Excerpts from Barcelona - 14
A weekly glimpse into my Catalan adventures
I was super excited for this week to begin, and it got even more exciting than I had anticipated. Saturday started off with a visit to La Sagrada Familia (finally!) and walk through the Nativity tower. You can read more about that below since it was my highlight of the week!
I also ended up visiting the Barcelona Botanical Garden on Sunday, since they were having a free entry afternoon. Despite being a botanical garden, there was practically no tree cover so after the 30-something minute walk through Montjuïc to get there, I was already very hot. The experience was just ok, to be honest. There wasn’t as much information available as I’d have liked, and no maps were offered to make our way around so it kind of felt like a maze. However, their collection of bonsais was awesome!
I also finally visited D Origen Coffee Roasters this week. They were awarded one of the “top 100 coffee shops” which seems like a big statement and naturally made me very curious to visit them. I’ll be writing up a new Coffee Diaries post soon, so you’ll be able to read my thoughts and review there!
Then, my week got even more exciting. On Tuesday evening, I was reminded by my host family that the girl I au pair would be away for a school trip from Wednesday to Friday. In addition, Monday June 9th is a holiday in Spain. This meant that after drop-off on Wednesday morning, I would have nearly 6 days all to myself! At about 11 p.m. on Tuesday, I booked a bus to… Andorra! Leaving the next day (Wednesday morning) just before noon. This, of course, was the highlight of my week, but since it’s not in Barcelona, or Spain, I’ll be writing up a separate post and leaving the highlight award to La Sagrada Familia!
Highlights of the week
La Sagrada Familia
I visited La Sagrada Familia with a guided tour, as well as the tour/climb of the Nativity tower. Wow. What an experience. I learned so much about the history of the basilica and the meaning behind certain stylistic and architectural decisions. Every single choice has a purpose and every measurement and calculation as well. The visit was incredibly fascinating and I would do it again, anytime.
A glimpse at next week…
After five days of hiking, running, and exploring Andorra, I’ll be taking the next week to relax, catch up on writing and documenting everything, and maybe planning a day trip to Sitges, a coastal town about 30 minutes outside of Barcelona. I’ve been wanting to go for a while, and now that the weather is quite hot, it seems like the perfect time to spend a day at the beach.
Having been in Barcelona for a little over three months now, I feel I was sort of beginning to forget the fun of spontaneous, short-term travel. Returning to hostel life for a few days in Andorra reminded me of what I love so much about discovering a new place and is making me see Barcelona in a different light.
I think I was getting overwhelmed and discouraged by everything I have yet to see in Barcelona and the surrounding region, but the past week reminded me of what I set out to do in Spain. I’m excited for the weeks to come and to approach them with a different perspective as I set out to continue exploring this city that I get to call “home” for the next two months.