Barcelona Rocks!

OWhat a wonderful couple of days we had in Barcelona! Barcelona is a city in the northeast of Spain. It sits aside the beautiful Mediterranean Sea; being one of the busiest ports.  

In 1992, Barcelona hosted the Olympics. So many great things were done to the city for the Olympics, including the creation of the Olympic Village at the waterfront.  This area was quite tumbledown at one time and now is a beautiful area with lovely boardwalks for biking and strolling, hotels, restaurants, eateries, etc.  We had a wonderful time Bike Riding along the waterfront and visiting the beach, although chilly.  Many of us still put our feet into the Med.! This park was lovely, too.

Antoni Gaudi, (1852-1926) was the leading artist in Catalan modernisme. His work was supremely original.  He incorporated nature into all his architecture, giving it a whimsical appearance.

Gaudi's unfinished basilica de la Sagrada Family is his most celebrated building in Barcelona. He devoted his life from 1914 until his death 12 years later when he was run over by a tram.  He gave all his money to the project and even went door to door begging folks for more money to put into the project.  This basilica is Europe's most unconventional church.  The work is still continuing today, from Gaudi's original plans, and we saw this happening. We were also able to tour the inside of the church and all found it to be so different than anything we've seen.  Gaudi is buried inside in a crypt.  See the spires? There are 6 completed now. By 2026, when the entire project will be completed, there will be 12 such spires, one for each disciple.

We also went to a glass Glass Fusion Workshop where we were able to create our own trays. We are looking forward to sharing these with our students and creating a way for our students to create something similar to understand this art form through paper. It was a lot of fun being the students in the class!

We enjoyed shopping in an open-air marketplace in Barcelona.

We saw many things for sale that we are not used to seeing! I used a lot of my beginner Spanish to ask directions to find our way there. My new goal is to become more familiar and knowledgeable with speaking and understanding Spanish.

And many lovely and familiar sights, as well!

Ms. White and Mrs. Whitley and I loved our chocolate covered strawberries at the end!

 Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia, a state or province of Spain. The people of Catalonia are working hard to secede from Spain to form their own country. The idea of this is very political and extremely divisive. We saw many Flags hung on balconies. The striped flags are the flags of Catalonia today. The striped flags with the star are for a seceded Catalonia. We saw many of each.

Oops! Next door neighbors are divided!

How would this be? Our guide tells us it is about 50% to 50% as to whether to secede from Spain or to stay with Spain. I hope they stay!