Barcelona, Spain 12/14 - 12/20

I caught a cheap, quick flight from Madrid, where it was snowing, and landed in Barcelona on a Monday afternoon, where the weather was slightly better. I dropped my pack at the hostel, got downloaded with some info (Monday is one of the biggest party nights in the city) and scoped out the city for the rest of the afternoon and evening. I decided that I would partake in the Monday night festivities, so I made my way back to the hostel to catch a few hours of sleep. The city had a great vibe going and my goal was to keep it that way! Monday night/Tuesday morning, haha, was a complete blast and a great way to start off my last stop on my Euro trip experiment. I met some great people that night that I continued to hang out with for the rest of my stay in Barcelona.  Over the next 6 days I kept the good times roll'n and got a great taste for what Barcelona has to offer. The city is comprised of great Antoni Gaudi architecture, which you can spend days looking at and walking through, great pedestrian streets where you can buy and see anything, and great places to eat or quench your thirst at. I took a bike tour of the city and got a great guide that really opened my eyes 

up to some places that were "off the beaten path".

Since I am a fan of and appreciate nice architecture, I definitely

 spent a good amount of time checking out the Antoni Gaudi architecture around the city, which included Park Guell and many of his unique buildings. One of the buildings that sticks out the most is La Sagrada Familia, a church Gaudi designed and oversaw the construction of until he died. The building is still under construction and is scheduled to be so for another 30 years! There are self guided tours through the church which let you see the on going construction which started in 1882 as well as what is finished. Its a fascinating building and ranks up there with the Al Hambra in Grenada, Spain.

There are so many great places and interesting things to see in Barcelona! A walk down La Rambla street will open your eyes and keep them open with all

the performers and vendors, but be sure to make a stop at the market, called "La Boqueria." It has everything from fresh chocolates to cow testicles ready for you to purchase! I was also lucky enough to catch

 the "Magic Fountains", which only operated on Friday nights in the colder months, 

but every evening in the summer months. Its a great water fountain show that is choreographed to music, definitely worth checking out.

Barcelona easily ranks up there with the top places I visited on my three month trip around Europe, its a great city with endless 

amounts of things to see and do. It was a great way to round out my trip.
I maxed out my stay in Barcelona, but allowed about two days to get back to Paris where my return flight to the Chicago was scheduled. I found a pretty decently priced flight instead of taking a night train and good thing I did, because the colder weather played some mean tricks on the trains causing massive delays. I will do one more blog for my two days in Paris and call it a wrap from there.
The top right pic is a mosaic chameleon at Gaudi's Park Guell.  A pic from a booth at La Boqueria  is the middle right and below that is a picture of La Sagrada Familia.  Top left is Gaudi's fascinating Casa Mila and the bottom left is from inside La Sagrada Familia, one of the finished walls.