My Trip to Barcelona: Excursions

Hey everyone! I am back for part two of my six part series about my trip to Barcelona. This post is about some of the excursions I went on while in Spain. Since I was at a school for two weeks of my exchange, I got to go to on some trips with Spanish and American teenagers. On weekends, I would go to places with my host sister and her friends.


Montserrat - March 18

On March 18, About 58 students (both spanish and american) took a 40 mile bus ride to a mountain called Montserrat. In my previous post, I have some more pictures of this mountain here. We spent the day sitting on a plateau in the mountain. Located on this plateau was a market (my friend and I bought a chocolate pastry with out lunch), a church (one of the holiest places in Barcelona), stores, and benches to enjoy the view.

 Since the school I was at is Catholic, there was an arranged mass at Montserrat which I thought was very nice. The only downside was that I could not understand any of it due to the fact the priest was talking in Catalan, and I was there to learn Spanish. The churches in Spain are beautiful and are so detailed.

  A thing I found funny was the different ideas about temperature in weather. I was bundled in my host sister's jacket because it was supposed to be very cold. In America, for the most part 50-60 degrees is Spring weather, but in Spain everyone told me it was freezing out. In this picture I was wearing long sleeves because I was told to dress warm for being on the top of a mountain, but it was surprisingly warm. I know that story was very random....

 

My friend, Cathy, and I at Montserrat.

     I took so many photos because I thought it was amazing that I was higher than the clouds.

 PortAventura - March 21

On March 21, I went to an adventure park near Valencia, Spain called PortAventura. I went on an hour long train ride from Barcelona to Valencia that had the most beautiful seaside view.  PortAventura is divided into four parts based on different places in the world i.e Far-West America, China, Mexico, and Polynesia. In 2017, there is going to be new part of this amusement park called Ferrari Land.

The entrance to PortAventura reminded me of Disneyland because it was so cheerful and when you walk in there are fake balloons on the ceiling.

I was at this amusement park for 8 hours, but at one point my friend and I laid on a hill and took a nap out in the sun because we wanted to take a break.

This amusement park also contains Europe's highest rollercoaster which I went on three times.

                                 The entrance to the China section of the park.

Eventually, I bought ice cream with strawberries and nutella (i.e one of the foods I had almost every day while I was in Spain).

Some pictures of my host girl, Ana, and some new friends (Duna and Silvia).

 La Sagrada Familia & La Pedrera - March 30

On this day, all the American exchange students went to visit La Sagrada Familia (The Sacred Family) which has been under-construction since 1882 due to the replacement of the main architect, Gaudi, and financial problems. This cathedral is planned to be finished in 2026.

Since there was a change in architects over the years, each side of the cathedral looks a bit different because of the influences from different cultures and ideas.

This side of the cathedral was designed more recent and depicts the new testament of the Bible.

 Gaudi designed the inside of the cathedral, but he did not live to see it be complete. The pillars are supposed to resemble trees and reach high to hold up the ceiling, while keeping a nature-y feel.

The stained glass windows are absolutely stunning, and since the inside of the cathedral is white there are colorful shadows everywhere.

There is a section of La Sagrada Familia designated to artists to make models of ideas for the completion of the cathedral. There are models upon models showing different designs of what the future construction should look like.

La Pedrera, also known as Casa Milà is a house that was designed by Gaudi and is the last known building designed by him. The house use to be sold to the most wealthy people in Barcelona, but over time the first, fifth, and roof became a museum. There are still people who live there, but they don't usually stay in the building while people are walking through it.

The roof of the building is covered with creations done by Gaudi. At the time he was designing it he claimed to have seen demons and in doing so showed them into his art. The roof has a beautiful view of Barcelona.

The building makes the shape of a circle and opens up in the middle. It was one of the coolest building I saw because the exterior and interior differentiate so much. 

The fifth floor museum recreates rooms from the 20th century where families would live in the huge apartments that this building contains.

I hope you guys enjoyed this post. There is definitely more parts to my trip coming!

Have you ever been to Barcelona or Spain? If so, leave a comment telling me about it. 

                                                                      xx
                                                         Christina Madeleine