Barcelona

In Barcelona we found a cool little hostel near the water (Port Vell) and the main tourist centre. Our first full day there we spent a few hours wandering around the city. We went to the beach for a bit and walked down the boardwalk. It was a gorgeous day and the beach was full of sunbathers. The boardwalk was packed with tourists and kiosks selling jewlery, bags, etc. We took some pics then decided to skip the beach for the day (which turned out to be a bad idea because the next 2 days were cold and rainy!) We saw the Arc del Triomf, then spent some time in the Parc de la Ciutadella. It was quite a large park and really beautiful. There were many paths, statues, fountains, picnic areas etc. At one end of the park wasa large building called "Cascada." So far my favorite. Its a large building surrounded by water, with staircases on either side leading up to the entrance. There are dragon statues in the water, and the building itself is covered with horses, charebs, a mother and child, romans, etc. The structure itself seemed to tell a story and I found it really interesting. We took lots of pictures and hung out there for awhile.

We then went to see the "Sagrada Familia." This building was designed by Antoni Gaudi  and it's construction began in 1882, but today it is only half finished. It is guessed that it won't be completed for another 100 years . It's a massive structure and the most famous building in Rome. It's very detailed and beautiful.

The cathedral in Barcelona proved to be larger than the "Sagrada Familia" but we couldn't take any descent pics because it was covered in scaffolding, they're doing somesort of work on it. The narrow alleys around the cathedral and through the area were really cool. The area itself is full of gothic style architecture. We didn't end up touring the inside of any of the buildings because of our lack of time and the fact that we aren't really big tour fans...

In general I found Barcelona to be an extremely clean city. I saw no garbage, and quite a few city workers cleaning throughout the day. There are large amounts of graffiti though, as there was in Portugal. It seems to be encouraged instead of discouraged though. Down one street we saw a group of teenagers working on some artwork on the one wall and people were watching.

La Ramblas is the main tourist street in Barcelona and we checked it out the day before we left. It was extremely crowded and lined with tourist shops and kiosks. It was kind of cool though. There was a group of break dancers putting on shows throughout the day and they were pretty good. They also had people working as live statues, and they were set up all down the street. There was a lady dressed as a mermaid, there was a soccer player, grim reaper, cow, indian, gladiator etc. You could have your picture taken with them if you wanted...all I could think of was that must be one of the worst jobs ever...the one guy was covered in flowers and makeup and just stood there all day long on this big pedestal...even when it rained he just stood there...I wonder how much he gets paid haha...

Overall Barcelona is really beautiful, way too busy though. We didn't experience the nightlife but there's lots of time for that....