I fell in love with Barcelona infinetely. First time I was in Barcelona during my holidays in Costa Brava when I was 14 years old and I went there for 1day trip but it definetely wasn't enough to feel the atmosphere of this city. I mean , it was nice to see all the important monuments, Sagrada Familia, Parc güell etc., but I'd just rather to have visited less, but more precisely.
Barcelona, Parc del Guinardó
That was why I wanted to spend most of my weekends in Barcelona. Of course sometimes my laziness took over me and I just stayed home in Solsona ;)
If someone wanted me to compare Barcelona to another place in the world, the only thing that would come to my mind is European California. Tho I've never been to Cali, I just feel this is the most accurate comparition. When I'm walking from the Port Vell to The Barceloneta beach, and I see all those people cruisin' their longboards in the sun, I just think this is how California should look like. Just this is the European one, because of the long history, culture and traditions. Amazing architecture in Barcelona is mostly made by Gaudi - of course there are some interesting modern buildings, but Sagrada Familia and Parc Güell are the ones Barcelona is recognized for.
But there’s one thing you should be aware of before visiting this city. Barcelona is over-crowded and it’s easy just to feel tired there. That’s why I’m not the biggest fan of Sagrada Familia – there are just too many tourists around it. Actually last time I was there, I Heard more Polish than Spanish or Catalan…
So when I’m walking down Barrio Gotico, I like to go to smaller street where you can find more locals than tourists. Last time I was doing shopping in one of those street, I was asked by sales assistant if I was from Barcelona. For someone who’s so much in love with this city as I am, there couldn’t be more beautiful thing to hear ;)
Sant Esteve Sesrovires
Last weekend during my stay in Catalonia, I went to Barcelona and made a trip to Parc del Guinardó. This place isn’t so famous so I baryle met any tourist there. To get there, I had to go to the last stop of the tube (don’t remember which line was that, but it was near the hospital), walk up about 20 minutes and then start to climb a hill. The only people I've met where Catalan families having afternoon picnic .I made terrible mistake not waiting till the evening to go there – it was just too hot, but the view was so worth it ! You could see all the city, its structure, and Sagrada familia looked way more beautiful from there.
After visiting Parc del Guinardó I went by train to Sant Esteve Sesrovires, a town where parental grandparents live and that weekend was a local fiesta there. By the way I loved going by these suburban trains - like you know, no tourists are going by these ones so there's just you and local people which always made me feel like I was local too.
When I arrived, grandparents and children were already waiting for me. We went home just for a bit and then we were supposed to watch the fireworks march.
Los Gigantes
Probably now you're thinking - yeah,fire works, typical for any fiesta. Not this time !
As each Spanish town, sant Esteve de Sesrovires also has narrow streets. And when there's firework show like that, people have to close the windows,the door, and actually that only protects them from burns etc., but some windows were broken anyway .
I thought why is this fun? I mean, shouldn't it be more...careless? And just fun? Not dangerous like that?
People think the same but more important for them is that this is a tradition they want to keep...
Next day the main attraction were ...Los gigantes !
Children love them and every town is very proud of their gigantes if they have ones. So what are they ?
Los gigantes are kind of big marionettes which are used only during fiestas. Other days they rest in city department and when the day of fiesta comes, people wear their costumes and then dance with other gigantes . Quite simple, but still creative.
There was one more important thing on this fiesta - the lottery. Spanish people love lotteries. Always, no matter what you can win . In this lottery each vote won - sometimes it could be a chewing gum , but still it was some prize . The biggest prize was... Pig thigh. Exactly - jamón serrano. One of the best things in Spanish cuisine. Some people say you don't know Spain if you didnt taste that ham and I can absolutely agree with that(not only jamón Serrano, but also paella, chorizo , etc...)
The cost of something like that is around 60-80€. And guess who won that...yeah, my host family . I really didn't expect coming back to Solsona with part of an animal in the car...
In Catalonia I also camped and spent the night by the..swamp. At least that's what all my 'pizzeria' friends said.
the swamp, that I spent the night at
But when we arrived there , the swamp turned out to be amazing lake, just perfect one to chill out there with some beers and other stuff ;) When we woke up in the morning, everybody walking past us was just saying "Bon Dia!" And I was quite surprised, in fact we didn't do anything bad but I just don't think that people in Poland would be so happy about seeing someone sleeping by the lake in the morning ;)
the forest close to my house in Solsona
Thanks to my stay in Catalonia I learnt how to love life and enjoy it , how to be happy about the fact that sun is shining or about wonderful food. I also learnt that happiness is nothing if you don't share it with someone else. Spanish people have enormous families which was new thing for me. In my family even during Christmas we meet in 7-8 people maximum and people there meet in 16-18 persons just for casual dinner in the middle of the week. If I had to describe in one sentence what this trip taught me , I would just sum it up - " Disfruta la vida"/enjoy the life/.