Barcelona - back in a big city

After all of the cute little towns, it felt strange to be in a really large, bustling city again.  But that is Barcelona.  Home of gothic architecture, Picasso, Gaudi, insane nightlife, beaches, and crowds of people.

The best thing to do in the city was just wander the streets of the old city, checking out the people.  The old city, built long before cars, has small meandering streets that twist this way and that, invariably ending at a plaza or a sweeping Gothic church.  The buildings are filled with shops - from tourist junk to clothes (super cheap to insanely expensive) to high end accessories.  Many of the plazas had little thriving markets.

The Ramblas, one of the main drags, is a very wide pedestrian street, filled with "living statues" and people in crazy outfits, hoping you will throw some money in their hat so you can have your picture taken with them.  There are shops selling birds and other small animals for apartment pets.  There are flower shops.  There are artists on the streets selling paintings or willing to paint a picture of you in a short time.  All in high energy fun.

There are several famous sights to see.  The Picasso museum was interesting, since Picasso is from Barcelona, and spent his formative years there.  It chronicled his lifetime and his development as an artists.  However, it was a bit of a disappointment, as most of his really good and famous work is in other, bigger museums.  (I like a few of his pieces in the Art Institute of Chicago more than any they had here).

I then went to Sagrada Familia, the famous church designed by Antoni Gaudi, which is the symbol of the city.  They have been building it since 1883, and it is still several decades from being done.  The style is incredible, with the whole thing being supported by columns that branch and angle like trees.  The sculptures and religious artwork are far from traditional, and quite fascinating.

Next stop, Parc Guell, also designed by Gaudi.  It is a huge urban park, that he designed to be a gated community for the wealthy, that never took off as a place to live, but has thrived as a park.  The paths are lined with simple rocks, stacked, molded, and designed to look like waves, trees, people, or numerous other things where the rocks become filled with movement and life.  The big terrace is surrounded with built in benches with incredible mosaics, all with sweeping views of the city.

Nightlife - Barcelona is famous for its nightlife, that goes all night, every night.  The first night I arrived at 10 PM, to find the streets filled with people, including families - even more packed than the middle of the day.  Once I reached my hostel, which was mostly filled with the 20-25 year olds, the common area was filled with people until about midnight, when they all left to go out, STARTING at midnight.  The first night, I was way too tired to join them.  The second night, I figured, hey, Barcelona is known for this, I should check it out.  A bunch of people from my hostel went out to a club, with people dancing to loud music with lots of bass and absolutely no melody.  Unfortunately, even when I was 20, I always hated that type of club, so I was kind of miserable.  But, the next night, I went with a group of people, just to hang out at one of the many squares. There were people playing drums, guitars, someone with a didgeridoo.  There were people with firesticks, hoops, and poi.  I had some balls I was juggling.  That was much more my speed!  

The next morning, I took a high speed train to Madrid...