¡Buenos días, Spain!

As much as I loved his work, Barcelona wasn’t all about Gaudí.

There was also the majestic Palau Nacional, which houses the MNAC (Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya) but also boasts one of the best views of Barcelona. So, having had enough of art galleries for the time being, I chose to sit outside and observe the hustle and bustle of Espanya Square instead. And it was from atop these steps that I watched my first Spanish sunset and finished reading the second book in Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy, my only constant company while backpacking across Europe.

I managed to behave myself in the artisan workshops in the Poble Espanyol (Spanish Village), but couldn’t resist the chocolaterie... No surprises there. I also saw an amazing glass-blowing demonstration which I happily captured on my brand new shock-, dust-, freeze- and water-proof camera. I had learned my lesson in Venice!

One of my favourite places in Barcelona was the picturesque Port Vell (Old Port). It has a bit of everything that the city has to offer – beautiful architecture, bustling restaurants, flowing palm trees, Jack Sparrow-worthy boats and the bluest of seas under a white hot sun. It also leads straight into the famous La Rambla, the place to go for shopping and tapas. I enjoyed the latter with a fellow backpacker (a German who spoke beautiful Spanish, as they seem to do with all the languages that they learn), and he told me the origin of the famous snack’s name:
 

One day, King Alfonso XIII stopped by a famous tavern in the windy Andalusian city of Cádiz where he ordered a cup of wine. To protect it from the beach sand, the waiter covered the glass with a slice of cured ham before offering it to the king. And so the tradition of serving wine with a cover, or tapa, was born!

My adventures in this lively city would not have been complete without a visit to the Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria (La Boqueria Markets), which date back to 1217. And like all good markets – Melbourne’s Queen Victoria, Brisbane’s West End, Rome’s riverside and Athens’ Monastiraki just to name a few – they made me supremely cheerful.

So it was with a huge smile, wide eyes and itchy fingers that I squeezed from stall to stall, tasting local delicacies and letting myself get lost in the exciting buzz of exotic voices, fragrant smells and vivid colours...

Happy.

¡Buenos días, Spain!

Or rather, bon dia, Barcelona. And since I never ventured out of Catalonia in Spain, my French actually turned out to be far more useful here than my Spanish pocket dictionary.

In many ways, Barcelona was reminiscent of Miami to me, and it was with nostalgia for my early teenage years that I walked through Les Rambles. There they were again – the bustling streets, the dancing palm trees, the Hispanic heat... 

But my favourite part of Barcelona was something that cannot be found in the States. Gaudí’s architecture. God, I have so much love for that man’s work. The Sagrada Família is one of the most amazing places I have ever set foot in (and if all goes according to plan, I will be able to say that again for the completed version in fifteen years time). 

The façades, the doors, the pillars, the ceiling, the stained glass windows, the spiral staircases... I don’t even know what to write about first, let alone which words might do them justice. It was just so completely unlike anything I had ever seen. They say that you either love Gaudí’s architecture or you hate it. Well, I guess they’re right, because I never even felt I'd been given a choice. 

I loved the way he drew inspiration from nature, shaping the pillars to imitate trees, modelling the ceiling above to resemble a canopy and positioning the windows to let light stream in like sunrays through a forest. A man with an appreciation for music (tick!), Gaudí also took great care in designing the church to produce the best acoustics possible. I cannot wait to hear the voices of a full choir accompanied by an 8000-piped organ ring out from the naves at the top of the temple. Getting goosebumps already...  

Later, in the Parc Güell, I fell in love with Gaudí’s mosaics, especially the reptilian features: the serpentine bench and his beautiful mosaic dragon. There were also the magical colonnaded pathways and the “bird nest” terraces lines by palm trees... And a perfect Spanish sky to boot.

Then, on Barcelona’s most famous street, La Rambla, I saw his Casa Batlló – a building that, for me, practically screams Tim Burton. And in case you weren’t sure, dear reader, that is a good thing. A very good thing indeed. The colours, the kookiness, the movement, and just the pure genius of Gaudí’s work – I would go back to Barcelona just for that. 

But of course, that’s not all that this beautiful city has to offer. And you know what you have to do to find out, dear reader: stay tuned!