La Boqueria is Barcelona's main food market. It was right down the street from where we were staying, and although we weren't looking to buy food for our stay, I just love markets and wanted to look around. There was so much beautiful food - fruit stands, seafood stands, cheese stands, veggie stands, meat stands. Everything so colorful and neatly organized. I did end up buying some fresh coconut - Yummy!
Well, no one can say you wouldn't know what you're eating if you bought dinner from this stand! Rabbit anyone?
Las Ramblas is the major street running from the main square, Plaza Catalunya, to the waterfront. All along Las Ramblas are small stalls selling magazines, flowers and birds, fish, and small furry creatures. Also along Las Ramblas are the famous street performers. Basically they sit/stand still until someone drops a coin in their bucket. Then they come to life, or you can have your picture taken with them. Some are more creative than others. Interesting nonetheless. Here are a few we saw:
You may not be able to tell, but this guy doesn't have a head (well, he has a head, but it's hidden in his shirt..... you know what I mean).
One day, when Eric felt well enough to venture out, we strolled along Las Ramblas and decided to try out a seafood restaurant. We chose a traditional mixed seafood dish and the menu said it was for two. When it arrived, we were pretty stunned. It was a massive hill of seafood. This is a picture after we had already made a big dent. It was really good - especially the calamari. However, we decided the menu should more accurately say, "for AT LEAST dos personas" !
On another day we searched and searched for a certain recommended restaurant. When we finally found it, the line was out the door. We were pretty hungry and opted to find an alternative. When we went into our new choice, this was the menu for the day. I could pick out very few words, so we just pointed and hoped for the best. For our first course, Eric got some sort of weird pasta or potato salad with big slices of salami on the side and I got some sort of vegetable soup, but I couldn't recognize the veggies by sight or taste! For the main course, I got a chicken filet and fries. Eric got some kind of fried fish. All and all not too weird. Could have been much worse. Anyway, we took a picture of the menu so my friend Renee (who is a Spanish Teacher) could help us figure out what we COULD HAVE eaten! A fun adventure!
No trip to Barcelona is complete without a trip to see La Segrada Familia. This church was designed by Antoni Gaudi and construction began in the 1880s. Gaudi died suddenly in 1926, and it's been a struggle to complete the church since. It's perhaps one of the most unique churches we've ever seen. Extremely elaborate, with very non-traditional shapes. You can't really tell from the picture, but the tops of the towers are all covered in tilework. If you can see it closer up, you'd see it's very colorful.
Ok, I know this post is getting really long. Thanks for reading. I'll wrap it up now with our last day:
On our last day we set out to explore Montserrat, a monastery in the mountains about an hour outside of Barcelona and over 4,000 feet up. It's said to be the spiritual heart of Catalonia (the region in Spain of which Barcelona is the capital), with reports of miracles taking place. It was definitely a serene place with absolutely beautiful scenery. I think if we had ventured up further into the mountain and hiking paths, away from the many tourists, it may have revealed a more spiritual feeling, but it was a bit difficult to separate yourself from all the throngs of people. Anyway, it still had amazing views and a beautiful church where La Escolania (the oldest boys' choir in Europe) sings at daily mass.
We decided to take the tram up the mountain (as opposed to the funicular train). Here's a short video of part of that ride. Yes, I know I need to work on my filming skills. Sorry.
Montserrat from Melanyann Garvin on Vimeo.
And after we got up to the top:
The View from Montserrat from Melanyann Garvin on Vimeo.
This little room was off the courtyard of the church and monastery. At first, because we saw several walking canes propped up in a corner, we thought it was memorabilia from all the miracles that had taken place at Montserrat. But after seeing the sheer volume of pictures, baby clothes, molded limbs, and other strange objects, we decided it was a room of prayer requests for sick or deceased loved ones. Most of all the writing/prayers was in Catalan or other languages so we couldn't be sure, but that was our guess.
Hope you enjoyed a little glimpse of our trip. I tried to be brief, but you know me! Love and miss you all! Thanks for reading!
3 comments:
It totally cracks me up that you couldn't tell if Eric had "pasta or potato salad."
And thanks for sharing the video. That's the first time I've ever heard Eric's voice. Nice.
Good to hear about your trip and see the photos...
love you,
mom
Wow, that was amazing! I enjoyed all the pictures and videos of your vacations. But, one thing, since your behind the camera Eric should be the one to explain what and where you are. We all miss you, and will talk later on. Mike and Seth said "HI!". Lova ya, Moni
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