Post by Breakingchains on Aug 23, 2018 23:20:37 GMT -5
Uhhh I think I said I'd get these up a year ago?? Anyway
In Spring 2017 I was given the opportunity to take an 11-day tour of Spain through a study tour group at my community college. Part of my ability to do this was sheer luck--still living at home with my Mom barely charging me any rent. The other part was spending the better part of a year working my absolute butt off at one of the worst jobs in town (picture the Krusty Krab and you're halfway there) to make the payments. During my stay I took literally 2500+ photos; these are just a handful of highlights.
Since these photos are a LOT to sift through, consider this post a part 1. This covers about the first three days of the trip, all in Barcelona.
Day 1 was almost entirely travel, as we had to get two connecting flights before finally flying overnight to Barcelona, where we arrived in the wee hours of the morning.
On day 2, we took time to shop, explore, and get the lay of the land with the help of our guide. I don't have a ton of great photos from day 2, as I was pretty much out of my mind with jet lag the entire day. Which is fine, because day 3 is where stuff got interesting anyhow.
Day 3:
We started the day by driving up Montjuic, a plateau above Barcelona. I'm not much of a selfie-taker, but given the view, I caved.
From there, we went to Parque Guell, where the magic started:
Parque Guell was originally designed to be an upscale neighborhood by Antoni Gaudi, one of Spain's most famous artists / architects and noted Quirky Dude. Notice the apparent Hansel & Gretel influence in the architecture.
Also there's these lovely yet totally metal stone overhangs everywhere:
Atop the hill is a large city square, and surrounding it are these stone orbs, which together form a giant rosary!
Other interesting notes include the invasive species of wild parrot that lives in the park, and the heavy presence of illegal yet very cool street vendors.
From Parque Guell, it was time to move on to Sagrada Familia. I recall leaving thinking that Guell must be the most beautiful place on Earth. It was about to get pushed to the #2 spot.
The Sagrada Familia is a church that has been under construction since 1882. It has four facades, each covered in statuary depicting an episode of the life of Christ. We approached from the Nativity facade:
It is honestly hard to describe the scale of this place. Furthermore, it's not even half-finished:
This is a scale model depicting the current status of the build. Tan parts are already built. White is the full plan. It's going to be twice as tall.
Having gawked for a suitably long time at the nativity facade, we entered to see the interior:
The first thing you notice is the size of the place. The second thing you notice is the beautiful hues of light.
At first glance I honestly thought this had to be coming from colored bulbs.
Then I realized.
...oh
I could have spent hours in here.
My favorite part, however, was the Passion facade. Notice the VERY different look of these sculptures compared to those on the nativity facade. That's because these sculptures date to the late 80's/early 90's. Which might be why they look like something out of Samurai Jack!
One of the following two statues is my favorite, and which of the two is a toss-up: Joseph in mourning, or the soldiers gambling for Jesus' clothes, peering down at you from on high, as if in the very moment of noticing your intrusion.
Seriously, spotting these guys by accident is VERY much a "When you see it..." moment.
As harshly as they contrast with the 1800's statues, I LOVE these and I'm not even sure they're that far off from Gaudi's vision. According to what remained of his plans (mostly oral reports, as most of his sketches and whatnot were lost in a fire) his intention was for angles to be used in such a way as to direct light and shadow, creating a dramatic chiaroscuro. I think they pulled that off masterfully, and the figures have a tension and weight in them that just isn't present in the classical photorealistic style.
Then food.
We were pretty exhausted from Sagrada Familia, but the day wasn't over yet, and we finished up looking into Gaudi by visiting his official museum--which also happens to be his old house!
Gaudi had a thing about not liking straight lines in his architecture, making this one of the strangest-looking buildings in Barcelona.
Many surfaces are covered in brightly-painted mosaics...
...And the man loved him the occasional funky chandelier. Or three. In the same room.
Also if you're ever in the area this place has a really neat gift shop.
After two days in Barcelona I practically felt like I lived there, but that was all the time we had--the next day, we were headed to Valencia.
Tune in next time for more of BC's vacation slides lol
In Spring 2017 I was given the opportunity to take an 11-day tour of Spain through a study tour group at my community college. Part of my ability to do this was sheer luck--still living at home with my Mom barely charging me any rent. The other part was spending the better part of a year working my absolute butt off at one of the worst jobs in town (picture the Krusty Krab and you're halfway there) to make the payments. During my stay I took literally 2500+ photos; these are just a handful of highlights.
Since these photos are a LOT to sift through, consider this post a part 1. This covers about the first three days of the trip, all in Barcelona.
Day 1 was almost entirely travel, as we had to get two connecting flights before finally flying overnight to Barcelona, where we arrived in the wee hours of the morning.
On day 2, we took time to shop, explore, and get the lay of the land with the help of our guide. I don't have a ton of great photos from day 2, as I was pretty much out of my mind with jet lag the entire day. Which is fine, because day 3 is where stuff got interesting anyhow.
Day 3:
We started the day by driving up Montjuic, a plateau above Barcelona. I'm not much of a selfie-taker, but given the view, I caved.
From there, we went to Parque Guell, where the magic started:
Parque Guell was originally designed to be an upscale neighborhood by Antoni Gaudi, one of Spain's most famous artists / architects and noted Quirky Dude. Notice the apparent Hansel & Gretel influence in the architecture.
Also there's these lovely yet totally metal stone overhangs everywhere:
Atop the hill is a large city square, and surrounding it are these stone orbs, which together form a giant rosary!
Other interesting notes include the invasive species of wild parrot that lives in the park, and the heavy presence of illegal yet very cool street vendors.
From Parque Guell, it was time to move on to Sagrada Familia. I recall leaving thinking that Guell must be the most beautiful place on Earth. It was about to get pushed to the #2 spot.
The Sagrada Familia is a church that has been under construction since 1882. It has four facades, each covered in statuary depicting an episode of the life of Christ. We approached from the Nativity facade:
It is honestly hard to describe the scale of this place. Furthermore, it's not even half-finished:
This is a scale model depicting the current status of the build. Tan parts are already built. White is the full plan. It's going to be twice as tall.
Having gawked for a suitably long time at the nativity facade, we entered to see the interior:
The first thing you notice is the size of the place. The second thing you notice is the beautiful hues of light.
At first glance I honestly thought this had to be coming from colored bulbs.
Then I realized.
...oh
I could have spent hours in here.
My favorite part, however, was the Passion facade. Notice the VERY different look of these sculptures compared to those on the nativity facade. That's because these sculptures date to the late 80's/early 90's. Which might be why they look like something out of Samurai Jack!
One of the following two statues is my favorite, and which of the two is a toss-up: Joseph in mourning, or the soldiers gambling for Jesus' clothes, peering down at you from on high, as if in the very moment of noticing your intrusion.
Seriously, spotting these guys by accident is VERY much a "When you see it..." moment.
As harshly as they contrast with the 1800's statues, I LOVE these and I'm not even sure they're that far off from Gaudi's vision. According to what remained of his plans (mostly oral reports, as most of his sketches and whatnot were lost in a fire) his intention was for angles to be used in such a way as to direct light and shadow, creating a dramatic chiaroscuro. I think they pulled that off masterfully, and the figures have a tension and weight in them that just isn't present in the classical photorealistic style.
Then food.
We were pretty exhausted from Sagrada Familia, but the day wasn't over yet, and we finished up looking into Gaudi by visiting his official museum--which also happens to be his old house!
Gaudi had a thing about not liking straight lines in his architecture, making this one of the strangest-looking buildings in Barcelona.
Many surfaces are covered in brightly-painted mosaics...
...And the man loved him the occasional funky chandelier. Or three. In the same room.
Also if you're ever in the area this place has a really neat gift shop.
After two days in Barcelona I practically felt like I lived there, but that was all the time we had--the next day, we were headed to Valencia.
Tune in next time for more of BC's vacation slides lol
