Blonde and Abroad: The Tales of a SoCal Girl Living la Vie Parisienne: Spring Break in Barcelona and Ibiza

For this break, my friend, Aaron, and I decided to visit places that were not only warmer than Paris, but were also very culturally different from Paris and from other places that we had visited before. Thus, we decided on Barcelona and Ibiza, and after this trip, I can confidently say that Barcelona lived up to its reputation as a cool and alternative city while Ibiza lived up to its reputation as the party capital of the world (apart from being a beautiful and historical place to visit, of course)! wink emoticon

Day 1: Barcelona

Similar to our last trip, our trip did not start out on the right foot. Not only was Aaron very sick the day before and was unsure until 5:00am the morning of our 8:00am flight that he was fit to fly, but I myself got food poisoning from our lunch in Barcelona and was too unfit to fully sight-see. Thus, we spent the majority of the first day of our vacation in our beds at our hostel, but resting and taking it easy allowed us both to recuperate and to be ready to go tomorrow and for week ahead.

The Cathedral of Barcelona

The Gothic Quarter

Place Reial

The Columbus Monument

Day 2: Barcelona

Refreshed after a good night of sleep, we set out for Park Guell, one of the Catalan modernist architect Antoni Gaudi's major works in Barcelona.

Gaudi's residence

One of Gaudi's structures

Gaudi's house from afar with Barcelona below

The view from Cross Point, which offers the highest view of the park

The Cross Point

Barcelona from above (The Basilica Sagrada Familia is a smidge to the left)

More of Gaudi's structures in the heart of the park

2 hour Gaudi and Modernism Walking Tour:

Modernism was an artistic movement that took root here in Barcelona beginning in 1888 up until 1910. Although other forms of modernism flourished in other countries under names such as Art Nouveau in France or Sezession in Austria-Hungrary, it acquired its own personality in Catalonia and thus has become particularly important and endemic to the city. It was representative of the revival of Catalan culture and helped spurn the city's industrial and urban expansion at the time. Concerning its qualities, modernists largely rejected bourgeois values and adopted two stances: they either set themselves apart from society by incarning bohemian or culturalist attitudes or they attempted to use art to change the rules and restrictions set by society. We were fortunate to see many of Barcelona's important modernist buildings along this tour (as architecture was the main form of expression for Catalonian architects) and here are some photos taken along this tour.

The exterior of the Catalan Music Hall

Place de l'Espanya

Domenech's house to the right and Gaudi's to the left, two examples
of modernist architecture

Casa Mila

The Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's church that has been constructed since 1887
with hopes of being finished in the next 20 or so years

Statues depicting scenes from the Bible

The breath-taking interior

The stain glass windows illuminating during the sun's descent

The photo that

Casa Mila: Another Gaudi masterpiece

The roof and chimneys of Casa Mila;
These chimney structures are said to have influenced
the design of George Lucas' StarWars stormtrooper characters!

The Sagrada Familia

A few photos from the interiors of Gaudi's apartment

The Front door

The balconies constructed from scrap metal

Gaudi's Casa Batlo lit up at night

Unbelievably good tapas, sparking Spanish wine
and service at El Xampanyet, a stone's throw from the Picasso Museum

Day 3: Barcelona

Tour of the Picasso Museum: this museum showcases many of Picasso's early works here he went on to establish him professionally and subsequently, live the rest of his life in France. While the museum does not have any of his major works, it nonetheless presents his progression as an artist, which was not only interesting and insightful, but also helped put into perspective how much he had evolved and developed as an artist. I particularly loved the paintings he painted when he was just 14 or 15 years old as it didn't take an art connoisseur to figure out how much of a genius he was even back then.

The lovely, Gothic courtyard

One painting I managed to take a photo of
when no one was looking...

Tour of the Catalan Music Hall, which is (rightfully) considered to be one of the most beautiful concert halls in the world.

Can't help but ooh and awe over that amazing natural light fixture.

16 women-muse statues, representing different instruments
and musical traditions from around the world as means
to inspire the artists performing on stage

3 Hour Free Walking Tour of the Gothic Quarter: We had one of the most amazing walking tours ever during our time here in Barcelona. Our tour guide was not only incredibly knowledge on the social and cultural history of Barcelona, but he would also point and discuss the often-unnoticed-yet-nonetheless- interesting things along the tour, such as a name on a street sign, holes in a wall, the stone used for a building, balcony decoration, etc. We were so fortunate to have him (and for free...), as we truly gained a much better insight and grasp of this city.

Las Ramblas Street with Miro's Street Mural Below

Sights and Smells from La Boqueria Market

The Catalonian flag hanging proudly in the Gothic Quarter

Private Little Square

Exploring the parts of the Gothic Quarter that
tourists didn't know about

Reminiscent of Barcelona's Roman History

Not pictured: Dinner with Aaron's friend from Paris, Joe, his 4 friends, and two people we randomly met at our hostel 20 minutes before meeting up with the rest of the group! It was a nice evening amongst the 9 American college students and a dinner we all enjoyed as well.

Day 4: Ibiza

On Thursday, we took a one-hour flight from Barcelona to Ibiza as we would spend the rest of the week here on this delightful, Mediterranean island.

The view of the ocean from our hostel

Our hostel's common room

Lunch along the sea, a siesta in the afternoon, and downtime in the evening

Ibiza at sunset

Ibiza at night

Day 5: Ibiza

Exploration of Dalt Vila, Ibiza's old city perched on a hill that has a wonderful view of the port, commercial district and beaches.

The city walls

Eating on the steps with the port city below

One of the many little courtyards

The little dog that (very politely) asked for some of our lunch,
unfortunately, those cute eyes and his patient demeanor came to no avail

Friday afternoon, Aaron and I rented a car to explore some of the island's unexplored natural coves farther away from the main port. With I as the driver and Aaron as my navigator, we were able to get ourselves from the port to these beaches with no GPS and hardly any street signs. Fortunately, signs to the beaches helped us get to where we wanted to go, and we had a very nice and scenic ride to and from these little coves.

Calle Vedalla

Taking in the beauty
(on our 8 euro Disney-inspired children's towels)

Getting back to that SoCal beach life

Calle d'Hort

Breaking free and defying gravity

Stopping to take a picture of Ibiza' lush greenery

Calle Bassa

Our car, sans scratch or dents

Our first night at Pacha, Ibiza' largest and infamous night club

We walk into the bar and come across a bikini fashion show

Let's just say it helps to be friendly to the waiter ....

Day 6: Ibiza

Lunch along the ocean

Sangria, anyone?

Couldn't get any more perfect than that

This afternoon, we rented bikes to explore coves that were a bit closer to us and to save Ibiza's salt dunes and marshes. Although we biked a total of 24 miles that day (12 there and back), we enjoyed the island's natural beauty along the way.

Aaron saves the day!
35 minutes into our bike ride, I could no longer peddle my bike
and thus had to pull over to see what was the matter. After deciding that
I needed to walk the bike back to the hostel, Aaron decided himself to look
at the bike and 15 minutes later, Aaron not only figured out what was wrong,
but re-assembled the bike parts, allowing us to continue our bike ride!

Aaron and the salt marshes

One of the coves we visited

The 16th century tower we rode to at the tip of the Las Salinas
Natural Park.

A church we rode past

The salt marshes at sunset

Stopping for well-deserved crepes at this quaint roadside restaurant
(but of course, had room for dinner later)

Second night at Pacha:
This time, Pacha was poppin, and we truly saw (much more so than before) why this club is not only one of the best in the world, but also why Ibiza is the club-goer's haven. We had a great time that night and would definitely like to return to Ibiza during the high season to truly see the town and all that it has to offer at its finest.