Barcelona and Montserrat

This is the first of two posts about my Spring Break, March 4-12. This post will contain Barcelona and Montserrat.

I started my Spring Break, flying to Barcelona, Spain. I was very excited to have a much-needed week off school and just focus on traveling. I also got to see my family! My parents and Rachel flew over to Spain to spend my Spring Break with me. We met in the Barcelona airport and made our way to the hotel. The hotel was beautiful and had a nice view of the Mediterranean Sea and the city of Barcelona. 

Once we were settled and they took their naps (jet lag is rough), we headed out to see La Sagrada Familia. We thankfully purchased our tickets online because the line was very long to get in. La Sagrada Familia is beautiful! It was definitely one of the highlights of the vacation. They say it should be completed in ten years so I will have to go back when it is finished. The detail on the outside of the church is amazing and then walking in is breath taking. The colors from the stain glass windows everywhere are amazing. It is very hard to describe, but there are minute details everywhere you do not know where to look first.

We went up in one of the towers as well to get a view of the city. An elevator took you to the top and then we had to walk down the stairs. It was interesting to be able to see the details of the church up close. It was also a great view of Barcelona. 

Sunday morning we took a bus and walking tour of Barcelona. It was great to be able to get a layout of the city and learn about the history of Barcelona. The day trip had started with a bus ride around the main center and then took us out to the pier. We then went up one of the hills and took a teleferic (cable car) ride. The views were great because you could see all of Barcelona! 

They then took us to Poble Espanyol, a cultural center built in 1929 for the International Exposition that houses contemporary art, architecture, crafts and gastronomy, and replicas of buildings from different Spanish regions. It was interesting to walk around and see everything. The tour then switched to the walking portion as they dropped us off in the center of Barcelona. We ended up in front of the Cathedral at noon where we witnessed the dance that occurs every day. People stand in circles holding hands and there is footwork that goes with the music. 

After the tour, we had “lunch” at Chok. It was not really lunch because it was sweets but it was really good! I had an Oreo doughnut. The shop was cute and all of the desserts looked delicious. If you are in Barcelona and need something sweet, I would recommend going here!

Since it was the first Sunday of the month, the Pablo Picasso museum was free. We waited in line and got our timed tickets to go see the collection. Picasso’s work is unique and it is interesting to see many of his pieces put together in a museum. His artwork is very different from each other and it seems like the museum is comprised of many different artists. We went to the cathedral for mass and then went to dinner. 

Barcelona and the Catalonia region are unique because they speak Spanish as well as Catalan. I thought I would be able to understand some phrases of Catalan because I know some Spanish and Italian but it was difficult! For dinner, we headed to the pier and found an Italian restaurant. The restaurant was Tocca and served some good food!

On Monday, we took a tour to Montserrat, a small town up in the mountains. This is where the monastery is located, which houses the “Black Virgin” statue. We walked, or more so hiked, a distance and had a view of the surrounding area. Because we were up on a mountain, we could see for miles! We headed back to the monastery where we listened to the boys choir sing. These boys are 9-14 years old and go to school at the monastery in order to take part in the boys’ choir. Once this was finished, we headed to lunch, which served typical Catalonian food. 

The second half of the day trip was to the Descregut vineyard. We learned about the process of making wine, specifically Cava. Cava is champagne but it is produced in southern Spain instead of Champagne, France. It is only allowed to be called champagne when it is produced in Champagne, France. We also took part in a wine tasting where we tried a Cava, Merlot, and Xarel-lo. I am working on a paper about the wine tourism industry in Italy so it was interesting to hear about the Spanish wine industry because we usually do not think about a large amount of wine coming from Spain. 

Tuesday morning we headed to Park Guell. It was fun to walk around the park and see everything. Gaudi definitely influenced Barcelona and made it a special city with all of the unique architecture. We made our way to the top and had another amazing view that stretched all the way out to the sea. Of course, Rachel and I spent a few minutes up there taking our pictures with the view. We found some gelato and wandered around the streets of Barcelona. 

That night we took a tour of Casa Milla, one of the houses that Gaudi designed. It was interesting to learn that people still live in the apartments and they signed a life contract for rent. Even though the places are basically priceless, the originally leasers can live in the apartments for as long as they live for the original rent that they agreed upon. The tour ended on the roof where we watched a light show and had views of the city. It was a great way to end the trip in Barcelona and I highly recommend this tour. 

One of my favorite parts about the trip was the hotel buffet breakfasts. They had churros and crepes every morning. I had a lot of chocolate for breakfast those mornings! But how could you say no to churros dipped in chocolate and a strawberry/banana/Nutella crepe?

That was the fun and exciting time we had in Barcelona and Montserrat. The next post will be about our time in Madrid and Toledo!

Arrivederci!

~Christina