Since I stayed with my host family this weekend, they offered to take me walking around the city. So on Saturday, we took the metro from Sarria to Placa Catalunya, the center of the city, to walk around. We started in Placa Catalunya, the main plaza, and walked down La Rambla, one of the main streets, though we didn’t stay on it very long. We walked down all kinds of roads so tiny that only people were allowed on them- no cars. We visited several historic sites in the city. Among them were a couple of gigantic, beautiful churches- La Catedral de Barcelona and La Catedral del Mar. We also saw the only part of the wall surrounding the original city of Barcelona that is still up. It’s about 1500 years old, and it was pretty neat.
For lunch, we walked to the beach and ate at a restaurant called Cal Pinxo, where I ate paella! It’s a traditional Spanish dish of rice and seafood. We walked around the beach some and got sand everywhere, and my host dad also showed me a statue of Christopher Columbus. He said that, because he discovered America, the statue has him pointing toward America. So it was nice to know which direction home was, even if it’s still several thousand miles away.
We also visited a site called El Born. The way it was explained to me, it was a big outdoor market until just a few years ago, when they were doing renovations and uncovered Roman ruins. We got to walk in and look down at the streets and remains of the walls of the houses.
After a long day of walking, we came home and had pizza for dinner! It was delicious, though not quite like American pizza. There was no sauce, and it had chorizo, which is Spanish sausage, as a topping. One pizza also had egg on top, which was really good. They use eggs a lot here.
Today, Sunday, was zoo day! They had already planned it because it was the youngest two children’s first time, and I was really excited to get to go. We took the metro to the Arc de Triomf, which was huge and really pretty. We passed through an outdoor market that only happens one Sunday a month, as well as a CASTLE! It was called Castell dels Tres Dragons. It was built in the 1800s, and it’s huge and pretty and don’t worry, I took pictures.
Anyway, we ultimately arrived at the zoo. It wasn’t too different from most zoos I’ve been to in America. There were still peacocks running around and big maps with silhouettes of all the animals and where they are. They did have deer, though, which I found interesting. These deer weren’t afraid of people, so they came right up to us to say hi. The exhibits also put the animals much closer to the people than most American zoos, so I got some really good pictures that I’ll have to post in the picture section in the next couple of days.
After several hours of walking around and looking at all the animals (Javier, who’s two, kept us looking up at the elephants for at least ten or fifteen minutes), it was time to head back and relax at home. So, overall, I’d say it was a good weekend. The coming week is a short one, only three days, and then I’m heading to Dublin and London for the weekend!
¡Hasta Luego!
Miss Sara
For lunch, we walked to the beach and ate at a restaurant called Cal Pinxo, where I ate paella! It’s a traditional Spanish dish of rice and seafood. We walked around the beach some and got sand everywhere, and my host dad also showed me a statue of Christopher Columbus. He said that, because he discovered America, the statue has him pointing toward America. So it was nice to know which direction home was, even if it’s still several thousand miles away.
We also visited a site called El Born. The way it was explained to me, it was a big outdoor market until just a few years ago, when they were doing renovations and uncovered Roman ruins. We got to walk in and look down at the streets and remains of the walls of the houses.
After a long day of walking, we came home and had pizza for dinner! It was delicious, though not quite like American pizza. There was no sauce, and it had chorizo, which is Spanish sausage, as a topping. One pizza also had egg on top, which was really good. They use eggs a lot here.
Today, Sunday, was zoo day! They had already planned it because it was the youngest two children’s first time, and I was really excited to get to go. We took the metro to the Arc de Triomf, which was huge and really pretty. We passed through an outdoor market that only happens one Sunday a month, as well as a CASTLE! It was called Castell dels Tres Dragons. It was built in the 1800s, and it’s huge and pretty and don’t worry, I took pictures.
Anyway, we ultimately arrived at the zoo. It wasn’t too different from most zoos I’ve been to in America. There were still peacocks running around and big maps with silhouettes of all the animals and where they are. They did have deer, though, which I found interesting. These deer weren’t afraid of people, so they came right up to us to say hi. The exhibits also put the animals much closer to the people than most American zoos, so I got some really good pictures that I’ll have to post in the picture section in the next couple of days.
After several hours of walking around and looking at all the animals (Javier, who’s two, kept us looking up at the elephants for at least ten or fifteen minutes), it was time to head back and relax at home. So, overall, I’d say it was a good weekend. The coming week is a short one, only three days, and then I’m heading to Dublin and London for the weekend!
¡Hasta Luego!
Miss Sara