Traveling Pak: Days 5-9, Spain: Barcelona, Valencia, Cuenca

Barcelona

Barcelona, what a sweet city. Cool and artsy buildings, great tapa and wine bars, lot of variety in tourist spots, and excellent dining choices. I'm usually not that into artsy stuff, but there was a lot of cool stuff in Barcelona. No wonder it's listed on the Lonely Planet website as the #1 Best City in Europe.

First day there, our group plowed through the major attractions. Lucky for us, Nathan had already been to Barcelona and knew the most worthwhile places to head to. We first headed to Antoni Gaudi's La Pedrera and Casa Batllo. For those of you who don't know who he is, he was an avant-garde architect (a style of art that was popular in the early 1900's). Don't worry, I didn't know who he was either.

Outside of Casa Batllo and the rooftop of La Pedrera - funky stuff that even a commoner like I can appreciate

Next, we hit up yet another Gaudi soon to be masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia, another funky piece (I know, my artistic vocabulary is broad). Afterwards, I dragged the group to a very fancy and still operating hospital nearby.

Looking up at the Sagrada Familia – my mom comments in Chinese: “These figures are weird and too skinny”

A hospital any GERM would love to work at

After a pretty full morning/afternoon, the group winded down by resting at a bar and having some beers, before going to a relatively early dinner by Spanish standards – around 9:30 pm. What a tough life they lead.

Next day – our group split up after a lunch having some tapas, Northern Spanish style. Basically tapas are little dishes that are like appetizers, and Northern Spanish style means they are on bread. Nathan and I wandered around the southern end of the city, on a hill called Montjuic – it had a nice castle at the top with splendid views. On a side note, I ran into my friend Joanna, who is studying abroad in Barcelona. It was a crazy coincidence that was crazy.

After a couple hours of marching through the city, Nathan and I decided to start drinking while eating dinner. After some beers at dinner, we went to a wine bar and I tried some wine that the bartender recommended. I wasn’t sure it was worth 5 euros, but it was decent. We later split a 20 euro bottle of wine which my amateur taste buds told me was pretty money. A little tipsy, we rumbled over to a bar that Joanna was supposed to go to, L’Ovella Negra. The bar was like some kind of underground Spanish college bar that felt like I was in a castle or something…I enjoyed the college feel of the bar. Sigh. Sadly, Joanna didn’t make it – but Nathan and I decided to just get a beer there before heading out. Bad Choice. Nathan’s assessment of the house beer : “Tastes like puke”.

Northern style of tapas – called Pincho. Super good and quite filling.

Ugh. Busch Light is so much better.

Valencia

Third most populated city in Spain. Not the most interesting for the tourist, but it had a few good sites. While we were there it was a big celebration there – it was like Sevilla weekend. From talking to people there, Friday through Monday was a holiday. Damn long weekend.

Ceiling of one the churches – I think I remember it from art history class so I think it’s famous. Regardless, I think it’d be pretty cool if the sky were really like that.

Street food for lunch – paella and snails and KAS orange soda. I felt pretty local and badass.

Cuenca

Cuenca is not well known. Well, I didn’t even know it until I was looking on the lonely planet guide searching for somewhere to stay in between Valencia and Madrid. Boy am I glad I found out about it. At Cuenca, there is an old town that is on a hill that dates back pretty damn long ago. It’s famous for houses that hang off cliffs – but I found them pretty well, meh. I found the views of the quaint old town a lot cooler and the rustic small town feel meditative.