Barcelona

 With no tickets left for second class we bought first class from Seville to Barcelona but when we boarded the train we realized our seats weren’t beside each other- in fact we weren’t even in the same cabin! ai-eeee! Occasionally Steve would bring me snacks from our bag and come to check on me. Our train ride from took two hours longer than expected...this worked out in our favor when we were credited 50% of the ticket cost for the delay! Steve credits his good karma for this refund as we wouldn’t have got it if the women he traded seats with wouldn’t have told him. It was a very long ride though.  

Our Catalan friends (Joel & Nuria) hooked us up with some of their Catalan friends (Xavi & Sonia) and they were soooo awesome to let us stay with them in their flat. The flat was in a nice part of the city with lots of shops and places to eat, it was also close to the metro and to the touristic area’s of BCN.

Barcelona is a lively and interesting city. We didn’t see all of Gaudi’s work but what we did see was simply spectacular! We visited the Sacred Family church (still a work in progress) where there was an interactive museum- this explained how Gaudi was inspired by nature and how he incorporated it into his architecture. The columns in the cathedral looked like giant trees with the ceiling as a canopy. If I’m still alive when the cathedral is complete I would loooove to go back and check it out! 

We also went to Montserrat, a monastery just outside of BCN. We sat beside an incredibly arrogant, loud, and weird American woman on the train ride there. I’m pretty sure she was poppin some pills that were making her more wacky. She went on and on about Obama, politics, healthcare, etc...ugh. Anyways, I got nauseated on this train ride because I had a sideways sitting seat. We came to our stop and jumped on a cable car to take us to the top. The monastery was located at the top of this massive rock formation. We found cover in a doorway from the pouring rain and had a little picnic. From the monastery we took a funicular up the rock even higher- the weather was nasty but we still had great views and had fun exploring- the thunder was a little too close for comfort! We went to the cathedral to see the black Madonna and the little black baby Jesus on her lap. We had seen replicas of this statue before, but now we were at the real deal. We went to the gift shop to have our little history lesson in the tourist books and learned the statue is black due to the varnish used and hundreds of years of being exposed to black smoke from candles. Believers make pilgrimages to see her. When you get to her you put your hand on one part (it looks like a pine cone) and kiss a sphere she is holding. I imagine you also say a prayer while you do this. So we got in line and went to see her- she is kept in an ornate little room that overlooks the entire cathedral, the statue is kept in a glass container except for the parts you are allowed to touch. I got a stealth picture of her -I wasn’t sure it was appropriate or permitted to take photos and there was a priest behind me in the line- I touched the pine cone and said a prayer, but under all this pressure I hesitated and didn’t kiss the sphere. Steve didn’t kiss the sphere either- he grabbed it with his bare hand. I suggested we both get back in line and go do it properly, but we were on a mission for cheese. Sonia asked us to pick up some “Mato” cheese- she explained its the best when its from Montserrat. We went to the information counter and Steve asked the employee where we get the Mato. The lady smiled and replied “Mato?”- as if she was asking how we knew of their fabulous cheese- she directed us to go down the street to the left. We went and sure enough there were a dozen cheese vendors lined up. The mato looked something similar to cottage cheese- only firmer and drier. Sonia showed us that they eat the mato with honey on it- and it tasted pretty darn good! She also made us a typical Catalan soup made with vegetables, sausage, noodles and a pig foot for flavor. Delicious! Xavi introduced Steve to nutella and I’m sure we will be buying it when we get home! He also took us to an amazing kebab place...we love kebab. I thought the food in BCN was great- lots of variety and it was everywhere! Each time we walked by the market on the Ramblas I bought fresh fruit salad (I was overjoyed) and Steve got fresh fruit smoothies- but we passed on buying the saran wrapped sheep heads... 

This being our last city in Spain and our only time in Catalan, we had to make Joel proud so we bought some Manchego cheese as he suggested (it was super) and a very typical and special Catalan Christmas decoration.