We left Zaragoza and spent the rest of the trip in Catalonia. Spain has regions that are a bit like U.S. states. But at the same time some are very different from the rest of Spain. Franco tried to get rid of these differences during his regime. Fortunately he didn’t and as a result we have areas of Spain that aren’t Spanish. It provides a beautiful diversity in a country. Just as Quebec in Canada is a French speaking province, the region of Catalonia speaks Catalan. There are also other regions like the Basque region and Galicia that have a different national identity and language. I’m not sure how they compare to Catalonia since we didn’t get the chance to visit them but as soon as you enter Catalonia it is obvious that you’re in a very different region from Castilla y Leon and Aragon, the other areas we had already visited. As we were driving I noticed that the signs weren’t in Spanish. Luckily Catalonian isn’t like Basque and is similar enough to Spanish that I can make sense of some of it. Catalonia doesn’t feel a connection to Spain anymore, perhaps partially because of linguistic difference, but there are a lot of contributing factors to Catalonians having their own identity and wanting their independence. Yes, it’s in the air and talk is all over. Catalonians are inspired by Scotland’s press for independence and they want their freedom, legal or not. Which it isn’t. But it’s really interesting to see their strides toward independence. One thing that I noticed what the lack of Spanish flags and the abundance of Catalonian flags, as well as signs saying “Catalonia, a new European state” in both Catalan and English. That was especially evident in Gerona.
Gerona, Girona in Catalan, was the first city we visited in Catalonia. It was a nice little city but was quite touristy. We stayed in the Old Jewish quarter of the city. The first day we just took off exploring. We went across the river to the newer part of town and there were a lot of nicer shops. So they were out of our price range. We mostly explored that day. There was a gorgeous area with old walls and towers with great views of the city. It was fantastic! The next day we went to the cathedral which has the second widest nave, of a Gothic style church at least. It also had a tapestry which was from the 12th century and supposedly the oldest one still in existence. After we returned to the walls and actually walked them this time. We did a bit more exploring and saw the Arab baths, which weren't really Arab. The Moors weren't actually in Gerona for long so little of their influence exist today. These baths were from the 12th century I believe. They really weren't that impressive, maybe because I saw the Roman Baths in Bath but still. In Gerona people were a bit more traditional and even though it was touristy the stores still had a siesta time. Gerona wasn't my favorite place. The walls were cool and the cathedral was alright. But other than that there was nothing much else but shops and a few museums but those can get expensive. We did hang out a bit but there wasn't a really good gathering spot like there was in Avila where we had more free time. We only spent one and a half days in Gerona, which I think is fine. I probably could have gotten everything I wanted to do in an afternoon. But it was still fun.
Gerona
But then we went to Barcelona! I've heard a lot of people say that Barcelona is their favorite city in Spain, if not one of their favorite cities ever. So I had pretty high expectations for it. And I have to say they were met. It really was a fantastic city! The first day we went out and walked around a bit (I love walking around cities and just exploring) We stayed outside of Barcelona in a city called Santa Coloma and while walking to the train we were stopped by a local who asked what we were doing there and why some North Americans would be in Santa Coloma. He was a bit confused and a bit annoyed. But in Barcelona we roamed around a bit, saw some markets and then went to the Olympic venue from the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. There was a kids event going on that day so it was quite festive. We saw the Olympic tower, the baseball field (and surprisingly they keep it up so it doesn't look too bad like I expected) and got to go into the stadium! That part was so cool. I don't know if it's normally free but we got in for free. No we didn't sneak it, it was open for the event. So we sat a bit there and it was really cool. We saw the olympic torch from those games too since it's at the stadium. We also saw the diving venue. So after walking around that for a while we took a cable car over the city. The view could have been better since it was rather cloudy. The cable car dropped us off near the beach so we went for a moment but it was getting dark so we went to go find a place to eat. We found this place (maybe some people had heard of it before because they were pretty set on eating that this one place) and ate some tapas for dinner. Which was plenty. They were good. They had a variety of tapas and you just grabbed what you wanted and paid per item. At first I wasn't very excited because it was all sea food, which I don't like. But then they started bringing out other things like Spanish Omelette and guacamole. It was good! And then we went and got Gelato and that was day one in Barcelona. It was so much fun! The next day was probably just as fun if not more fun. That morning I went to the Sagrada Familia which was just fantastic! I've gone to a lot of cathedrals and I love going, but there is a point where they start kinda looking the same so then you just go to the free ones. But this isn't like that all. This one is different and the only thing I can think to describe it is unique. It is unlike other cathedrals that I've been to and any others in the world, which is one reason it's so famous. They're still building it after over a hundred years of construction work. It's incredible. It's just breathtaking to look at inside and out. Outside of the basilica there were people forming a human tower like I'd seen on tv before. The first one fell as they were coming down which scared me a bit, but they were fine. It was cool to see life! There was quite a crowd around and music playing and people just climbing on top of each other to make a tower and then go send a kid to climb to the top of it. We spent quite a while at the Sagrada Familia then after lunch I met the rest of the group to go to a football match. I had been to one in Reading but it was cool to see one in Spain and see how the football culture is different. I think the people were a bit rowdier at this match and they would yell at and boo their own team if someone did something that they didn't like... but it was cool! I don't know a lot about football, but I love watching it! That night I went to a market for tapas but we were a bit disappointed at the lack of tapas so we found a random restaurant, which was very good! Then we went to a chocolate place that someone had remembered from a previous trip to Spain and that was quite good. Don't get me wrong, I loved Barcelona, but I have to say that there were some things that I didn't like. One major one is that people would speak to me in English when I went to a restaurant or store or something. Yes it is a correct assumption that I speak English and don't speak Catalan and don't speak Spanish so well. But one thing I liked about other places in Spain is that I got to practice my Spanish and talk to people even if I embarrassed myself. I guess being a red head in Barcelona makes it seem like you don't belong...and most people knew English in the touristy parts. So I was saying at dinner that I didn't like not being able to practice my Spanish and force myself to learn and struggle. Weird that I missed the hard, embarrassing part of being in Spain. I did get to use my Spanish at the chocolate place though. There was a guy working there didn't speak English and he talked to us for a bit in Spanish. And he was from Ecuador (I think...) so I could understand him better. For someone who doesn't know Spanish very well Spain Spanish can be hard to understand... So that made me happy that I got one last chance to practice my Spanish.
I really loved Spain. I'm back in Oxford now and back to the usual routine. I have homework and stuff (which really isn't as fun) But if one thing Spain made me excited to go to Uruguay next semester and practice my Spanish seriously. I enjoyed being a translator, even if I wasn't much help. It was a lot of fun, even if I did embarrass myself a lot either because I said something wrong because I didn't know better or was tongue tied. I would love to go back to Spain. It is one of those countries that for one really interest me but it has a lot of great places to visit. I'd love to visit the Basque country and Galicia to see the regional differences and the linguist aspects of those regions compared to Catalonia. I would also like to go to the south of Spain one day and visit Sevilla and Grenada and see those places and then return to Madrid and spend more time there. It was a great trip and though it was pretty long, it was great! I loved it! I'm going to be really interested to see how the Catalonia thing works out and if it spreads to other regions. I think talk of independence might be brewing in the Basque country too. But I love Spain! Here are some pictures.
Olympic Stands with torch
Beach in Barcelona
La Sagrada Familia
Human Tower
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