So, it´s only our first day in Barcelona, and already I´m in love. This seriously might be my favorite city yet...it´s got it all - art, culture, great food, nightlife, amazing shopping, beaches, pretty much everything you could want. Barcelona is just fun, wherever you look.
We started today by a stroll down Las Ramblas, which was completely different during the day than it was last night! We walked down to the harbor area and across the pier to a modern indoor shopping center where I finally found a pair of shoes! I´ve been looking the entire trip for a certain style of shoes, and could never find them until now. Anyways, mission accomplished.
After that, we wandered back up the Ramblas until we found the La Bouqeria market, which was probably my favorite market we´ve been to yet - it was just packed with fresh produce, vegetables, and of course whole legs of pigs with the hoof still attached. (Spainiards are pretty much obsessed with jamon). The best part was the fresh fruit juice they had - they blended the fruit right there so you know it´s good. Katie got strawberry coconut and I got strawberry pineapple...pretty much amazing. :)
It was probably 2 pm or so by then, which meant time to start finding some lunch! We decided to try changing our eating schedule from now on to fit with the culture...which means eating lunch between 1 and 4, siesta style. Also, lunch in Spain is the biggest meal of the day, since dinner is only a small sandwich or tapas at 9 pm or later. We found the perfect place to stuff ourselves for lunch at a buffet called Fresc Co´s - we got a huge salad, and unlimited pizza, pasta, soup, and dessert for only €8. We were SO full after that...
After a short people-watching siesta in the park and time to digest, we wandered the old Barri Gotic neighborhood for awhile until we got to the Picasso museum. This museum was one of my favorites of the trip, since it was just about 1 artist. It showed the evolution of Picasso from boy genius to his depressed Blue Period, to the beginning of Cubism. I definitely appreciate his art a whole lot more now that I saw he was very good technically as an artist too. Sometimes with modern art, I think "I could do that", but now I see there´s so much more to it. Katie and I also had fun translating the Spanish titles to all his artwork. Those 3 or 4 years of Spanish are finally coming in handy!
After the museum, we headed back to our hostel, since they have free dinner every day at 8! Tonight, we got some spicy pasta with lamb, and spicy sausage and potatoes...pretty good for free food, and just the right amount for a light meal. We met a couple new people just hanging out downstairs...everyone at our hostel seems pretty friendly.
Tonight, we went to a flamenco show next door to our hostel, since because of our hostel we got in for free. Barcelona isn´t technically known for flamenco, Sevilla is, but we thought we´d check it out anyway. Luckily, the show was amazing, but definitely not what I thought flamenco was - it seems so much more about the music and singing than the dancing, at least at this show. The singing was so soulful, almost like wailing....hard to describe if you haven´t seen it.
We were pretty tired tonight and so didn´t stay out too much later. The nightlife in Barcelona doesn´t even start until 2 or 3 anyway...which is so strange. Katie and I are still trying to figure out what everyone does in the meantime to fill the time...we'll see if we figure it out before we leave Spain! ¡Buenos noches!
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