In FAITH We Go: GAUDI'S BARCELONA. Bliss.

We both fell in love with this city immediately. I personally, was SO giddy, being in my dream country to visit and a city that right away blew my mind. There can't possibly be many cities more beautiful than Barcelona. I wouldn't hesitate to attribute a majority of that to the incredible Gaudi, whose presence is everywhere. His work takes your breath away.

We arrived late (and starving) so after dropping off our bags we headed right down our 5 narrow/steep flights of stairs to go for some tapas and red wine! Delicious dishes using avocado, fish, potatoes, garlic, olives...etc. Some of the best wine we've ever tasted. AND here's the kicker, good beer too! Estrella Damm. Not too shabby at all. Taberna Blai Tonight- a fantastic tapas bar filled with locals just happened to be two blocks from our apartment. We were sure that after stuffing our faces and having THREE drinks each, our bill would be outrageous. 20 Euro....uh oh, this is dangerous. Haha.

The next day, we didn't hesitate to go straight for La Sagrada Familia, the most talked about work of Antoni Gaudi. I truly hope everyone gets to see this some day. From the outside, it's so impressive. From the inside, it's mind-blowing. The man spent 43 years of his life working on it- he died in 1926- and it is estimated to take another 50 years or so to complete. He was so inspired by nature and you can see it in everything he does. That with the mix of geometric shapes and concepts....it's truly magical. This quote of his explains it well, "The great book, always open, and which we should make an effort to read, is that of Nature". The building also tells the story of Jesus's life and the Bible so beautifully...I honestly think believer or not, you'll be overcome with emotion while exploring.

Our other Gaudi favorites included the building he remodeled, Casa Batllo, which seemed out of Alice and Wonderland with no use of single lines. Totally remarkable. And the Park Guell- a park he designed which made you think that he never lost the imagination that we've all had as children. I can't say it enough: so. beautiful.

Strolling through Barcelona you find yourself in some amazing neighborhoods such as El Born and Barri Gotic (Gothic Quarter), where there are still remains from the days of Roman Settlement and the beautiful Church of Santa Maria Del Pi. AHHHH I JUST LOVE THIS CITY!

We checked out the touristy street of La Rambla, which I didn't find too remarkable, but we did enjoy the farmer's market at the Mercat de la Boqueria, which is believed to date ALL the way back to 1217!! Super great prices on delicious fruits, vegetables, fresh eggs, seafood and of course sweets. I had heard that Spain had great fruit, and that is certainly true. Fresh pineapple and coconut juice = YUM (for 1 Euro).

Oh and just in case you were about to argue that it can't be that perfect of a city- there is a beautiful beach. Barceloneta is just a short stroll out of the city center where even in January we saw people in speedos playing volleyball on the white sand. I would certainly be cold in a bathing suit, but the sun was shining and I felt warm in my sweater. Wonderful.

We had such good food/drinks in this city, and incredible red wine:

-El Rincon De Cava: another neighborhood bar by our apartment, awesome simply because the cava (Catalonian champagne) is LESS than 1 Euro!

-Quimet and Quimet: insane and more gourmet tapas bar, literally packed shoulder to shoulder but with mostly locals, great place to get a true tapas experience. Our favorite was still the less fancy Taberna Blai.

-Sensi: my favorite restaurant during our time in Barcelona. Our favorites were the patatas bravados (traditional potatoes with spicy sauce) and PADRON PEPPERS (mmmmm). We had our first taste of paella. We heard this place was a great place to get it. The vegetarians in us were having a hard time with the mix of seafood, but can admit that the flavor was good. Best Sangria ever. EVER!

-Teresa Carles: fantastic vegetarian restaurant where we had EXCELLENT food. If it was cheaper we would've returned for sure.

-Bliss: an adorable restaurant that we killed time at drinking red wine and having a very traditional Spanish tapa which is toasted bread with freshly pureed tomatoes on top.

You'd think that with all this bread and wine the Kaia girl in me would be complaining and while this behavior just can't continue (HAHA), we honestly got in such a workout everyday. Barcelona is full of hills and just soooo mannnnyyy staiiirs! We stayed right by the gorgeous park Montjuic, where we went running a few times as we enjoyed a fantastic panoramic view. You better believe we did some stair runs/lunges/jumping jacks in the park!

I could live here for a while. Absolutely.