Mountains of Montserrat

Monastery

Only two more weeks left in Spain and I wanted to take the time to see everything around Barcelona before I leave. A day trip to the monastery of Montserrat was recommended to me many times last weekend me and a group of girls took a train, a cable car, and yet a smaller train to get to the top of the mountain. The whole mountain is made of sheets of rock that have been worn into round shapes. I've never seen anything like it.

The monastery was gorgeous but a little dark inside so the pictures aren't as clear, but it must have had 200 types of silver and gold lanterns! The monastery is most famous for their statue of the Black Virgin which is the patroness of Catalonia which was crafted from wood in the 12th century.



Looking back from the monastery courtyard



Olives & Wine at Fornalutx

Fornalutx

Going further into the island of Mallorca you get to see the farms of olive, lemon, and orange trees. We had a typical snack of break with tomato and olive oil, wine, and cake (just like home right?) and then got to have a walk around the idealic little town.





Mom, I wish could have been there to see all the flowers, but here you go!!!

Island of Mallorca

If it's good enough for the royal family it's good enough for me. Last weekend our class flew across the Mediterranean (only a 30 minute flight) to land on the island of Mallorca. Mallorca is the largest of the Balearic islands. It gets it's name from the native fighters who were handy with slingshots (ballistics, Balearic, same root word). The first sight of Mallorca and arguably the most beautiful was the cathedral.

Cathedral of Mallorca 

Surrounding the cathedral was the old city, which had this archway left over from the time of the moors. And there were a pair of swans inside, which made it even lovelier.

Archway in old city

The inside of the cathedral was just as breathtaking (the stained glass - WOW). Mallorca has a larger cathedral than either Barcenola or Madrid. And I was surprised to find out that Gaudi had his hand in the restoration of the church. The hanging over the altar and the latern rings around the columns are all his designs.

Inside the Cathedral

The most controversial piece is this side chapel done by Miquel Barceló. It is very modern and all done in plaster. I asked my host mom about it and she hates it lol.

Side chapel

 And after a day of siteseeing it was on to the beach. :D

Beach in Mallorca

 

Inside "The Pedrera"

Being inside Gaudi's Casa Mila also known as "The Pedrera" makes be feel I went inside a cave and a canyon in the middle of Barcelona. I liked the Casa Batllo of his better because it very whimsical, but I could appreciate The Pedrera just on its scale and how livable the house was for a modern person while looking like an enormous boulder. And imagine that this was all built in 1905-1910!

La Pedrera

This is what it looks like from the street. The models below capture how the whole thing looks. It's so large it's hard to fit in one shot!

Side view

Top view

 Inside the foyer of the building. A lot like being in an underground cavern!

Foyer

 I think the chimneys at the top look like storm trooper helmets. :)

The roof

I wouldn't have ever pinned Gaudi as a pioneer of the beige on beige, but in the apartment on the tour there was a lot of natural stone and neutral colors. The rooms where spacious (but no right angles in the corners) and the ceilings were high. It looks more like our houses nowadays that even the houses 30 years ago.  

Hallway

Kitchen counter

Love the floor tiles. 

Dali Museum in Figueres

Last weekend the school as a group took a bus the Costa Brava and on up into the south of France (I would like to buy a "damburgen"!). My favorite stop definitely was the Salvador Dali Museum. Dali actually lived there until he died. When you first see the building you can't help but notice the depictions of bread everywhere and the eggs on top of the building. Dali was obsessed with bread, thinking it gave magical powers.The eggs...well, the study abroad people wanted me to keep this PG so I'll leave that up to you to google (Hint: huevos in Spanish has a double meaning). 

Dali Museum. Those gold dots are actually croissants!

Back of museum. Statue is holding bread.

After leaving the museum I came away with 3 conclusions.

1. Dali was a genius. Pure textbook genius. There was nothing we couldn't do. He painted a picture of Beethoven in 10 minutes using his hands, feet, and ... octopuses. And it was really good. 
2. He adored his wife Gala. After she died he stopped painting and became a recluse. 
3. He was crazy. He had a lot of preoccupations, one being he thought he was the incarnation of his older brother also named Salvador Dali who died before him. He had a broken relationship with his family and had a terrible phobia of death. But he was extremely productive. Here is a sample of some of his works.

Dali's first Surrealist painting

Gala

Inside the Casa Batlló

In case I didn't mention before my classes go from 1-5 PM which at first sounds great (yey sleep!) but if you're a creature of habit that will never sleep past 8 AM anyway, you're kind of stumped with what to do in the mornings. Yesterday I went shopping (Spain has awesome leather shoes btw), but that can't go on or rather my money can't go that long. This morning I thought that since the two famous Gaudi houses are on my way to school I'd do the inside tours in the morning. Today it was the Casa Batlló, and next week I'll go inside the Casa Milà. Viewing the inside of the Casa Batlló was worth forgoing a pair of shoes. :)

Living Room

The view looks out onto Passeig de Gracia (where the nice stores are). Those blue glass circles helped to filter the light.

Another shot of living room

Close up of ceiling.

The ceiling of the living room was crafted to mimic the movement of a water eddie. Gorgeous.

Terrace

On the roof

Close up of roof

 I like how the backbone of the house looks like it has shells on it.

The Attic

If St. George slaying the dragon was the inspiration for the Casa Batlló then the attic would be the dragon's ribcage. You can tell how big it was from the woman in the picture.
 

Inner courtyard

Probably one of my favorite things in the house was the inner couryard/stairwell. It went all the way to the top of the house and this picture does't capture it very well but the whole space reflected blue.

Beach at Sitges

Today I got real homework, so I'm at home reading an article about the Spanish Civil War, but I thought I'd take a break and tell you about my weekend.

Sitges

Yesterday was a national holiday in Spain, so since we didn't have class we went to the beach. :) Now, Barcelona has a beach but it's kind of rocky and you have to be very aware of pickpockets, so we took a 30 minute train ride to Sitges. After having a lunch of crepes with chocolate and Nutella, it was on to the playa. The sun was hot and the water was salty and cold. Couldn't get any better.

Haha, hola?