Spain

From Nice we said good-bye to Ma and Pa and my Aunt and I continued to Spain.  First stop Barcelona where we had our first experience of couch surfing.  It was ok.  The people were friendly enough but we were a bit uncertain as to the expectations/protocol as I think each place you go to is different, so there were a couple of awkward moments.

I had already been to Barcelona but I still saw things I hadn’t seen before.  A lot of Barcelona is known for the stamp that the architect Antoni Gaudi has left on the city.  He had a very unique style that you see in a lot of the buildings.  It was him who  had the vision for the Sagrada Familia and who designed Parc Guel.  The best part about Barcelona was seeing the inside of the Sagrada Familia as that wasn’t open when I was there last time. What an amazing building!! I think it is one of the most amazing pieces of architecture I have ever seen.  The thought and skill behind every fragment of the design and construction is mind-blowing and very clever.

The columns are made and designed (in terms of load bearing etc) to be like trees. Everything is meant to mimic nature, therefore, giving glory to God and showing how natural design works so well.  Also, these columns are made from different stone for their colours and because the number of columns and their colours correspond with the apostles and the saints and ultimately the trinity.  The biggest, ultimate column will represent Jesus and the triangle light at the top is to point to this.  This is again made with natural light and materials.

When this is finished the church will be able to hold a choir of 1000 people.  Wow, how amazing will that sound!!

A column representing one of the apostles, with the triangle in the background

The emblems around this sculpture are meant to represent the grapes for the wine for communion and the bread. Even the seven columns around this part of the church represent something biblical.

We spent the rest of the day on the hop-on, hop-off bus snapping pics of all the sights and sounds of Barcelona.  We also stumbled upon a market with great food and lollies etc, so we bought some beautiful salmon to cook a great meal for our hosts.  It was a lovely evening.

Parc Guel

Parc Guel

View of Barcelona from Parc Guel with the Sagrada Familia in view

Parc Guel

Where Gaudi lived at Parc Guel

Entrance to the park

one of Gaudi's buildings

The markets

Yum!!

Next stop was Valencia.  We had scored a very nice hotel here but unfortunately, was not able to make the most of the pool and spa as we only had a short amount of time there and were out and about seeing everything.  We headed down to the beach in the evening and incorrectly followed the instructions about what bus to take to get there.  We took the right bus but in the wrong direction and ended up doing the tour of Valencia on the local bus as opposed to the hop on/hop off bus.  A great way to see the city and get our bearings.  We finally arrived at the beach and saw all the people still out and about making the most of it, even though it was a school night.  We discovered how the Spanish really do eat late and come out at night, as we waited till 8 to go to a restaurant and there was hardly anyone there.  In typical tourist fashion, we had tapas, followed by Paella accompanied with Sangria.  It was great.

The next day we were up early and walked down to the section where the museums and art galleries are.  We didn’t visit any but we were there to see the amazing architecture of the buildings.  We needed breakfast and popped over to the local shopping centre where we found breakfast for 2 euros, the best deal I’ve come across anywhere.  It was great!  We also made the most of being in the mall to check out the shops.  Lots of fun.

An exhibition (I don't know what for), that had flags of different countries.  There was no NZ flag (but there was an Australian one), so I just had to pose with my adopted country's flag.

Then we headed towards the old town to see the sights and sounds there.  We walked and walked and walked.  We came across some old markets that had cool Spanish food.  They also had a Zespri kiwifruit stand which I was very excited about.  They were giving away free kiwifruit for people to try.  I tried to explain to the girls working on the stand that I was from where the kiwifruit comes from but they didn’t understand.

The kiwi is eating a kiwi!!

Once we had looked around Valencia it was time to go back to the hotel and get our things as we had our wonderful Ryan Air flight to Malaga.  An aside, if I can ever help it I will never fly with Ryan Air again, they basically just try and scam you for as much money as possible.  They were checking the size of every piece of cabin luggage as people were boarding the plane and you could see the terror in everyone’s eyes as we saw the size of the bags they refused (and then charged 50 euro for) and then we would worriedly look at our bags to check they were the right size.  (I'm sure they make the box thing you have to put your bag into smaller than the requirements stated on the ticket).  It was high drama with people  unpacking and repacking bags and yelling abuse at the air stewards who weren’t very helpful at all.