i only stay here for 2 days. that was not enough i needed another 2-3 days here. beautiful city. i took the bus turista tour. it is 14 euro. it takes you all over the city. you can get off anytime you want. the next bus comes around every 10mins. the subway system is easy.

i would like to come back to visit the miro museum and picasso museum.

Barcelona is the capital and most populous city of Catalonia and the second largest city in Spain, with a population of 1,605,602 in 2006, while the population of the Metropolitan Area was 3,161,081. It is the central nucleus of the Urban Region of Barcelona, which relies on a population of 4,856,579. It is located on the Mediterranean coast ( [show location on an interactive map] 41°23′N, 2°11′E) between the mouths of the rivers Llobregat and Besòs and is limited to the west by the Serra de Collserola ridge (512 m/1,680 ft).

Barcelona is a major economic centre with one of Europe's principal Mediterranean ports, and Barcelona International Airport is the second largest in Spain. Founded as a Roman city, Barcelona became the capital of the Counts of Barcelona and the Crown of Aragon. Besieged several times during its history, Barcelona is today an important cultural centre and a major tourist destination and has a rich cultural heritage. Particularly renowned are architectural works of Antoni Gaudí and Lluís Domènech i Montaner that have been designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The city is well known in recent times for hosting the 1992 Summer Olympics.

As the capital of Catalonia, Barcelona houses the seat of the Catalan government, known as the Generalitat de Catalunya; of particular note are the executive branch, the parliament, and the Supreme Court of Catalonia. The city is also the capital of the county (comarca) of the Barcelonès.

History

The foundation of Barcelona is the subject of two different legends. The first attributes the founding of the city to Hercules 400 years before the building of Rome and that it was rebuilt by the Carthaginian Hamilcar Barca, father of Hannibal, who named the city Barcino after his family, in the 3rd century BC. The second legend attributes the foundation directly to Hamilcar Barca.

About 15 BC, the Romans redrew the town as a castrum (Roman military camp) centred on the "Mons Taber", a little hill near the contemporary city hall (Plaça de Sant Jaume). Under the Romans, it was a colony with the surname of Faventia, or, in full, Colonia Faventia Julia Augusta Pia Barcino or Colonia Julia Augusta Faventia Paterna Barcino. Mela[7] mentions it among the small towns of the district, probably as it was eclipsed by its neighbour Tarraco (modern Tarragona); but it may be gathered from later writers that it gradually grew in wealth and consequence, favoured as it was with a beautiful situation and an excellent harbour.It enjoyed immunity from imperial burdens.The city minted its own coins; some from the era of Galba survive.

Some important Roman ruins are exposed under the Plaça del Rei, entrance by the city museum (Museu d'Història de la Ciutat), and the typically Roman grid-planning is still visible today in the layout of the historical centre, the Barri Gòtic ("Gothic Quarter"). Some remaining fragments of the Roman walls have been incorporated into the cathedral.[10] The cathedral, also known as basilica La Seu is said to have been founded in 343. The city was conquered by the Visigoths in the early fifth century, by the Moors in the early eighth century, reconquered from the emir in 801 by Charlemagne's son Louis who made Barcelona the seat of Carolingian "Spanish Marches" (Marca Hispanica), a buffer zone ruled by the Count of Barcelona. Barcelona was still a Christian frontier territory when it was sacked by Al-Mansur in 985.

The Counts of Barcelona became increasingly independent and expanded their territory to include all of Catalonia, later the Crown of Aragon which conquered many overseas possessions, ruling the western Mediterranean Sea with outlying territories in Naples and Sicily and as far as Athens in the thirteenth century. The forging of a dynastic link between the Crowns of Aragon and Castile marked the beginning of Barcelona's decline.

Beaches

Barcelona has seven beaches, totalling 4.5 km (2.8 mi) of coastline. Sant Sebastià and Barceloneta beaches, both 1,100 m (3,610 ft) in length,are the largest, oldest and the most frequented beaches in Barcelona. The Olympic port separates them from the other city beaches: Nova Icària, Bogatell, Mar Bella, Nova Mar Bella and Llevant. These beaches (ranging from 400 to 640 m/1,300 to 2,100 ft) were opened as a result of the city restructuring to host the 1992 Summer Olympics, when a great number of industrial buildings were demolished. At present, the beach sand is replenished from quarries given that storms regularly remove large quantities of material. Greenpeace has criticized the beaches as environmentally unsustainable and as prejudicial to sea bed flora and fauna. The 2004 Universal Forum of Cultures left the city a large concrete bathing zone sited near the municipal incinerator and a sewage treatment plant.

Other

The area around the Plaça Catalunya makes up the city's historical centre and, alongside the upper half of Avinguda Diagonal, is the main commercial area of the city. Barcelona has several commercial complexes, like L'Illa in the higher part of the Diagonal avenue and Diagonal Mar in the lowest, La Maquinista, Glòries in the place of the same name and the Maremagnum by the port.

Barcelona has several skyscrapers, the highest being the Hotel Arts and its twin the Torre Mapfre, both 154 m (505 ft) high, followed by the newest Torre Agbar 144 m (472 ft) high.

Entertainment and performing arts

Barcelona has many venues for live music and theatre, including the world-renowned Gran Teatre del Liceu opera theatre, the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya, the Teatre Lliure and the Palau de la Música Catalana concert hall. Barcelona also is home to the Sónar Music Festival which takes place around June every year, and to the Barcelona and Catalonia National Symphonic Orchestra (Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, usually known as OBC) is the largest symphonic orchestra in Catalonia. In 1999, the OBC inaugurated its new venue in the brand-new Auditorium (l'Auditori). It performs around 75 concerts per season and its current director is Eiji Oue. It has a thriving alternative music scene, with groups such as The Pinker Tones receiving international attention.

Museums

Barcelona houses a great number of museums, which cover different areas and eras. The National Museum of Art of Catalonia possesses a well-known collection of Romanesque art while the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art focuses on post-1945 Catalan and Spanish art. The Fundació Joan Miró, Picasso Museum and Fundació Antoni Tàpies hold important collections of these world-renowned artists.

Several museums cover the fields of history and archeology, like the City History Museum, the Museum of the History of Catalonia, the Archaeology Museum of Catalonia, the Barcelona Maritime Museum and the private-owned Egiptian Museum. The Erotic museum of Barcelona is among the most peculiar ones, while Cosmocaixa is a science museum that received the European Museum of the Year Award in 2006.

Architecture

The Barri Gòtic ("Gothic Quarter" in Catalan) is the centre of the old city of Barcelona. Many of the buildings date from medieval times, some from as far back as the Roman settlement of Barcelona. Catalan modernisme architecture (often known as Art Nouveau in the rest of Europe), developed between 1885 and 1950 and left an important legacy in Barcelona. A great number of these buildings are World Heritage Sites. Especially remarkable is the work of architect Antoni Gaudí, which can be seen throughout the city. His best known work is the immense but still unfinished church of the Sagrada Família, which has been under construction since 1882, and is still financed by private donations. As of 2007, completion is planned for 2026.

Barcelona won the 1999 RIBA Royal Gold Medal for its architecture,the first (and as of 2007, only) time that the winner has been a city, and not an individual architect.

Public transportation (is one of the best)

Barcelona is served by a comprehensive local public transport network that includes a metro, a bus network, two separate tram networks (one of them, the Tramvia Blau,[42] connects to the Funicular del Tibidabo), and several funiculars and aerial cable cars. The Barcelona Metro network comprises nine lines, identified by an "L" followed by the line number as well as by individual colours. Most of the network is operated by the Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB), but three lines are FGC commuter lines that run through the city. When finished, the L9 will be the second longest underground metro line in Europe with 42.6 km; only shorter than London's 76 km Central Line.

The TMB also operates the city's tram networks, known as Trambaix and Trambesòs, and the city's daytime bus network, as well as a tourist bus service. The night bus network, known as Nitbus, is operated by Mohn. Transports Ciutat Comtal operates the regular Tomb Bus (along the Diagonal avenue) and Aerobus (to the airport) services. Other companies operate services that connect the city with towns in the metropolitan area.

The Funicular de Montjuïc climbs the Montjuïc hill. The Vallvidrera and Funicular de Tibidabo funiculars climb the Tibidabo hill. The city has two aerial cable cars: one to the Montjuïc castle and another that runs via Torre Jaume I and Torre Sant Sebastia over the port.

Barcelona is a major hub for RENFE, the Spanish state railway network, and its main intercity train station is Barcelona-Sants station. The AVE high-speed rail system was recently extended from Madrid to Tarragona in southern Catalonia, and is expected to reach Barcelona by 2007. Renfe cercanías/rodalies and the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC) run Barcelona's widespread commuter train service.

The Estació del Nord (Northern Station), a former train station that was renovated for the 1992 Olympic Games, now serves as the terminus for long-distance and regional bus services.

Barcelona has a metered taxi fleet governed by the Institut Metropolità del Taxi (Metropolitan Taxi Institute), composed of more than 10,000 cars. Most of the licenses are in the hands of self-employed drivers.[43] With their black and yellow livery, Barcelona's taxis are easily spotted.

On March 22, 2007[44], Barcelona's City Council started the Bicing service, a bicycle service understood as a public transport. Once the user has their user card, they can take a bicycle from any of the 100 stations spread around the city and use it anywhere the urban area of the city, and then leave it at another station. The service has been a success, with 50,000 subscribed users in three months.[46]

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The building is very interesting and should be quite an impressive place when finished. However, right now there's absolutely no reason to go inside. There are very beautiful stained glass windows (2 of them are finished) and nice ceilings, but apart from that there's just nothing to see. The price of 9 euros is absolutely not justified. You can get up the towers, but have to wait for at least an hour in the queue and pay additional 1 or 2 euros. Insulting. Just stand outside and appreciate the building without entering the site itself. Cheers!

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HOTEL ARTS BARCELONA +34-93-221-1000 www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/Barcelona/Information/Default.htm I purchased a couple of Ritz-Carlton vouchers and used them for my two night stay at the Hotel Arts Barcelona. I was extremely pleased with the experience. The vouchers allowed me to book a club level room. This allowed 24-hour access to a private lounge offering free food and beverages, gorgeous views of the city and Mediterranean seafront, and a dedicated concierge. I discovered that the 42-story, 450-room hotel was built for the 1992 Summer Olympics. I think almost every amenity you can imagine was offered; however, we were too busy sightseeing and enjoying beautiful Barcelona to take advantage of most of them. The concierge made a fabulous recommendation for dinner one evening and took care of all details, including getting us a premium table, having the English-speaking chef make recommendations and arranging transportation. I could get used to living like a king :-D Staying a Hotel Arts Barcelona was an epicurean delight. I can’t think of a more lovely way to start a three-week European vacation.

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We were extremely happy with our stay at Ally's. Our host, Graciela, was really friendly and helpful, and told us the best places to visit and what to avoid in the city. Very good location near Passeig de Gracia, but away from the noisy, overpriced Ramblas.

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Fallamos con Londres y sus fucking restricciones para entrar a su pais. Entonces arrancamos para otro lado, mucho no nos preocupaba... el mundo era nuestro   

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Bueno Barcelona es un sitio obligado para conocer aunque al parecer es muy caro...ya ví un hostal barato y céntrico...hay otros hoteles baratos pero muy lejanos de Barcelona y pues prefiero sacrificar la privacidad que te da tu propia habitación en un hotel y ahorrarme una lana durmiendo en una habitación con un chingo de gente...será una nueva experiencia.

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Back in Barcelona, Betty was eagerly awaiting my arrival. She really missed me, she said, and I missed her too. So I went to Llavaneras with her that day to spend some final time together. She made arroz negro (rice with octopus ink) for lunch and taught me how to make gazpacho, accompanied by her famous sangría. She got a little emotional as we ate lunch and talked and it just broke my heart. She is the most incredible person I've met and I know that she is sincerely going to miss me. I told her I'd miss her just as much, but she shook her head and said it's different because I have a loving family and wonderful friends waiting for me at home. She doesn't have much joy at this point in her life aside from Aisa (sometimes) and me. Nothing like that to make you count your blessings. But she promised to visit the US someday when her life becomes a little less chaotic, and I am holding her to that offer. She has made the past six months of my life nothing short of incredible, so it's the least I can do to offer her some kind of repayment.

So I left Llavaneras to spend my last few nights experiencing the true Barcelona nightlife with my friends in some of our favorite clubs. It was a very appropriate way to go out, except for the absurd behavior of Tony, our 30-something Pakistani bartender friend who is actually going crazy dealing with my departure. Tony, the king of Spanglish, said to me, "If you go, you will break my corazón. And I will not trabajar ever again. I will just dormir because I can't live without my princesa." This whole time we thought his silly crush on me was just a joke, but it turns out his attempts to get me to stay were actually serious, as was portrayed by his actual crying. So that's rather unfortunate, but what do you do in that sort of situation? You go home, that's what. Why is my life so awkward?

My last night in Barcelona was el Día de Sant Joan, in which everyone stays up all night and parties on the beach sets off fireworks. Except it's not quite like Independence Day in the US because people set off their own, individual fireworks and it's fun, but just one big dangerous mess, what with screaming children and explosives everywhere. Go figure. So despite the danger, my friends and I stayed on the beach until I left around 4 am to go get my bags, say goodbye to Betty (she told me to wake her to say goodbye) and head over to the airport for my 7 am flight. (Needless to say, I slept for about 14 hours straight when I arrived home.)

So with that, I was ready to go home.

Aside from the fact that I will miss Betty and my friends and some aspects of Spanish culture immensely, I was ready to be home. I've learned this past semester that travelling the world is extremely important to me, but after all is said and done, there's no place like home.

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today Kevin and I went to some park that Guadi made or something.  it had a great view overlooking the city.  we had some trouble getting on a few wrong busses but it sure made it exciting.  kevin did some laundry today and talked with a lady who said this is the hotest it has been in the 3 years she has been here.  well that is why i am feeling so tired and drained afer waking up in the morning.  well tonight is the big night.  the euro 2008 finals are on between Germany and Spain.  this could get crazy either if the spanish win or loose.  pray that we are safe but still have a great time.  I am secretly rooting for Germany but wont let any of the spanish know.i feel all sticky and nasty but my towel just got washed and they dont have dryers so we are hanging all of our stuff out to dry.  so i will probably have to wait until after the game.  Tomorrow we are off to Madrid which is sapposed to be 90 or something the first day we are there.  good thing we have airconditioning!

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So I just love this city.  Kevin and I just walked around and fell in love with it.  We have just scratched the surface.  We were going to a grociery store and ran into so many neat stores and i actually went in all of them.  I think kevin was getting a little bored by the end but the craftiness of the stuff was crazy.  I just wanted to buy everything i saw.  We are going to check out the goudi stuff tomorrow morning and then have a siesta because it is so hot here.  in the evening i think we are going to go to the pocaso museum.  We made our own dinner tonight and it was actually pretty good.  it looked terrible but for about $3 each it was a steal.  we threw a bunch of random stuff in it and it turned out great.

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Well me made it to Barcelona!  The night train was interesting.  when we walked into our cabin there was a man in very revealing underware and omitting a very strong oddor.  BO!  I realized then that we have been so blessed to not have to ride in any smelling trains so far.  the only saving grace was that we were on the bottom level so i stuck my head by the air vent and fell asleep.  i took some sleeping pills so i wouldnt wake up as much throughout the night. it worked but i am so groggy today.  i am excited to walk along las ramblas . it looks amazing.  the hostel we are staying at looks okay.  it does give us free internet but no skype.  

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this will be the end of journey..
well if we catch that plain
'cos our ferrie from ibiza is coming at 7.15 and our plain is leaving at 9.45
so, help us good!
:)

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I try to make plan of visiting Barsa, like:
20.7 fountain montjuic and city bus tour by ourselves (plaza de espana, sagrada, etc), we will not use hop out hop in buses 'cos we will by T4-card
21.7 park guell, aquarium,  flamenco night
22.7 pedrera, picaso, gothic village
23.7 chek out from our rooms, go to wax museum or tibidabo sky walk..
i am not shure yet

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Last Friday we had a small TB get together and Manel took us to the most exciting place! It was located very close from the Barcelona´s City Hall and from the outside it looks like a clothing store. You go in and you see all these clothes in both sides, but if you keep going until the very end of the corridor you find a red courtain... and behind it, you find this excelent restaurante! It was not dinner time, so we just sat down to have a couple of drinks... by the way, order a "Mojito"... they are incredible! It is a Sushi place, but if you don´t like raw fish, you also have other dishes... the inside is spectacular, very well decorated and in a couple of tables you find very comfortable sofas! Music was very good too! I just wish we had time to have dinner there, it looked really cooool! Well, a week later I decided to go for dinner there. I booked a table in the morning and we got there around 10pm. Although I am not a fan of this type of food I loved it! the presentation was awesome, very good indeed! So nice that I had to take some photos...hahah I am attaching some of them. Again, we had "mojitos" and I must say they were the best I have ever had. If you go there don´t miss the opportunity and order one or two :) Dinner for two was around 70 euros, so not bad at all considering we had a full dinner!

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It was Friday the 16th and Delphine and I had planned to go to the Montserrat. Montserrat is about 30-40min away from Barcelona by train. I went to sleep at 2+ on Thursday night after my night out with Marcus, so I was really zombified the next morning when Delphine woke me up at 8ish to get ready. We took some time washing up and eating breakfast (well, i did. but come on, i'm on a vacation! haha). We only reached Monserrat at 12ish cos the train only leaves hourly and we had to take some mini railway up the mountains. It started raining, so we had our lunch first, after which we headed to the touristy grounds. 

We entered some church. Delphine says that there's a Virgin Mary in the church, so we walked in and there was what looked like a short queue at the side waiting to walk up to the 2nd floor at the front of the church to meet Virgin Mary. 

While we were in the line,

me: so what do we do when we're in front of the mary? i'm not catholic so i don't know what to do. i think the people in this line are actually catholics and queuing up for religious purposes
delphine: i'm not catholic too but i guess we could just go and see?
me: erm ok.

about 2 minutes later, we moved forward. it was then that i got a full view on how awfully long the queue was. i didn't really wanna queue up only to end up facing mother mary and saying 'hi' (that was the only think i could think of doing, you can't take photos) and risk getting sinned. so i told delphine i'd wait for her in the church till she's done. so there i was sitting in the church, admiring the architecture and watching this guy in front of me deep in prayer. his head was resting on the backrest of the bench in front of him, he might as well be sleeping, but i'm sure he was praying.

so anyway, delphine came out after that with a korean boy who was in the line with her. His name is Hans and he's on a vacation in Barcelona as well. So we walked around for a bit and then caught the train back.

That night, i headed to Sitges to meet Manuel and J.C. the ride on the train took about 30 minutes. not long after i reached, i saw a familiar looking guy walking towards me and he was smiling so i pretty much guessed he was J.C. We said our greetings and talked for a while. My, he's one bubbly guy. I liked him immediately. about 5-10 min later, manuel arrived in his sleek BMW and the two guys started arguing in very rapid spanish about what i can only make out as manuel being late (thanks to my poor spanish). but the guys assured me that this is how they usually speak to each other.

so we went to a little restaurant (i remember it has the name "pinky" and that tickled me a bit). had dinner and a good chat with the guys. what i enjoyed most was listening to them talk to each other in rapid spanish and trying to decipher what they were saying. i was happy i managed to pick out some words and piece them together but i definitely didn't understand everything. once in a while, manuel would turn to me to translate (even though he assumed i understood most of it).

after dinner, we walked around and the guys tried to tell me more about the little town. there was a beautiful church by the sea. 

We then spent some time taking silly photos (i seem to be doing a lot of that, aren't i). well this time it involved another form of adventure in the air (read: Granada), as J.C. scooped me up at the count of 3. i totally didn't see it coming. these things keep happening and i'm starting to believe i'm really not that heavy after all. after walking down the narrow streets of Sitges (i love them, they're so pretty!), we headed to a pub for drinks. At 1ish, they walked me to the bus stop to take a night bus back to barcelona. it was a good night spent with great guys! :) 

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Back in Barcelona, with my incredibly mixed feelings. Worked my butt off (wrote two papers, all in Spanish, of ten pages each in one week), and this morning, I sent my last work off to my professor... So now I´m done!

I´ll miss Betty while I´m gone, and I´ll only have three days left in Barcelona when I return, but it is a much-welcomed departure. Tonight, I´m going to Tony´s to bid him farewell, and heading off to the south of Spain. Tomorrow morning, I´ll arrive in Sevilla with two of my girlfriends, and more fun and wild adventures will ensue. Can´t wait!

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