Hola amigos, desde Barcelona! The time has finally come for me to get a hold of a computer and be able to get you caught-up on everything that has happened!
Sorry about not updating, last week was Mid-Term week and I didn't have much time to do this. Have no fear, for I will make sure I give you enough reading to keep you entertained for a while!
I have arrived in Barcelona (Catalonia) Spain last Friday evening, to visit Cameron! For those of you who may not know, she is studying abroad here and traveling a whole other part of Europe! Incredible how large our world is. Luckily, she is my own personal free tour guide for around the city. She has been showing me all of the sweet-spots and been showing me the Catalan way of life.
I will get into the Catalan vs. Spain debate in another post. Although we've only traveled 2 countries due North West of our home-country of Italia, things are very, very different here (believe it or not. We'll start with something easy: Like FOOD.
First of all, the coffee here is much more mild than the coffee in Italy. In other words, the coffee does not have a bitter taste, and is actually not quite as consumed as much as it is in Florence, Italy (or at least to my witnessing).
Breakfast is usually a lighter meal involving bread, eggs, or some type of light meat. This is not a large meal, but something to just kick-start your day. Moving onto
lunch, this is the largest meal of the day. Why? Because it's the time you can digest your food throughout the rest of the day, without having a full belly before bed. This is served in three courses
(La Comida).
The first dish is usually a very light, healthy helping of salad, followed by a main dish involved meat, eggs, bread, or fish. This is the larger meal. Then, followed by a nice little dessert to satisfy that sweet tooth of yours (and coffee of course). This usually runs about €8 - €13 (which isn't bad for the amount of food you get). This is meant to hold you over until
dinner time which is around 10 at night (22:00). Dinner usually consists of something called "Tapas," which are small plates full of a dish of your liking. When you get your first few dishes (as you are new to this), you look at it and laugh because the portions are so tiny, but these are meant to be eaten slowly, with other people. Between two people, we usually but 4-5 tapas, which fills us up! And of course, the
sangria is plentiful and delicious. So wine + food = happy Tyler.
Now, time for the exploring part of Barcelona! First stop, Plaza de Cataluña! This is also known as Catalonia Square in English. We can essentially consider this to be the city center of Barcelona, as it, (well of course) sits in the heart of the city. There are fountains, cafes, stores, and people from all over the world roaming these streets! If you look to the picture on your left, you will see....upside-down stairs? The world has completely turned crazy?! No, it's okay, we can all take a deep breathe and appreciate this lovely monument, as it is actually a monument dedicated to Francesc Macià: The first President of the Generalitat de Cataluña during the second Spanish Repbulic. And in 1931, he proclaimed the Catalan Republic.
Moving on to some more exploring, I happened to stumble upon La Boqueria, or, The Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria! Within this main gate, it conceals fruit, meat, juice, vegetable, nuts, and any other type of food stands that you can think of for a VERY reasonable price. The colors are outstanding and the energy of the interior is ecstatic. This actually dates back to 1217 of which it was originally made to sell meat. It wasn't quite as "popular" as it is now per se, but it has increased to become quite a large tourist attraction. You can actually get freshly squeezed juice right from the machine (they do it right in front of you) and the best part,
NO SUGAR ADDED. Why would you want to add sugar to a fruit, which already contains sugar!? Better yet, why not just pick up some candy and food on the way out with your delicious orange juice or pineapple, strawberry, mango medley of deliciousness? Okay, we'll talk later after you digest the wonderful food. Thank you so much for reading this blog post, keep a look out for my next blog post about Catalan! Probably one of the most interesting discussions to have with the people here...
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