Barcelona with the ND Ultimate Crew

Barcelona is a city of culture and passion.  So who better to explore it with than our undergraduate Notre Dame ultimate frisbee friends on study aboard.  Heather, Pat, Jonathan and Ian provided great companionship, perspective and entertainment.  We took this trip in mid-October.

Airport Shenanigans 

Walking the walk

We arrived mid-morning Friday and quickly caught up with Pat and Heather.  Jonathan and Ian would end up joining us later as they bozo booked flights for 8pm instead 8am.  Our Friday goals were quite modest with the intent to drink sangria, eat tapas, and explore Barcelona.

One of the many beautiful streets in Barcelona

We started off to visit the Bari Gothic museum near the medieval quarter.  While wandering we stumbled upon a museum which we thought was it.  It was not it.  Instead of learning about the Roman origins of Barcelona and seeing the ancient ruins, we visited what could be described as a museum of hoarding.  A rich gentlemen decided to collect many things: pipes, seashells, crucifixes, maps, weapons, printing presses, etc. which then were showcased as a museum posthumously.  An example of the curiosities is this bizarre naked child on an ugly fish sculpture.

Did not make my Christmas list

Park Guell

Saturday with the whole squad assembled we visited Park Guell.  It's one of the highest points in Barcelona and provides amazing views of the city and ocean.  The park was designed by the famous Barcelonian architect Antoni Gaudi.  It's a cool blend of nature and architectural design.

Great view of Barcelona

On top of the Guell.

The psychedelic part of the park designed by Gaudi

La Sagrada Familia

No visit to Barcelona is complete without visiting La Sagrada Familia.  La Sagrada Familia was designed by Gaudi and has been under construction for over 133 years.  It's an awe inspiring blend of art, architecture and engineering.  It towers over the neighboring construction and yet is elegant with it's impressively detailed sculptures and stained glass.  The project is just over 50% finished and has a planned completion date of 2026 but many challenges still exist.  It was amazing to see and is inspiring as a truly unique piece of art.  I recommend the wikipedia page to learn more.

The Nativity Facade

The Nativity Facade

The Glory Facade

Interior details of the columns that support the roof.

The Beach

After a day of sightseeing on Saturday we hit the beach near the center of the city.  The weather was sunny and delightfully warm.  The beach was packed and as we walked to a more empty spot we realized public nudity was accepted.  While none of our crew decided to engage in suitless bathing, we did test out the chilly Mediterranean waters.

Look closely and you may see a naked old man.

Delicious Food

While in Barcelona we had plenty of delicious food.  Being on the coast, Barcelona is heavy into seafood and the seafood paella was delicious.  It had a great blend of fresh seafood, Spanish spices, fresh veggies and rice.  The paella was a nice compliment to the cervezas and sangria.

We also had flavorful tapas (small appetizer dishes).  The most memorable was Can Paixano which served delicious cheap jamon sandwiches.  Heather, Pat, Megan and I shared four sandwiches and complimented them with tasty white wine.

The Nightlife

No trip to Bareclona would be complete without sampling the legendary nightlife.  Things in Barcelona start to get busy around midnight.  On Friday night we tried an 80's bar around 10pm only to find it empty and full of unpleasant bouncers.  At one point we got stared down by a bouncer, who was making sure we didn't have too much fun too early.

Selfie in the club.

Pat, Heather and Ian Doing their best to have fun

We left our first club of pessimism and journey in search of the epic Raz-Ma-Tazz.  Our journey was a bit Odyssey-esque in nature as we zig-and-zagged and ran into numerous hold-ups and distractions.  When we arrived we realized our Oz was less than we hoped for.  We found a line an hour long and a cover charge the size of small nation's GDP.  In a move we will never regret we headed back to the hostel to grab a kebab before the local shop closed.

Saturday night was wildly more successful.  We joined the Be-Sound Hostel pub crawl.  We frequented an Irish Bar (with some of the worst Karaoke), a Turkish hookah bar with exotic dancers, and a techno bar where they encouraged pants sagging.  During the pub crawl we made friends with two fellas from Texas A&M and a couple weird French dudes.  The last stop on the pub crawl was an Asian techno club that opened out onto the beach.  The crew soon tired of the club scene and spent the majority of the night drinking beers and relaxing on the beach until the wee hours of the morning.  Some of the group got separated but eventually by early morning we all made it back to the hostel for at least a few hours of sleep before our flights back to the real world beckoned.

Exhausted at the airport

My major takeaway was that Barcelona is a cool place full of life, art, and the interesting!  I highly recommend a visit.

Venice: Book Smarts and Canal Smarts

We write from aboard a train in Northern Italy; taking us from Venice to Florence.  The lush green fields with pastel houses are an interesting contrast to the canals and concrete urban-ness of Venice.

We loved Venice.  It’s a controversial tourist destination in that visitors either love or hate it.  We were in the former category based on: our ability to get off the beaten path, our interest in history, and our trip’s timing (late October – good weather with smaller crowds).

Venice’s population of 55 thousand is small relative to the millions of tourists that visit annually.  Consequently the economy is geared to serve tourists.  Common sites included tourists restaurants, stalls hawking souvenirs, gondola drivers offering rides and tourists meandering around with cameras.  There are heaps of tourists traps but there are also just as many great exciting places to try.  We took a great tour on our first full day and were rewarded with dense history, architectural trivia and insider dining tips.  A little bit of research and one can handle the hordes and skip the traps with ease.

San Marco Square - home of the tower and Saint Mark's Basilica

Venice as an idea is really cool.  It’s a city built in a lagoon on mud hills.  It came to prominence during the middle ages when barbarian invasions forced Italians to take safety in the seas.  Venice grew in prominence from the 9^th to the 15^th century.  Venice’s growth was fueled by trade with the East and managed expertly through political and military maneuvering.  Venice’s wealth was concentrated amongst the noble families.  The noble families returned the money to the city through churches, artwork, and celebrations.   Venice today is full of gorgeous churches ornately decorated on the exterior and interiors and chuck full of beautiful artwork.  There are also many museums housing the overflow of great artwork made by Venetian artists or sponsored by wealthy Venetians. 

One of the countless beautiful churches in London

We knew Venice was famous for canals but what surprised us was that it has only canals and sidewalks.  There are no cars, Vespas or bikes allowed.   The majority of buildings are right on top of the canals so getting from one place to another can be tricky as one has to zig and zag through sidewalks and plan strategically to find the bridges.  The first day was quite difficult.  By the second day we learned to use sign posts for key landmarks to navigate through the labyrinth.  Our intrepidness was an asset as we explored the paths less taken and were open to new experiences right around the corner.  The canals make Venice a scenic romantic place with plenty of good photography options.

The mean streets of Venice

Venice provided an opportunity to indulge in Italian cuisine.  We had our fair share of Gelato pre and post dinners.  The first night we found a unique local wine dispensary which provided great wines at low prices.  We purchased bottles of Prosecco and enjoyed them in a piazza at dusk. 

We also sampled an Italian aperitif called Spritz.  It’s a mixture of bitter sweet alcohol with club soda.  It goes down very easily and cleanses the palate to increase one’s appetite.  The Spritz helped clear the way for the pizza.  We found a local place, Ae Oche, that provided great thin crust pizza with a tasty tomato and mozzarella based sauce.  The most interesting type we had was Venetian which had mussels (in the shell), clams, prawns, octopus, crawfish, and calamari.  Somehow it all worked together to provide a tasty seafood experience. 

Lastly I will leave you with a great Mitch Hedberg joke: "In Venice, Italy they don't have streets, they have canals. So in Venice, we gotta keep the kids off the canals. In Venice if you're not book smart, but you do know what's going on, you are canal smart. "I got canal smarts [man]!"