking a few times later in the night. When I finally came to we were in a town called Tarragona in northern Spain, and it was dawn. I was able to watch the sunrise, without my neighbor, as we passed between beautiful views of the vast Mediterranean, and long stretches of concrete condominiums. Eventually I decided to sleep some more, and I then woke up as we entered Barcelona.

A few minutes later I exited the train and reached the main area of the Barcelona Saints Train Terminal. I got lost for a few minutes right at first. Everyone was speaking English to me, which was crazy, hostel people, information people, I hadn’t experienced this anywhere in Spain before, although most of the rest of Europe is more like this. First impression, it definitely isn’t Spain.

Five minutes later I stepped out into the city, and began walking in the direction that I thought looked correct. After a few minutes I stopped and surveyed my map and the street signs, and then kept on in the direction I was heading. Then I looked again ten minutes later and I had only walked a quarter of the way to where I wanted to go, so I took a break and ate a small breakfast, and then continued on. This was how my time in Barcelona began, as I realized that it was a big city, but soon enough I ended up in center at Plaza Catalunya, and at that point my time as a tourist began. I started by walking Las Ramblas, one of the most visited foreigner spots in the city, with street vendors, performers, and the typical people that you find at any famous place.

So after a few minutes of enjoying the atmosphere, I continued on to the harbor area at Port Vell, and there after having been in Barcelona for two hours I decided I liked it. The harbor was beautiful, and because of the Olympics it was updated in a way that I loved. There were beautiful boats, and views of the city, as well as a cool bridge and marina area, and just like that I wanted to just sit there the rest of the day enjoying the endless sun.

Sadly, I could not, and after an hour with more breakfast mixed in, I continued on to my first work of Gaudi, the Palau Guell, which is just off Las Ramblas. Palau Guell is a very cool house that is free to tour, although I could only see a small part, I was still caught off guard by the designs, and it gave me an urge to see his other works throughout the city. After this I went and found a hostel to stay in for the night and then walked the old and gothic city of Barcelona without my backpack. Eventually I ended up at the Picasso Museum, and checked that off my list. I still think that Van Gogh may be my favorite painter and artist, but this museum helped me to respect Picasso much more, as it showed what a great artist he was at such a young age, before he adopted so many modern styles(if that’s what it was), and it also showed some of the slow transformations that he began making, which were interesting to witness. I will confess that the rest of my day, post Picasso, was not that interesting, but I did walk around quite a lot, and I spent some time people watching and in different clothing stores admiring the prices of different items, although making no purchases.

Then Saturday began very early for me, as I woke up just before 8am, in my hostel room. There were 17 others deep in sleep as I woke, yet no one was snoring, which was a great plus. I headed out for a run down along the harbor, to the beaches, and then along what I believe was the Olympic Village area, before returning to my hostel. All in all it was a great start to my morning, and after showering, I checked out and headed via metro to The Sagrada Family. Wow.

It’s tough to put it into too many other words than wow, but the whole time that I was there I just was wondering if my brother could be designing this type of place in the future; no pressure Thomas. It was incredible though, and just the intricacy, and the size, I am still amazed by it. I have no idea when or if they will be able to finish the plans that they currently have, but if they do it will be hard to find a better structure in the world. I went on a tour of the Sagrada Family, then hit the metro again to go to Park Guell, another area designed by Gaudi. During this time I had to switch metro trains via walking outside and I ran into another Gaudi work, the building called La Pedrera, which I did not tour, but took some pictures and studied it for a few minutes. Then on to the Park, which again was out of this world. Right when you reach the entrance to the park, you feel like you are in some sort of fairytale wonderland, that can’t be real, and yet it is, and it just keeps going, that is how pretty much how it is throughout the park. There were many parts that were unbelievable, but the part that still gets me was this road that was elevated.

The whole park was good though, and the views of the city were great. It was at this point that I decided that Barcelona was pretty neat. I moved it up on my list then and there. The events that followed continued to help it. First I metro’ed down to the last of Gaudi’s houses called Casa Batilo, where again I didn’t take a tour, but I did take pictures from outside. Then I headed back down Las Ramblas to the Port. At the port there was a yacht show going on, and I admired both the enormous and petite boats from a close proximity, and spent some more time enjoying the sun and the water. Then I headed up the hill that is nearby called Montjuic. It was on this hill that many of the Olympic events took place, including the main Olympic Stadium, swimming, and basketball.

I took it all in, just as the sun was beginning to set, followed by a slow walk back towards the train station as my time in Barcelona was coming to a close. The train ride home was enjoyable as well, and I arrived at my house at 9 am on Sunday, in time for a full day of recovery in Granada before my week of midterms.

I now rank Barcelona as one of my favorite cities that I have ever visited. The mountains, architecture, ocean, port combination just took me for a loop. I guess you could say I enjoyed it. Now I am home in Granada, getting ready for my next big adventure; and yes I am still glad that I chose Granada. It is home and I don’t think I could survive my time here in Spain someplace else; at least not for now.