Hello friends!
How on earth is it already the middle of January?!
Whew, I hope everyone had a good holiday and New Year! I was busy spending time with my family!
I have seriously been the WORST blogger on the planet, but I have created a schedule and I am hopeful I will stick to it.
It is really hard to blog when you just don't feel like it, and recently I haven't really been feeling like it. I feel like that comes through very obviously on my posts. So rather than write a few bad ones I just took a break for a while. I never wanted this blog to feel forced, so when it started feeling forced I knew I needed to take a break. Cue Break! - Now I am back, more eager than ever!
In December (yep, that is how behind I am!) we went to Barcelona! Give me all the jámon and sangria! I was a little extra excited about Barcelona because it was a whopping 25°F here in Germany, and Barcelona was calling for 65°F. So that was all kinds of exciting.
We stepped off the plane into one of the most disgusting airport's I have ever seen!
After researching, the airport doesn't always look like this. The cleaning crew was on strike.
The trash cans at El Prat Airport.
Passengers walking in filth.
We made our way to the Metro to head towards our hotel. I must've been in shock by all of the trash, because I accidentally navigated us to a hotel with a very similar name, but ultimately not ours.
Thankfully it was only a 15 minute walk from our wrong hotel to the our right hotel. :)
After checking in and getting settled, we decided to get late night tapas, as one would do in Spain. Tapas (for those that don't know) are a variety of snacks ranging from hot (e.g. fried squid) to cold (e.g. olives and cheeses) and are very popular in Spain.
We got 3 tapas, and Blake really wanted a pizza! In our defense, it was real late and we didn't have time for dinner. Steak and potato chips, calamari and patatas bravas (essentially home fries with aioli).
Our first stop on Saturday morning was at La Boqueria Food Market. One of Europe's largest and most famous food markets. You can buy everything here including meats, cheeses, olives, fish, fruits and baked goods.
My perfect snack.
Breakfast pastries.
Scattered around Barcelona are works of Antoni Gaudí, a single architect who had a very unique approach. Even if you don't know anything about architecture or Gaudí, you will be able to identify his works throughout Barcelona.
Casa Batlló
Guadí created this building to feature elements of ceramics, stone and forged iron. Despite originally being a building of controversy, in 1906 it was awarded one of the three best buildings of the year.
La Sagrada Familia
La Sagrada Familia is by far one of Gaudí's most famous works. (My Favorite!) Construction began in 1882 and is not expected to be complete until 2026! Five Generations have been able to witness the building of La Sagrada Familia. La Sagrada Familia church represents the relationship between man, nature and religion.
*Side Note* - We did NOT buy tickets in advance, which resulted in us having to wait about 15 minutes to buy tickets, and then another 45 minutes to enter. The 45 minute part was not spent in line, as the tickets they give out are for timed entry. We went and got a coffee and just stared at the beauty!
Time to enter! We cheated the system a little bit and only paid for one audio guide. We each plugged an ear in and were on our way!
Going to apologize now for all the pictures of the inside, which DON'T even do it justice. But, it is just too amazing!
I am here to tell you, La Sagrada Familia was unlike ANYTHING I have ever seen in my whole life! It was absolutely amazing.
Trotting up the stairs to Park Güell.
I have seriously been the WORST blogger on the planet, but I have created a schedule and I am hopeful I will stick to it.
It is really hard to blog when you just don't feel like it, and recently I haven't really been feeling like it. I feel like that comes through very obviously on my posts. So rather than write a few bad ones I just took a break for a while. I never wanted this blog to feel forced, so when it started feeling forced I knew I needed to take a break. Cue Break! - Now I am back, more eager than ever!
In December (yep, that is how behind I am!) we went to Barcelona! Give me all the jámon and sangria! I was a little extra excited about Barcelona because it was a whopping 25°F here in Germany, and Barcelona was calling for 65°F. So that was all kinds of exciting.
We stepped off the plane into one of the most disgusting airport's I have ever seen!
After researching, the airport doesn't always look like this. The cleaning crew was on strike.
The trash cans at El Prat Airport.
Passengers walking in filth.
We made our way to the Metro to head towards our hotel. I must've been in shock by all of the trash, because I accidentally navigated us to a hotel with a very similar name, but ultimately not ours.
Thankfully it was only a 15 minute walk from our wrong hotel to the our right hotel. :)
After checking in and getting settled, we decided to get late night tapas, as one would do in Spain. Tapas (for those that don't know) are a variety of snacks ranging from hot (e.g. fried squid) to cold (e.g. olives and cheeses) and are very popular in Spain.
We got 3 tapas, and Blake really wanted a pizza! In our defense, it was real late and we didn't have time for dinner. Steak and potato chips, calamari and patatas bravas (essentially home fries with aioli).
Our first stop on Saturday morning was at La Boqueria Food Market. One of Europe's largest and most famous food markets. You can buy everything here including meats, cheeses, olives, fish, fruits and baked goods.
My perfect snack.
Breakfast pastries.
Scattered around Barcelona are works of Antoni Gaudí, a single architect who had a very unique approach. Even if you don't know anything about architecture or Gaudí, you will be able to identify his works throughout Barcelona.
Casa Batlló
Guadí created this building to feature elements of ceramics, stone and forged iron. Despite originally being a building of controversy, in 1906 it was awarded one of the three best buildings of the year.
La Sagrada Familia
La Sagrada Familia is by far one of Gaudí's most famous works. (My Favorite!) Construction began in 1882 and is not expected to be complete until 2026! Five Generations have been able to witness the building of La Sagrada Familia. La Sagrada Familia church represents the relationship between man, nature and religion.
*Side Note* - We did NOT buy tickets in advance, which resulted in us having to wait about 15 minutes to buy tickets, and then another 45 minutes to enter. The 45 minute part was not spent in line, as the tickets they give out are for timed entry. We went and got a coffee and just stared at the beauty!
Time to enter! We cheated the system a little bit and only paid for one audio guide. We each plugged an ear in and were on our way!
Going to apologize now for all the pictures of the inside, which DON'T even do it justice. But, it is just too amazing!
I am here to tell you, La Sagrada Familia was unlike ANYTHING I have ever seen in my whole life! It was absolutely amazing.
Trotting up the stairs to Park Güell.
 |
| Photo Credit: Travel Got |
 |
| Photo Credit: Travel Got |
I felt like my pictures just didn't do this place justice! So I borrowed a few from Travel Got!
The views were amazing! Park Güell is a place I am super glad we visited. The pictures above from Travel Got were from vantage points I was not able to capture. You needed to buy tickets to access certain parts of the park and we chose not to. We got to see the amazingness, but struggled to capture it. :)
Next we headed to Plaça d'Espanya, which is where we spotted this:
The National Museum of Art (Museu Nacional d'Art)
It was pretty amazing! We just sat and admired for a while.
THEN I pulled a muscle in my leg. Don't ask me how, because I really have no idea! I was limping around in pain and watery eyes. My leg really impacted the rest of our trip, making it so we didn't get to see all that we wanted. But Sunday still had a little bit in store! I wasn't going to let it ruin our trip completely!
So not only did my leg still hurt on Sunday, it was cold and rainy!
Monument of Christopher Columbus
Then we headed to the beach... yep in December we enjoyed the beach! Not to swim, but to stare. The rain cleared.
There were tons of surfers and people sitting in the sand. We found a place to sit and just admired!
The sand castle that puts all of your childhood sand castles to shame.
Barcelona completely amazed me with this beach! You can walk 20 minutes from your hotel which is in the center of the city and be at the beach! I was really impressed!
We headed to the airport and thankfully found it looking a little better than when we saw it originally. Little did we know that we would be sitting there for 4+ hours due to a serious flight delay. We finally got home around 3am and boy were we exhausted!
Come back Wednesday for Riga!
The views were amazing! Park Güell is a place I am super glad we visited. The pictures above from Travel Got were from vantage points I was not able to capture. You needed to buy tickets to access certain parts of the park and we chose not to. We got to see the amazingness, but struggled to capture it. :)
Next we headed to Plaça d'Espanya, which is where we spotted this:
The National Museum of Art (Museu Nacional d'Art)
It was pretty amazing! We just sat and admired for a while.
THEN I pulled a muscle in my leg. Don't ask me how, because I really have no idea! I was limping around in pain and watery eyes. My leg really impacted the rest of our trip, making it so we didn't get to see all that we wanted. But Sunday still had a little bit in store! I wasn't going to let it ruin our trip completely!
So not only did my leg still hurt on Sunday, it was cold and rainy!
Monument of Christopher Columbus
Then we headed to the beach... yep in December we enjoyed the beach! Not to swim, but to stare. The rain cleared.
There were tons of surfers and people sitting in the sand. We found a place to sit and just admired!
The sand castle that puts all of your childhood sand castles to shame.
Barcelona completely amazed me with this beach! You can walk 20 minutes from your hotel which is in the center of the city and be at the beach! I was really impressed!
We headed to the airport and thankfully found it looking a little better than when we saw it originally. Little did we know that we would be sitting there for 4+ hours due to a serious flight delay. We finally got home around 3am and boy were we exhausted!
Come back Wednesday for Riga!
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