BARCELONA (is awesome and just won the fútbol game)

May be my second favorite Spain city... Tied with Ronda, perhaps? I went there the weekend after my family left with Atalie, Lily, and Anna. Lily and Anna stayed with their Scottish family friend-connection, while Atalie and I stayed in a hostel, which wasn't horrible, actually. We had our own room, which makes a world of difference. Can't say I slept particularly well, though... We were right over a bar and Spanish people party allllll night long. 

I brought Rick Steves (in guidebook form) to Barcelona... And his hand-drawn map with like four streets labeled was all we had to guide us from our hostel to Parc Guell (about a 45 minute walk), our first destination. Somehow (with only a brief detour), we managed to find it... at the top of three giant escalators. Below is our victory shot.

 Parc Güell's famous wavy benches!

 Lily and Anna met up with us at the park. Group picture on the wavy benches! (though you can't really see them...)

 Pretty purple flowers at the park. You can't escape them.

 It was hot in Barcelona. And when I say hot, I mean that it was so hot that I put aside all sense of shame and, though I was wearing long, decorative socks and sneakers, and rolled up my pants. Europe has really taught me how to be fashionable, as you can see below, as in my rolled-up pants power stance in front of the Sagrada Familia. I believe the phrase "working it" would be appropriate in this situation.

One thing you should know about Rick Steves. You shouldn't always listen to his advice. Here's what he said about la Sagrada Familia (not a direct quote...): "It's just as cool from the outside. You don't need to go in." 

Just so we get this straight and no one is confused/sides with Rick, below are some pictures of the outside.

Don't get me wrong... It's AMAZING from the outside. But just wait until you see the inside. 

A view from the front and the back.

I'm having the hardest time choosing photos from the inside to put on this blog... Probably because I took like 20 billion of them. Therefore, I am going to put a billion (one 20th of the total number) up. 

Ever wanted to attend mass in an enchanted forest? What if it had stained glassed windows?

 

And that is how Rick Steves lost my trust, though "it's just as cool from the outside" became a catch-phrase of both this trip and the next. 

We visited Gaudi's Casa Mila only from the outside, deciding that we had seen enough Gaudi for the day (even though it was undoubtedly a billion times cooler on the inside, no matter what Rick said). 

 It had an interesting, reflective door, to go along with the curvy exterior.

 To finish off the day, we went to see the "Magic fountains" which, though not actually magic, were colorful and entertaining (fountain choreography to classical music). Before night fell:

 It was at those magic fountains that we met with the Lily's friend, the Scotsman, who bought us some very very strong beer. Still not a fan.

Next morning, bright and early, we took the subway to a train to a cable car that took us up the mountains to Montserrat. I'm generally not afraid of heights, but I am afraid of falling from high places when my cable car falls out of the sky, and this was a rather terrifying experience.

But it turned out to be extremely rewarding. 

 The church was pretty cool as well, but I preferred to be outside, basking in the warmth and soaking in both sunshine and the beautiful view

And then it was back down the mountain we went. Back in Barcelona, we "rambled" (pronounced the Spanish way. I am aware that I have invented a word that already has another meaning) down Las Ramblas and then it was off to the beach! Which was awesome. What better way to spend the day than having a picnic, sunbathing, and swimming in the Mediterranean? It was probably there that I got so tan. Two people came up to me randomly and commented on how tan I was today. I was so proud. And now I am off to bed. Tomorrow, I'll try to cover Sarah's visit and my trip to Paris and Rome. And by try I mean try. It'll be a busy day. I have some packing for Morocco to do and Mamma Mia in Spanish to go see. How awesome is that?

80 degree weather and big hills

But completely worth it. In Europe, the general rule of thumb seems to be that everything worth seeing is up a hill. Well, that's not completely true, but many many cool things do happen to be perched up there. Like pretty views.

First hill we climbed was on the way to Carmen de los Martires, my favorite garden. The following two pictures were taken mid-climb.

 I'll spare you another round of fountain pictures, etc... But from the purple flowers, you can not escape.

Nor from the peacocks...

The next hill to climb was to the Albayzín, to the Mirador de San Nicolas (which has, according to Bill Clinton, the best view in the world), to see the Alhambra in all its glory.

 The sun set, though this looks more like the sunrise from Lion King...

 ...the Alhambra was lit up...

...and we went to a flamenco show, from which I have no pictures, unfortunately. 

It was a lovely couple of days of strolling and eating and basking in the heat and sun... and of course simply enjoying being in Granada.

As promised... Cadiz and Gibraltar

Cadiz was our next stop on our tour of Andalucia. It is a city surrounded almost completely by water, and was charming enough, but had no churros con chocolate when we sought them out at 9 at night, which was greatly disappointing. This is why Granada is the best.

They did have giant trees, though.

And then it was off to Gibraltar, a tiny little British city on the tip of Spain. Very strange mix of cultures there...  and accents.
 

In Gibraltar, there is a giant rock. And on that giant rock, there are monkeys. 

When you leave the city, you can choose to go to Spain, Spain, or... Spain. We chose Spain, and I still stand by that decision.

And then we were off to Granada, my home.

I will be blogging for the rest of my life.

I guess that is what happens when you don't touch your blog for a month. Anyway, I've taken a walk and am as ready as I'll ever be to dive back in it, so here I go. Sevilla.

We celebrated my father's birthday in Sevilla, exactly as I had celebrated mine: first with the Alcazar, then the Cathedral. To mix things up, I'm going to put the pictures in the opposite order. ~Living on the edge.~

Horsies in front of the Cathedral. Apparently Granada is the only place that doesn't have them. Which is a good thing, actually. Means we have less tourism. 

I'm going to skip pictures of the cathedral inside, because I've already done that in a different post from way back when... 

 We see a big tower thing with stairs leading up to it... and can't resist.

And now for the Alcazar.

 I realize that there are already pictures of these arcs in this blog, but they're so pretty...

 The Alcazar has truly beautiful gardens... with purple flowers.

  ...orange trees...

...yellow flowers...

 ...and a maze!!

 Everything a palace should have. Unfortunately, we Thomsons are a little too tall for this maze.
Cadiz y Gibraltar in the next post!