I went to Spain this past June, and there is so much to share about my trip. Spain had been at the top of my travel list for about 10 years, ever since my six years of Spanish classes in junior high and high school and learning so much about the language and culture. So, when some friends mentioned they were beginning to plan a trip, I thought, why not?! Six months later, we were there!
Two weeks, 9 cities, 7 cathedrals, 4 museums, 3 castles and much, much more is hard to condense. There were so many great sights. If it were only unstrung words, I’d say unforgettable, incredible, exhausting, revealing, humbling, and eye-opening.
I loved that our trip included nine different cities in different parts of the country. We visited: Barcelona, Madrid, Toledo, Segovia, Sevilla, Nerja, Córdoba, Granada, and Tarifa. Each city was filled with its own traditions. My favorite Spanish city is Barcelona because of its mix of history and modernism. My favoritism may also be a little biased because we started our adventures there, and we had a wonderful personal guide, a former student of one of my travel mates, who we joined for a home-cooked dinner with her family, but Barcelona was full of unique sights.
Castelleres
We started exploring Barcelona right away when we landed around 10 a.m. Our first day was led by our guide Bea who took us around popular streets and squares. We were excited to coincidentally happen upon castelleres! These human towers usually occur during Catalan festivals, but they happened to be practicing. It was so fun to see this talent, strength and tradition.
La Rambla
La Rambla is a very popular street filled with shops and street performers and sprinkled with history. My favorite stop on this 0.7 mi street was La Boqueria, a market full of jamon, seafood, chocolate, fruit and the freshest fruit juices.
Magic Fountain of Montjuic
This majestic fountain gave a great light show, accompanied by music. We happened to be in town one of the four nights they did the show and hundreds of people gathered to watch it.
La Sagrada Familia
This church is hands down the most amazing thing I saw in Spain. The grandeur of it, the details in it, the carefulness in building it, Gaudí’s great creation is filled with history, talent and inspiration. In the picture of the model below, the dark brown part is what has been built and the rest is what is projected. The anticipated completion date is 2026.
Park Guell
A Gaudí-commissioned project, this park sits higher than parts of Barcelona. The park’s structures and features differ around every corner yet they are all Gaudí’s architecture.
La Pedrera aka Casa Milà
Built by Gaudí, this 4-floor building is easily recognizable from the facade. My favorite part of this building is the interesting roof, which is thought to be the inspiration for the stormtroopers in the Star Wars movies.
One last note about why Barcelona was my favorite city: this is the only place we found real cupcakes and it tasted delicious! Visit Cup & Cake if you get the chance!
What’s your favorite city?
Want to read more about my trip to Spain? Check out:
Top 10 Favorite Sights in Spain
Eating and Drinking Through Spain
7 Lessons Learned About Spain and Travel
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