----- Barcelona, Spain ---------------

I had last gone to Europe over 3 years ago, and I was itching to go back. After going to many countries in Latin America and not being satisfied, I knew I needed to return to Europe. I was going to go to Greece, but I am planning on going there hopefully within the next year with Gabe, his wife Maritza and a couple other friends. I decided to return to Spain and see some places that I had missed on my first visit.

I love Spain! The culture, food, architecture, art... the list goes on. On this trip i spent almost 2 weeks in just 2 locations in Spain, Barcelona and the Baleric Island of Mallorca. Staying in Barcelona was great. We rented an apartment off La Rambla and near Plaça Cataluyña. We could walk everywhere or take the metro. Barcelona is a very interesting city. The actual language is Catalan and not Spanish. People obviously do speak Spanish which was a life saver. We had visited many of Gaudi's works including the Sagrada Familia, Park Güell, Casa Batló, and the Pedrera.

Some other places in Barcelona that I loved was Montjuïc for it's serenety and beauty. The Plaza España at the base of the mountain was spectacular. We took a cable car across the harbor to the mountain and walked down. It was so relaxing walking past beautiful gardens, statues and beautiful Spanish architecture. I enjoyed Barceloneta as well. It was a cool neighborhood down by the beach. One of our favorite restaurants was there, Nou Ramout a great little classy restaurant recommeded to me by the locals.

We stayed in the Barri Gotic which is the old city with medieval architecture and dark narrow streets. It was great walking around there, even at all hours of the day and night. In this area was our favorite restaurant El Xampanyet. The food was great, the cava was the best and the prices cheap! A+ for El Xampanyet!

I learned many ways to save money in Europe on this trip. Barcelona is by far the MOST expensive city in Spain to visit, far more expensive then Andalusia in the south. Many of the restaurants along the main areas are $$$, but I found that if you walk a block from the main areas you save lots of caixa (Catalan for cash). For example, many restaurants have these meat platter tapas dishes that are delicious with the Iberic meats but very expensive. In order to save money we went to a little market across the street from our apartment and had them shave us meats and cheeses and we saved so much cash. By renting an apartment online we saved a lot and had more room to move about with 2 bedrooms. The cheap way to fly to Europe is to go to a major city like London or Paris, and once there fly EasyJet to other cities much cheaper.

Anyway, there is much more to say, but please enjoy my pics.

My first day...COLD	Arc de Triunfo	Arc de Triunfo from the plaza
Artistic structure at the beach	Cool looking trees at the beach	Promenade by beach & Barceloneta
Hanging out in Barceloneta	Cool looking Gargoyle at Ciutadella	Scaffold covers the monument
Beautiful Ciutadella park	Breakfast of champions, churros	Barcelona's finest
Gaudi's Casa Batló	Archway in the Bari Gotic	Candles in the Bari Gotic cathedral
Inside the cathedral	Courtyard at Plaça Reil	Our favorite restaurant, El Xampanyet
Picaso Museum	Plaça Reil	Moorish arches in Gracia district
Agabar tower from distance	Leading up to the pillars at Güell	Cool stone bridge at Park Güell
Pathway at Park Güell	Dining area at Park Güell	Front entrance at Park Güell
Looks like Disneyland	Peering through the hole	Gaudi actually lived in this house
Taking a break after much walking	Cool mosaic lizard	Awesome mosaics at Park Güell
Gaudi Museum	Looking to Barcelona from Park Güell	Enjoying a lazy afternoon
Sagrada Familia from Park Güell	Winding tiles surround the upper area	Steve and I taking a break
Stylish house above Park Güell	Barcelona's infestation of gypsies	Beautiful gardens of Montjuïc
Hanging with locals	Group photo at the hall	Sunlit statue at Montjuïc
Statue of a sad contemplating woman	Montjuïc's beauty even in November	One in a series of fountains
Do I really look like a mercenary?	Taking a break at Plaça España	So majestic looking
Top of fountains looking out	The beautiful Plaça España	Looking out to Barcelona
Street in Barceloneta	Our apartment was at end of this alley	Cool shapes at Park Güell
Park Güell architecture	Park Güell buildings	Signs are in Catalan
Sagrada Familia from front	Sagrada Familia backside	Distance shot of Sagrada Familia
Praying scene at Sagrada Familia	Columbus statue at La Rambla	She looks so contemplative