Adventures in Spanish 2013: Don Quijote to Gaudi Part 5

Phew! Finally made it to Barcelona.

Whilst our road trip officially ended in Girona as we took a train to Barcelona, it was the colourful end to our road trip and a welcome destination. It was also a little sad as reaching Barcelona meant we only had 3 days left of our vacation and then Gillian would be flying home :( So, we had to make the most of it. We luckily had lovely weather and plenty of energy for walking long distances as instead of taking the Metro (probably the sensible option) we opted to walk from our apartment to all the places we wanted to visit, including the wonderful restaurant about 50 metres from our front door! (We went twice).

Well, most people who visit Spain, visit Barcelona. It's kind of like, when people from overseas visit Australia, they all go to Sydney. Barcelona is a very large, vibrant city but a bit apart from the rest of Spain. One, they are in the top north east of the country and in the Community of Catalunya. This is important because they speak Catalan, rather than Spanish and they want to be a separate country, not part of Spain. I believe they are having a vote about this issues sometime soon. We definitely only saw the Catalonian flag (on nearly every house and building), not the Spanish flag and lots of big billboards re the vote. I found the Catalan language very interesting - it seems to be a mixture of Spanish and French with some words being different but recognisable for a Spanish speaker eg exit in Spanish is salida whereas in Catalan it is sortida, street is calle in Spanish, but carrer in Catalan.

Anyway, the other reason for visiting Barcelona is Antoni Gaudi, who was a Spanish Architect and international renown. He is known for his inventive and colourful building, using nature as his inspiration. I think in some of his buildings, there is not a straight line to be seen, even in the walls. I was not particularly fond of Gaudi as I thought his work was over the top and strange. However, after being in Spain for as long as I have, the Spanish are must have worked it's magic as by the time I got to Barcelona and viewed his buildings, it just looked natural and beautiful. I'm now a big convert to the Gaudi cause. One of the most famous works of Gaudi is the Sagrada Familia, a gothic style basilica (church) which is still under construction. Whilst the outside is a highly familiar symbol of Barcelona and very impressive, the inside is where Gaudi's magic really comes to life. I'm very glad to have had the opportunity to view the whole building, inside and out. It will be hard choosing which photos to share of Gaudi's wonderful and fantastical work.