The city is also very lively! You see people hanging out in parks everywhere, and locals are always whizzing by on rollerblades & bikes. The city has a bike system, where you can pick up a bike from one of the many stations and just drop it off at another station when you're done with it.
On Wednesday, we took a free guided tour of the Gothic area (Barri Gotic). He showed us some cool buildings and the school where Picasso studied. It was interesting to hear about the Catalan history & how it became a part of Spain. We didn't realize that the Catalan language existed and is quite different from Spanish; it's supposedly a mix of Spanish, French, and Italian.
After the tour, we ate some deliciously fresh oysters and a seafood plate at the Mercat de la Boqueria, the biggest open-air market in the city. It's full of food vendors selling everything from fruit & sausage & cheese to cows' tongues and pigs' ears, and LOTS of fish and exotic sea creatures, half of which I'd never seen before. Apparently, you can buy ants and worms here too.
Later, we walked along the port, then grabbed some beers in Barceloneta near the beach and watched the huge soccer championship (Barcelona vs. Italy) that the city had been chanting about in the streets all day long. The next day, we walked on the beach, then ate some mussels at a locals restaurant that were not terribly keen of American tourists. Oh well, the mussels were delish!
Friday, we decided to be touristy and ride the double-decker bus that takes you to all the sites in the city, which are really spread out anyway.. First, we rode to Sagrada Familia, a HUGE & elaborate church designed by Antoni Gaudi. Construction started in 1882, so he only saw about 40 years of its progress (now at 140 years & counting) before dying. The church has been under constant construction and won't be complete anytime soon.
Next, we went to Park Guell, another awesome project by Gaudi. The park is massive and spans a hillside. It's filled with mosaic structures, trails, garden areas, and has an awesome view of the city from the "balcony" in the center of the picture.
That night, we had some wonderful seafood & wine at El 4 Gats, an old restaurant/bar that Picasso, Gaudi, and Miro used to hang out at & drink absinthe. An added plus was a pianist that serenaded us throughout dinner.
Most places were closed on Saturday since it was Labor Day, so we checked out some outdoor markets and hung out in George Orwell plaza, one of the local hangouts. We took the tourist bus to the northeast part of town with a nice shopping center, amusement parks, and neat city parks with art structures throughout them.
Yesterday, we took the gondola up to the hill Montjuic, where there were some great views of the city, port, beach, and Mediterranean.
Unfortunately, we also got a great view of an old dude's naked butt with tattooed underwear. We've also seen an old dude riding around the city on a bike completely nude as well as a naked sun bather on the beach. Not sure what's up with the old men & nudity here...
Last night, we met up with Jordi, a Catalan who Eric knew because he bought a From Exile record a few months ago.. Weird coincidence that he lives here! He turned out to be really nice & took us to a bar to hang out with his friends. He told us about his culture & people, who are all very proud to be Catalan; it was interesting to hear him talk about how they'd like to be separate from Spain.
Apparently, it never rains here, but decided to start last night, just for us! So we had a nice run in the pouring rain back to the hostel.
Well, we changed our itinerary. We're gonna take a boat to Civitavecchia, Italy, then a quick train to Rome for a couple of days!
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