Barcelona, great place for arts and culture ♥

*Beware: long post with plenty pictures ahead*

Alright, time to jot down my travel journal :D Been travelling around Europe 2 weeks ago. Managed to visit Barcelona, Valencia, Paris, Venice and Rome. It was great and after all of it I love Spain the most and Rome comes next :D There are so much to share so much to tell, I guess I have to do it little by little..maybe start with the place I love the most - Barcelona!

Yeah, I visited Barcelona and Valencia in Spain and really like Barcelona a lot. It's a city filled with unique arts and architecture. I especially love one of the cathedral designed by Antoni Gaudi. It's called the Sagrada Familia [click here]. Yes, I shall feature this cathedral before others :D It was really unique and it is the first time I seen such design on a cathedral. It's like a double twin tower haha The details of its designs are amazing. Plus, it is still under construction and the buildings are not finished yet, not so in many years to come. Amazing, isn't it?

There was a really really long queue to go in and we didn't get in. Just admire it from the surrounding. There's so much details to see actually.

I'm always amazed by designers or architects, how they could come out with such designs and how long does it takes them to design every bit of it? It could seem forever..

Arc De Triomf. Famous design of an arc you get to see in Paris and Rome too and maybe in London I think. lol It is near one of the metro station and so, we started our journey from here :)

Then, we walked further till we come to Parc de la Ciutadella and there was a fountain, the Cascada (means waterfall in Spanish), which looks like some palace garden fountain or sort. It was beautiful. Love it :) Just found out that the design of this fountain was inspired by the famous Trevi Fountain in Rome (which was one of my fav place in Rome too!!) It does has some similarity with that one in Rome. The architect of this fountain was in fact assisted by Antoni Gaudi who was a student at that time.

A closer look at the fountain features. If not mistaken, it took 6 years for it to complete. Those days architects really spent their precious time building great buildings and structures.

This was in the park itself too. People jogs and do some little sports here like cycling or boating at the lake though I haven't seen anyone sat in the boat that time. It was just left on the lake untouched. The picture above actually shows a policeman with his horse. It is not for the public to go for a horse ride but used by the police to chase some thieves or crimes around. lol ancient eh.

This is part of the city in Barcelona ;) They have tall modernized buildings too. Found out that these two buildings are called the twin towers at Port Olympic. I don't know why they called it twin tower. To me, twin tower is Petronas KLCC which looks more similar to each other lol

No idea what this was but it looks to me like a satellite to communicate with some aliens (watched too much of Jimmy Neutron) I guess it's just some random piece of art. haha

Reached the Olympic port. Love capturing boats or yacht actually. Like how those poles stretch into the sky with the strings with so many boats together.

Nearby the port is this fish made out of bronze metal I think. It is called the Peix (Golden fish). Looks more to me like a fish with its head chopped off. ahah the picture is taken from afar, otherwise you wouldn't be able to figure out what it was when standing beneath it because it's hollow in the inside or you could say from below. You will think what shit is this when you arrived there but when you got away from it you see an art.

Now this was the best part too. Barceloneta Beach!! Further next to this beach is the Icaria beach connected to it. It's quite a long beach that you could walk. Love the waves of the sea, so strong and splashing high you just want to dive in and sway with the waters. Plus, the weather was good too. Spain was pretty warm when we were there.

See how strong the waves are?! We were not prepared for a beach day so, we just stroll by the beach.

Weather was so good people still lie on the shore sunbathing and play in the sea water. There are indeed some people who tried to surf because of the waves.

Yes, if you noticed it again the water is really blue. Will miss this kind of sea water when I'm back in Malaysia.

It was raining a little, so we decided to find some shade. This is the Market of la Boqueria. The seafood and fishes sold here are kinda extreme. lol

The pig's leg. Actually I'm quite disgusted by this. I'm not a pork fan anyway and to see this makes me not liking it even more. lol

And I'm not sure what is this. It looks like some alligators staring right through your bones. lol *ggrrrrh*

One thing I love about this place is the colours that filled the market. There were all sorts of fruits, vegetables, fishes, colourful drinks, seafood and the famous local food, Tapas! hmm, should have taken more of such photos.

After walking too much, we finally settled down for some food. This is the famous local food in Spain, Paella! To be exact, it is actually a Valencian dish. You can find it almost everywhere on the street. Of course, it's not that cheap actually. The price differ according to the place you eat. The more high class restaurant it is the more expensive. It ranges from 7 euro to 20+ euro I think. And it's always served in that big pan. You just have to finish it. haha

The above picture is the Seafood Paella. There are three types, you can order either Seafood, Valencian (vegetable, meat, beans) or Mixed (any combination of both) Paella. Basically, it's some sticky rice (like Risotto) with the seafood like shrimp, mussels, cuttlefish, tomatoes and some beans plus their seasoning. The rice is kinda fat when cooked and can be quite filling after eating quarter of it and then you feel sick of the taste haha

They even sell the Paella pan at the shops. There are various sizes of it.

Well, apart from food, the lifestyle of people here. You're either a street artist or street living statue or a mobile musicians. There is one street we walked that were filled with many artists sitting and drawing or painting to earn a living. I don't know how they could earn much with so many competitors around.

This is the street living statue. You dropped in a coin into their pot and they'll do something for you. Most of the time for you to take photo with them and then they'll returned to the statue state. Hard earning job eh. Once a robber run away with that pot of money, their long hard day of sweats being a statue just gone into waste. lol

Lastly, the mobile musicians. Usually, they will have a portable speaker they pull along with them like a trolley. Then, they'll choose the right timing to board the train and once the door is close, they start their music. After a while, there will be ppl walking down the aisle passing hat for money. Indeed, I've never thought that people could play in the train like giving free musics actually. But I have to say that some do produced some good musics.

The next day, we head up to the Nou Camp or Camp Nou, the football stadium in Barcelona. Famous for the place where FC Barcelona had their trainings. There is a museum or gallery inside where you can go for a short tour they call it Camp Nou Experience [click here]. I did not enter the stadium and the museum as it was quite costly, around 20euro for an entrance. Plus, I'm not so much of a die-hard fans of them so walking around the stadium and the megastore are more than enough :P

FC Botiga, the official merchandise megastore, two levels of all sorts of souvenirs. Seriously, like everything that you could think of they will have a Camp Nou souvenir made for it. For example, a dog food bowl for your pet or pencil for your kids, scarf, luggage, key chain, mug, cap, wallet etc

some mugs, magnets, key chains and chips if not mistaken.

Jerseys are quite expensive of course and it differs for different player names. For example, Messi's jersey are around 80 to 90 euro if not mistaken and some not so famous player i guess, their jersey is cheaper like around 60euro which is still expensive. haha

Next, we visited the West part of Barcelona city, Montjuic area. It is a huge place of nature and of course very scenic from above. You can either walk up the hill or take the cable.

You can see the whole of Barcelona city from above. I love going up to high places and look over the city. You get to see different types of arrangement of buildings when you're above and you could see how organized or disorganized the city was. haha

There's a castle on top of the hill. It's really windy from up here and I love the environment here. It's peaceful and quiet up here.

This is the view from over the edge of the castle. That should be the port where the containers are stored. Spent some time overlooking this amazing place before heading back :)

If you were to ask me which country I would visit again, definitely Spain! :)

Why? because Valencia was great too. Don't worry, next up, will be Valencia.

Hope you enjoy the photos ;D

*The last few photos are taken with my phone because camera battery K.O. haha*

*hope it doesn't takes too much of your time to load those photos :p*