Barcelona

I wonder what these hearts on the statues mean, I saw the same thing on statues in Portugal!

We woke up super early in the morning and headed off to Madrid Atocha station to catch our high speed train to Barcelona. The train maintained an average of about 300km/hr to get us there in 2.5 hours! Pretty amazing!

The train was really good too, we got airplane service. Once we got there, we transferred to the metro system then checked into our hotel. We rested for a bit then got our feet ready for a long, long day.

Firstly we went to Las Ramblas, a shopping street but we went to the food market to get some fruits and juices. Then we walked to the Barri Gotic area where we explored some of the grand buildings that have survived since the 14th century. Then we went inside La Seu the Cathedral. It was huge! 

After that, we strolled over to the Picasso Museum, I really wanted to go but mum wasn't so interested so I said we would go if we ended up having some time left. Then we caught the metro up to Hospital de la Sant Paul, a hidden tourist secret that is a gem of a building to behold. It is in rehabilitation though so we couldn't go wander. 

From there we strolled down (with ice-cream in one hand) to Sagrada Familia, the infamous church for their never-ending construction. Holy crappola, we had to wait in a long line to get in but once we did we were totally astonished that this was a Roman Catholic church. It was modern like CRAZY but still to the intricacy of the traditional repute. I will promise you that you will never find another church like this, it is definitely a beautifully mad interpretation of history and art!

Geez, Gaudi is one ingenious architect. After we basked in all of the Sagrada Familia's glory, we headed over to La Pedrera, an apartment block that Gaudi had designed. We also got to see the apartments but I didn't wanna bore you with those photos. This is also one crazy architecture to goggle your eyes over. To think that -

1. One can be so imaginative

2. The government let it happen

3. The government let it happen several times over throughout the city

I've never seen one architect's work be so pronounced in different ways (apartment, house, church, park etc.) in one town. But yeah, hands down he was good.

We then had dinner at a lovely restaurant. The food was really good but I had the runs tonight so I'm guessing my stomach didn't really think it was too good. We then walked down a few blocks to see Casa Batllo, another one Gaudi had designed. Then it was time to throw the towel in, we were POOPED! I'll let the pictures speak for themselves! 

Did you know that Madrid is like 9 months winter and 3 months of summer hell? I had no idea! And it snows! And Barcelona wasn't that hot today considering it is peak summer so I'm guessing their winter isn't so chum either! I'm glad to live in Australia!

Move over Spongebob, Spongebag is here. Seriously made outta sponge material. Imagine when you get caught out in the rain!

I wonder why Barcelona is so hugely popular, yes its gorgeous, yes its an architectural wonderland but I seriously really enjoyed Portugal and it wasn't huge on tourists! Maybe that's what happens when you do your 18th city in a row, lol.