La Sagrada Familia

   La Sagrada Familia is by far one of the most beautiful places I have visited. It was one of the first places I visited and was shocked to learn all the history behind it. We had a tour guide who gave as an in depth historical background of the building and Gaudi. I thought it was amazing that after a fire ruined all of  Gaudi's plans they have been able to continue to reconstruct a close replica through the use of computer technology and remains. I would love to see the building when it is finished in about 20 years. My favorite part was the ceiling inside and the intricate depictions of the birth and death of christ on the two sides. It was clever to put the birth scene on the side the sun rises and death on where sun sets.
    

    After we toured the inside and outside of the building we were able to go up to the top of the building. I am scared of heights so it was definitely a somewhat traumatizing experience that allows you to really understand how big La Sagrada Familia is, but also allows you to see a beautiful view of the city.

Montserrat

    The winding mountain road almost made me wonder if the journey was worth it, but when we finally arrived I knew it was. Montserrat is a mountain that where you will find the Santa Maria de Monserrat monastary. This monastery is the most important Catalonian religious site. People from Barcelona and all over Catalonia frequently make overnight hikes to visit the monastery and watch the sunset.

    One of the most notable aspects is that the monastery houses the virgin of Montserrat. It is one of the black madonnas of Europe that was believed to have been carved in Jerusalem in the early days of the church. Despite this belief it is more likely to be a wooden Romanesque sculpture from the late 12th century. The legend that follows this particular black madonna is that the Benedictine Monks whom reside at the monastery could not move the statue so they choose to build around it instead.

 

Carretera de les Agues

    This trip was a fun experience from traveling by train and a little car up the  mountain to walking around the mountain and finally down it, which was a bit tricky. The view from the top of the mountain was impeccable and beautiful to see. Carretera de les Agues is located in the Sierra de Collserola in the neighborhood of Sarria. People frequently use the path to run or bike because it is about 20km from start to finish. It is common to run into many runners or bikers on the dirt roads as you walk around. The top of the mountain provides a great panoramic view of the city and allows you to see landmarks such as The Sagrada Familia. Some of my favorite things during the trip was the staricase that went all the way up the mountain for those who are very motivated and in shape the amazing view at the top and the view as we made the trek down the mountain.

Museu Maritim de Barcelona

    Prior to visiting the the Maritim museum I had not known much about the history of Barcelona's ports. I found this trip to be very interesting and learned a lot. The museum used to be a ship yard where large ships would be created and stored. The museum only currently opened its doors to show off its partially finished renovations of the buliding. Since 1929 numerous exhibits have been built up that showcase catalan seafaring culture. The ship that was on exhibit was massive with detailed design work. Crews would spend long months and months creating these lavish ships that could be destroyed easily in a few battles. The purpose was to showcase class and power with beautiful ships. The picture below will gives you a good sense of how big the ship is compared to me.

                   

Roman Barcelona

    I live in the Barrio Gotica so qiute a few sites that we saw were familiar to me. I love this part of Barcelona and have discovered that it is filled with great food and entertainment. The I love the Barcelona letters next to the Gothic Cathedral they seem to be a included in pictures of all my friends who are also studying in Barcelona. These letters are a symbol or where the city walls ran when Barcelona was a part of the Roman Empire

    Barcelona was originally a colony established by the Roman Empire. For 400 years they continued to be part of the Roman Empire. Roman Barcelona, which is located in the Barrio Gotica contains a large array of Roman artifacts and landmarks to this day. These collums that I visited on my own are landmarks of the wall that used to enclose the colony.

Biblioteca Nacional de Catalunya

    This trip was very interesting for me. I had already taken a tour of Sagrada Familia and learned a lot about Gaudi, his life and death. It was cool that I could be in the building where he died. This library used to be a hospital like many other buildings in Barcelona. The library was founded in 1907 but more or less still part of the Hospital de Santa Cruz. It was not until 1998 that full renovations were completed and the building was completely transformed into a library. One cool fact about the Biblioteca Nacional de Catalunya is that they have a partnership with Google which strives to make books available on the internet for public access. Books are now being digitized and put on the internet to be easily accessible. My favorite part of the building were the tall ceilings and the private room that was set up for us to view books. The room gave me an idea of how books are preserved and stored in the library while the ceilings showed the beautiful architecture of the building.

MADRID!!

    The first trip that I took was to Madrid. I was surprised as to how different the two cities were aesthetically and culturally. I noticed in almost every street there were people posing as statues or dressed up as various fairy tale creatures. You do not see this type of thing very often in Barcelona, in general it reminded me of disney world. Some of the people's poses were so intricate it was hard to understand how they manage to spend all day sitting on the streets frozen.These particular pictures I took on the Puerta Del Sol. It is one of the best known and busiest places in Madrid. It is the center for all railways in madrid and contains a clock famous with bells that mark the new year.

                                        

   Also present at the Peurta Del Sol is the emblem of Madrid, a Bear and modrono tree. The bear became an emblem of Madrid after a dispute during the 13th century of hunting rights on land that the church owned. The dispute was settled saying that Madrilenos owned everything above ground which led to the creation of the bear as an emblem. I was lucky enough to see this statue that has such a rich historical significance.

   

Graffiti and Santa Caterina Market

One of my favorite trips thus far was to the Santa Caterina Market. Luckily a couple days after I realized that it was only 5 minute away from my house. The fresh fruits and fruit juices looked delicious along with the fresh vegetables. The history of the market was interesting to me as well. I learned that the market was once a convent and by royal decree Barcelona Council was given the chance to turn the convent into a source of fresh produce and foods. Since being in Spain I have enjoyed visiting markets like this with fresh foods and produce a vegetarians dream. In America I never was able to walk down a street and stumble into a market like this.

                 

While walking through the streets during this trip I noticed that there was a lot of graffiti that covered most walls. The picture I have included is one building full of graffiti art that caught my attention. I was surprised to learn that it is illegal for people to graffiti on any urban element internal or external.

Hospital de Sant Pau

     Our first task when entering class was to look around the building we were in an take pictures of what interested us the most. Little did I know at the time the school we would be learning in for the next 4 months was a major historical cite. The Hospital de Sant Pau is historical landmark dating back to 1401 when  when six medieval hospitals merged and it was founded. The building is no-longer a hospital and has been closed since 2009 in hopes to be restored as a cultural center and museum. This building is important because it is a symbol of modernism architecture created by those who thought traditional artwork was  outdated compared to the vast political, economic and industrial changes going on in the world. This led to artwork and building to become more avant-garde and different from what was viewed as traditional.

           

     When looking through Sant Pau the beautiful staircases caught my eye. THe mosaic pattern that ran horizontally along and below the rail was detailed and caught my eye immediately. The windows in the halls and throughout the building also caught my attention. It showed how important every detail was in the creation of the building. I was surprised as to how well the window details seemed to fit the building with many details present every where you turn.