La Boqueria

Mercat de San Josep de la Boqueria is probably one of the most fabulous open-air markets you will ever see (or won't see if you haven't visited Barcelona and don't plan on visiting).  It's right next to Las Ramblas so it's ALWAYS super busy.  Many years ago, tourists would walk in, take pictures, and maybe if the vendors were lucky, buy an apple-- not very good for business.  Since then, the fruit vendors sell zumos (juices) of every flavor imaginable so even more tourists flock to the market and go shopping.  There are so many stalls, shoppers can find just about everything: meat, cheese, seafood (raw and cooked), candy, nuts, fruits, and vegetables.  Feast your eyes on the photos I've taken and be sure not to drool on your computer!

Parc de la Ciutadella

For a project in the "History and Culture of Catalunya" class that was part of my proseminar, we had to research a public space.  The research involved observation, photos, interviews, and was presented in class as a PowerPoint.  We also have to write individual essays of 8-10 pages on the public space and hand them in before the end of February (I haven't started mine yet... probably should do that soon).

The public space my group and I chose was the Parc de la Ciutadella.  What Central Park is to NYC is what this park is to Barcelona.  And it's a 10 minute walk from my residence!  Here's a map to show you how big the park is and how far away I live (obviously, I'm the orange star and the park is the orange blob).  Map by Google Maps (plus Photoshop by me).

Montserrat

The mountain of Montserrat is located about 30 miles northwest of Barcelona.  "Montserrat" means "serrated mountain" in Catalan.  It is most famous for the Monastery of Montserrat which is associated with several legends: "here St. Peter left a statue of the Virgin Mary carved by St. Luke, Parsifal found the Holy Grail, and Wagner sought inspiration for his opera."  Even though all the guidebooks emphasize the monastery, my friends and I never actually went inside for the entire afternoon we were there.  We left the residence at 11:30am and spent an hour or two on trains before we arrived.  As soon as we got there, the views were STUNNING and we decided to take a funicular and go for an hour hike to the tallest peak. We thought that we'd go into the monastery on the way back down, but by the time we eventually walked down (we missed the last funicular ride) the last train was going to leave in 15 minutes. We got back to the residence around 9pm.

Excursión al río Ebro

Last Saturday we had our first day-long excursion to somewhere outside of Barcelona.  We went to the river Ebro (a delta) about a 2 1/2 hour drive south of Barcelona.  We left at 8:30am and came back around 7pm.  Here's a map to give you a better idea of where we were:

La Pedrera

Casa Milà, aka La Pedrera ("The Quarry"), by the famous architect Antonio Gaudi, is a building in the Eixample district of Barcelona.  It was commissioned by a rich couple who told Gaudi that the building could cost as much as he wanted (no limits!) as long as it stood out from all the surrounding buildings. I think he most certainly achieved this goal.  Also, I think that a few floors are actually occupied by residents.  Here's the outside of it:

Earlier today we went on a walking tour and got to go inside this building.  From the outside, I think it's supposed to look like a cliff or maybe a dragon's cave/lair (because Barcelona is obsessed with Saint George).  Here are some more pictures of the outside: