Student Charlotte Green gives her account of the recent Spanish Department trip to Barcelona.
It was 4:30 am on the 23rd of February 2010 and 11 Spanish students along with our Tutors Mary and Frank could be seen looking half asleep in the departure lounge of Liverpool Airport ready to jet off to Barcelona. Little did we know we would be enjoying the sights of Liverpool Airport for 2 hours longer than anticipated due to a delay caused by a French Air Traffic Controllers’ strike! Still we were glad to leave the cold snowy weather for the promised warm sunshine of Northeast Spain.
Shortly after arriving we were whisked off to our Hotel where we dropped our bags and freshened up from our early start. Comfy shoes were required for our next trip as we began our 3 hour walking tour up ‘Las Ramblas’ to the ‘Plaça Catalunya’ where we got our first taste of life in Barcelona. Our next stop was the Barrio Gótico where we wandered along the narrow, winding streets admiring the impressive historic buildings, before exploring the Cathedral, and finally reaching ‘Plaça St. Jaume’ which is one of the oldest and most important squares in the city and is home to the ‘Palau de la Generalitat’ and the Town Hall of Barcelona.
Our first night in Barcelona proved to be a good one as we explored the massive complex of the ‘Maremagnum’ where we also watched the film ‘Shutter Island’ in Spanish of course which was good practise for our listening skills!
On the following day in this incredible city we hopped onto an open top bus for a tour of Barcelona. We began with the views of the ‘Port Olimpic’ continuing up to ‘Plaça Espanya’ where we got our first glimpse of the ‘Sagrada Familia’ – the famous work of Antoni Gaudí. It was here we met up with Roser who is our Spanish Assistant at Carmel and a native of the city! So whilst the rest of us gazed in awe of our surroundings, Roser was feeling very at home! After boarding the bus for the second time we reached the home of FC Barcelona – ‘Camp Nou’. The football lovers among us went on a guided tour of the stadium with its museum, and some of us even got our picture taken with the Champions’ League Cup! After hopping back on the bus we headed to ‘Park Güell’ where we saw some more of Gaudi’s work along with some amazing views of Barcelona from above. As we headed back we saw more of the inspiring work of Gaudí in the form of ‘Casa Batlló’. After freshening up at the hotel we headed to a tapas bar where we tried different types of Spanish cuisine, before heading back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep.
Our final day in Barcelona, definitely one to remember, began with our favourite pastime – shopping – and a lot of it! From Zara to Spain’s famous department store ‘El Corte Inglés’ not a single bargain escaped our notice! After being dragged away from this we headed for another shopping complex ‘Diagonal Mar’ where we went bowling before heading off to the Olympic Stadium and although we didn’t spend much time here it definitely made a lasting impression. Our final evening ended with a trip to the ‘Pueblo Español’ where we admired the varied architecture of Spain, reached the area that represented Andalucía and saw a spectacular ‘Tablao Flamenco’. This was definitely our favourite bit of the trip and was a fantastic end to a fascinating visit!