Vacation in Europe: 
Barcelona, Spain

days 18 - 22

Our train ride from Marseille to Barcelona took about 6 hours, including an hour wait to transfer trains in Montpellier. When we bought our tickets, there were no seats in 2nd class for the second part of the trip, so we had to buy first class. It was so nice! We saved our picnic lunch for this part, nice and comfy in our big seats.

Breakfast was coffee and a napolitana (pain au chocolat). We walked down to the water to find out about taking the ferry out to Ibiza (my heart was set on it, but we just couldn't figure out how to make it work without spending a fortune). We found a cheaper hotel and then ate lunch at a great organic restaurant/market called Comme-Bio. Our hotel was a block or two from La Rambla, where there were street performers, tons of people, and different vendors throughout the day.

Other points of interest: Parque Güell, designed by the famous Spanish architect Gaudí, was a pleasant shock. I'm sorry to say I had never even heard of him. The park is huge and it is like nothing I have ever seen - full of mosaics, leaning columns, and wonderful little buildings. We then visited Sagrada Família, the church that Gaudí designed. It is still being built - construction is paid for by the entrance fee to the church. This was truly amazing. I didn't take a picture of it because I knew that it would be impossible to capture. The front of the church (the tallest and oldest part) seems normal at first, but when you look at it closely the rock face is "melting." The four spires are topped with grotesque creatures made of brightly colored mosaics. The newer part of the church also has spires, which are holding what look like bowls of fruit. There are numerous other details that I just can't even begin to describe. The effect is like a cross between sanity and insanity, reality and fantasy. It's like an architect designed the church and then a child came along and colored on it. We went up into the church and wandered around the open parts. It was like being in a Escher drawing. I honestly felt like I had missed my calling and that I should have studied architecture, just so that I could learn everything there is to know about this genius.

We tried to rent a car but there was nothing available, so we took the train to Valencia, then drove down to Gandía.

Next stop: Gandía        Vacation Index

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