I know it's been a while since I've posted anything. To be honest I needed some recovery time from all the travel. It didn't seem like it would be a difficult thing to travel for a month straight but it really took a greater toll on me than I expected. I'm just now starting to get in the mood to travel again (to the great excitement of my husband - he didn't get to go to Europe and has been itching for some good travel for a while now). 

Strolling down Las Ramblas

So without further ado, back to Europe! After our drive through France it was nice to give up the car for a few days and hop a train from the south of France to Barcelona. As luck would have it we hit Barcelona right as the biggest festival of the year was about to begin - La Merce. Because hotel rooms were sold out we ended up renting an apartment which turned out to be a fantastic idea. It was spacious and had a kitchen and washing machine.

The festival started our first night. We went to one of the big squares and there was a parade of giants. People carried these massive puppets around and made them dance to some really strange music. All night puppets danced around the streets followed by bands. Stages were set up all around the city and concerts started at all hours of the night, one even beginning at 4AM. It was one massive party.



The next morning all those people who'd just gotten to bed from the partying were rudely awakened by muskets. This is another tradition of La Merce. Older men walk through the streets (followed by drummers) and shoot rounds of muskets to wake everyone up and get them out to join in the festivities again. This was pretty outrageous to experience. It would never be allowed in the U.S. - the complaints of disturbing the peace would be enough to have even the most jovial of law enforcement officers put an immediate stop to the shenanigans.



After waking up and following the musketeers around for a while, we went on a tour of the city - mainly to find Gaudi. Gaudi was a 19th century architect and responsible for some of the strangest buildings on earth. The walls of his buildings seem to drip and morph as you walk around them. A very surrealist experience.



Of course we ate several meals worth of tapas while in Barcelona. The food was incredible throughout Spain. It was a little shocking for me that the best food was without a doubt in Spain and not France, but the flavor and variety was unlike anything you could find in the relatively bland and uniform restaurants of France.


We ended our visit to Barcelona with an evening trip to the pier and beach. We had a fun time at a beach-side restaurant, sipping sangria and eating nachos (that is until a massive windstorm came up and almost blew the whole place away). Right before going back to our apartment we saw a great fireworks show on the beach (related to La Merce).


Barcelona was an interesting mix of heavy tourism, backpacking/beach-bum crowd, and amazing Spanish culture. We ate some of the best food I've ever had, got used to the lispy sound of the Spanish unique to Spain, and saw beautiful architecture - both old and new. I would definitely recommend Barcelona as a great vacation destination. There is a ton to see and do and eat and experience - not to be missed if you can get yourself there.

2 comments

1. Robin on November 11, 2010 at 4:44 AM

   I couldn't agree more about food being better in Spain than it is in France, by and large. Why Spanish food never took over the world I do not know...

    
2. ferienwohnungen in opatija on November 24, 2010 at 3:53 AM

   Barcelona is the must in place to visit because of it's beautiful structured buildings!!!!