A Look Inside My Barcelona
The month of June is slowly coming to an end, and throughout this entire month I have been blessed to experience so many new things. Being blessed to be able to travel across the sea to take my first adventure in another country. I want to be able to share the beautiful things I have been able to see and do with you all; so why don't you take my hand and take a look inside my Barcelona.
Since the first day I arrived in Barcelona I have seen so many beautiful buildings and eaten so many tasty foods. I can’t forget being able to take an international management course that has broaden my horizon on not only the Spanish economy and history but how I would be able to expand my own business into a new country.
Have you ever just walked around your city and gotten lost? Well that’s exactly what me and my friends did. We decided to go to some sights but continuously got off track and found ourselves lost in the beauty and culture of Barcelona. You would believe that it is impossible to walk the entire city of Barcelona but me and my friends would beg to differ.
On the way headed to the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona from Las Ramblas it is not that far of a walk; but if you have friends like mine who love to stray off whenever we see a beautiful building it could take all day. So, as we are walking the street, we find a side street that leads to a circle in the middle that has a beautiful building that we just had to stop at and take pictures. Then on the wall was a graffiti of a bird drinking from a flower. It was the most beautiful thing that we had seen. But let me tell you a secret, me and my friends are all amazing creatives with so many points of views that creates amazing aesthetics together. Then sometimes I am the model, I always get told to go stand there and pose. Which I don’t mind because it is giving me more confidence and also helping me build my model portfolio.
As we try to get back on track, we find another side street that leads to what we believe to be a castle. As we climb up the stairs, we enter the most beautiful garden. There were so many different flowers there of all shades of the rainbow. That are set up in the shape of a circle and in the middle of that circle is a beautiful fountain that has an egg floating on top of the water. As we come to find out that garden is a special place located in Gothic Quarter and they only place the egg in the fountain only once a year. So, our little misadventure leads us to find a rare sight indeed.
As we leave the garden, we head towards the Barcelona Cathedral. As we walked up the Cathedral all I could do was be amazed by all of the architecture that is embedded into the building. Then the thoughts of how this building has made it through centuries and is still standing. It tells you the history of the city of Barcelona and how the city has become the great one that we know today. Then on this day we went it was the holiday of Sant Joan which is also known as the summer solstice. Which is the longest day and shortest night. There were so many great festivities going on.
As we continue to make our way through the city, we decided to stop at this little cafe that was on the side of the cathedral. We didn’t do much of eating, but we did order this 1.5 L sangria. If you think that’s a lot, then don’t! It was five of us traveling throughout the city so divided amount us we each had only 2 cups. Which was fine because it was just a little break for us to rest our legs and feet before we continued the adventure. Once we continued our goal was to get to the Citadel Park but as I mentioned before once you get lost in the beauty of the city you find amazing things that were never planned.
We ended up coming across the Arc De Triomf. This was something that we had planned to see on a different day, but we were so happy that we did see it at that time. The building was so amazing, and the structure of the building was just mesmerizing. All I could think about was how Barcelona was able to preserve such amazing buildings and statues throughout the centuries. I had gained an amazing appreciation for their culture. After about 10 minutes we finally made it to Citadel Park. It almost reminded me of Central Park in New York City. As soon as you walk through the metal gates you hear music and see people all around dancing, laughing, having picnics, and just enjoying the park. One of the most amazing things that we saw was the lake that was in the middle of the park. Then a little further on the other side of the lake was another beautiful building that looks like a castle. The stairs that lead to the top was amazing and it had a beautiful golden statue on the top of the building. Then below in the front was water flowing beautifully down the miniature water fall. It was breath taking; to think that this beautiful building was hidden inside of this park.
That night was one to remember we stayed up all night and watched the fireworks from the rooftop patio. I cooked an amazing dinner and we drank wine. We talked about life, love, politics, and history. We can get together and hold conversations that can last hours. So many different points of views that all have great meaning behind them. We are always able to come to a conscious agreement, which is amazing in my opinion since we all have so many different points of view.
A couple days later we start our next adventure around the city of Barcelona. This time we start at a small restaurant called La Pachuca. It is a small shop it literally only has 3 tables and then it’s the bar area. But in this little shop had the most amazing food and even better co-owner. My two friends Ro and Danica and already been and told us about it. So we all decided to go back, Carlos was excited to see them and happy they bought friends. He was very hospitable towards us; we were bit of a large group, but they made the seating work for us. I had ordered the Tinga Tacos which included chicken, onion, tomato , guacamole, and their secret sauce, with a lemonade. I ordered the 5 tacos thinking that I would be able to finish them myself. Sadly, I was mistaken the chef filled the soft tortilla shells so much that once I tried to lift them to eat either the tortilla would break, or the food would fall out as I tried to bite into it. The food was so good but paired with their fresh lemonade that they served I was feeling not only full but refreshed as well. You see corn syrup is banned in this country so every drink they make they use real sugar which gives it a taste that’s so refreshing it’s hard to forget. My other friends got the shareable; Das orders the guacamole with homage chips and Pico de Gallo. While Danica and Ro shared the nachos pachucos that was made with black beans with cheese, sour cream, coriander and onions and the homemade tortilla chips. Each dish that we ordered was delicious. Then topped with the great hospitality that Carlos showed us made it even better. This was a spot that we will definitely be going back to before we leave. Carlos also let us know that there is a new location opening that he wants us to visit as well.
After that we headed to the fun museum. If you can tell from the title this museum was so much fun. We went to 3 different exhibits while there. We went to the sweet’s museum, the upside-down house, and the dry pool exhibit. Now the sweets museum had to be my favorite. From the strawberry snails on the wall, to the cotton candy wings, to the unicorn. I was in love with everything in sight. In the upside-down house you can guess everything was upside down and it was so interesting to see how life would look if we lived it upside down. To be honest I would be a little dizzy. Then when you hear the word dry pool you wouldn’t think it was just a huge ball pit would you. But that is exactly what it was, and just like a little kid we jumped right in. It was so much fun it took us back to our childhood days. Plus, who wants to grow up, it is amazing to always be a child a heart. That day was so much fun, felt like I had done an entire work out after playing in the ball pit.
The next day we decided to head to the bunker. It is a great local spot where you can see the entire city of Barcelona from a cliff. Now you would think it would take us hours to get there but in reality, it only took us 30 minutes by train and bus. We made it up there in perfect timing to be able to see the sun set. It was such a beautiful site to see. Me and my friends actually got to witness someone get proposed to, which made it even better. You could see everything from the sea to the mountains to the north from the bunker. As the sun set over the mountains, I felt at peace knowing that I was where I was supposed to be.
This trip has been one great adventure as each day passes. We are coming across so many beautiful places that every place has a history behind it. This city is full of culture from over the centuries. It has broadened my knowledge not only about life but about many different people. I have made amazing friends along the way that I have been able to share these experiences with. My adventure isn’t over just yet, and I can’t wait to see what else Barcelona has in stored for me. So, thank you for coming along and taking a look inside my Barcelona.
