Madrid: the Prado, National Library

Since I can't get enough of Art Museums I was in heaven at the Prado, which is a huuuggee art museum and has tons of great art. I spent most of a day there and loved it. I think it was at least equal too, if not better then, the Louvre-and it was WAY less crowded. Also I got in free because I am under 25. So that was awesome, too. It is also free daily, every night, for 2 hours from 6-8, which I thought was really cool thing to do (and the Louvre definitely does not do). The line was super long though but I thought it was worth it.

And right next to the Prado is this church-

After spending the day there, I walked over to the National Library which was AMAZING. In my opinion, every library should look just like this-

And the views from the observation deck on the top were pretty great, too-

I love all libraries and I don't want to play favorites but this one might be the prettiest library I have ever seen! Also, I know when you look at the above picture of me the first thing you think is "OMG those earrings are amaaazzinng where did you get them?" Yes, I agree and they were my Christmas (Hanukkah??) present from Lauren. :)

Madrid: Royal Gardens, Crystal Palace

Madrid has a lot of outdoor gardens and space, which I loved. The weather was beautiful and it was so amazing to be outside wandering around I could not get enough of it. So I headed over to the Royal Gardens to wander around. There was also a giant lake you could rent row boats for super cheap and paddle around on... which I would have loved to do if I had someone to paddle with :)

But I didn't so I just headed over the the monuments to enjoy the architecture and try to forget about the fact that I was all by myself-

Then over to the Crystal Palace. The gardens were actually built to be "working gardens" and to teach botany so the Crystal Palace was a hot house for more fair-weather plants-

It was super gorgeous and so was the lake/water fountain thing in front of it-

The park also has a lot of fountains (this was was turned off for the winter I think)-

And then on the way out of the park I walked by a little shopping area that was selling books! Oh, if only I spoke/read Spanish-

On my way out I passed by this-

ANOTHER Triumph Arch. I think this is like the 6th one I have seen! (Barcelona was my favorite.) I swear every city HAS to have one in Europe. :)

Madrid: Palace de Royal, Basilica de San Fransisco

Walking around Madrid, I found this cute little market below this huge monument (who or what for I really have no idea). 

I then walked over to the Royal Palace of Madrid, where I ate an ice cream cone and walked around the gardens -

This is actually the official residence of the Spanish Royal Family but apparently they spend most of their time at some other palace outside the city... I don't know why as this is the largest palace in Europe (by square feet) it has 2,800 rooms and is 1.45 million square feet. Seriously who is like "It's totally necessary to have a house with 2,800 rooms, let's build it." I mean 2,800 rooms. That's INSANE. I think to compare Versailles has less then 1,000. It was actually closed for state business when I was there so I couldn't go inside. But it was still nice to walk around it-

But I walked to the church that is attached to the palace-

I'm kind of obsessed with statues on top of buildings :)

The palace is also home to the "Covenant of the Royal Barefoot Nuns" which was founded in the 1500's by a Spanish Princess and still has working nuns at it (22 or 23 I think). At one time it was apparently the convent for royals to enter if they had to/wanted to become nuns, so it was ridiculously wealthy since they came with huge dowries, however apparently there were some restrictions on how the dowries could be spent so by the 1900's they were living in not-so-great conditions. The Pope then gave them special permission to sell some things to raise their living conditions. I was able to peak in (no pictures allowed) but the tours were only in Spanish so I opted to pass on a whole tour.

There is also a great view from the courtyard of the palace-

Next I headed to the Basilica de San Francisco, which was the name sake of one of my favorite cities-

Then walked around the city and admired the cute street signs-

And while I was walking around I saw this-

Which was in a main square, made no sense to me AT ALL and was there the whole time I was in Madrid (4 days). I asked people but never got an answer about what the deal with it was... how random!

Barcelona: Olympic Park & Castle de Montjuic

My last day in Barcelona,  I decided to go to Olympic Park which is to the south of the city (still within walking distance) but not really IN the city. I was ready to get out of the city, so I started by walking along the beach (did you know Barcelona's beaches are fake? They were made for the Olympics -1992 Summer Games- and the sand is imported from Egypt)-

The hike up to Olympic Park is crazy steep but the views were worth it-

About half way up

And all the way at the top-

Totally worth the hike, although once I got to the top I realized there was a metro station that takes you right there!! I'm glad I walked though it was really pretty. There was also a hotel at the top and it had amazing gardens-

Can you imagine watching a soccer game and having this view?!-

How amazing would that be?

After checking out the amazing views, I hoped on a train to head to the Castle de Montijuic. It was built in like 1640, and had more amazing views-

One of the downsides of traveling alone, I would have felt pathetic eating at this restaurant alone but if I had someone I totally would have!

And there was a huge Catalina flag-

The Catalonian flag is supposed to be one of the oldest in the world. The four red stripes are to represent the bloody fingerprints of a warrior wiping his hand off on his shield.

which I was told Barcalonian residents are extremely proud off. There is actually a movement to create Catalonia as a country separate from Spain, and in Barcelona residents speak Catalonian, not Spanish. I'm not entirely sure how different the 2 languages are, it all sounded like Spanish to me!

Lastly I went walked around the Joan Miro Museum which was another shrine to modern art. Pretty sure you know how I felt about that :)

And then I headed back to my hostel for some laundry before i headed to Madrid!

Barcelona: more Gaudi architecture

Since Gaudi is pretty much THE Barcelona architect his buildings are EVERYWHERE. They definitely have a distinct style, you can point them out and be pretty sure it's a Gaudi. I had never heard of Gaudi before going to Barcelona but I certainly heard about his while I was there (I went on a Gaudi walking tour). Basically, what I took from it was he was an architect with a super distinct style -obviously- and he lucked out when he met Eusbui Gruell who really liked his style and happened to be super rich as well. Gruell was such a huge fan he gave Gaudi free reign and enough money to basically do whatever he wanted (like create Gruell Park). Without Gruell, Gaudi may never have gotten off the ground, which leads me to this plee:

are you rich? do you want to create works of art you don't have to design yourself? Contact me, I am willing to help you create :)

ANYWAY. There is tons more Gaudi architecture thruout Barcelona, like this apartment building that was like a block away from my hostel-

And this house that was also right down the street-

The super bad thing is that since Gaudi worked for private individuals, all his buildings are still held by private individuals which means all the buildings/ museums about him and his work are ridiculously expensive. Because of that I never went into one of his buildings, which kinda sucks, I would have liked to but ultimately I could not force myself to spend the $25+ for ONE thing. 

And, of course, the Sagrada Familia Temple...which was Gaudi's final project... it was only 25% complete when he died in 1925 and it's still not complete today. Initially private donors put up the money for it, but now it's the construction is financed by ticket sales, which means tickets are around $25...which means I did NOT go inside. 

It's cool, but not my cup of tea. I thought it looked like a giant, melting candle. I took this picture from google, which I think gives a better overall look of the building-

It's pretty crazy looking.... I will have to go back to Barcelona in 2028- when construction is supposed to be completed! Only 100+ years of construction...not too bad.

Also while walking around I saw this cute NON-Gaudi building and I could not resist-

Why is the owl on top of the building? I don't know but I think it's adorable!

And, all the street are painted with this-

Which I am pretty sure means if you step out into traffic you will die-and I believe it the drivers there are not messing around, the traffic is terrifying. 

Barcelona: Hospital de Sant Pau, Arc de Triumph

When talking to other people traveling in Barcelona everyone kept mentioning "the hospital" as in "Yes, I have been to the hospital," or "No, I haven't but I NEED to go." Since I had done exactly zero research about things to do in Barcelona before I went I was totally confused about what what going on. I just smiled and nodded because I thought maybe everyone was sick or something?... and I didn't want to be rude! 

However, a closer inspection of my map assured me that I was (in fact) crazy the hospital everyone was talking about was The Hospital de Sant Pau,  tourist site- but actually it was a working hospital up to 2009 (now part of it is an art school).

Not too shabby, right?

Basically if I had to be sick in a hospital, this would be my hospital of choice. :) It was founded in 1401, but underwent major renovations around 1900 which is why it's so art deco.

Certainly worth seeing, I thought. Added bonus I got to casually say "yes, I went to the hospital today" and it was a GOOD thing, which I feel like may never ever in my life happen again :)

From there I walked to the Arc de Triumph (Barcelona style, which I thought was cooler then the Paris one actually)-

Then I walked along the main street back to my hostel-

And saw this... maybe the highlight of my day (remember I don't like modern art)-

And called it a very sucessful day!