Visiting Montserrat was one of the highlights of my trip to Barcelona Spain.  Although the skies were gray that day unlike most of the days I was in Barcelona, it was so nice to take a ride out of the city into the mountains and fresh air.  It was very interesting learning about the monastery, its history and the Black Madonna.  I asked a stranger to take the above photo of me above standing next to the Black Madonna which you can't see.  I never look at my camera after asking someone I don't know to take a picture.  I don't want to bother them for a second one.

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 Here is a photo of the Black Madonna which only stands 38 inches tall. 


The cathedral was very beautiful and so well maintained.  It was so nice to visit this touristic area on a day when so few people were there.  That was a definite advantage to visiting Barcelona in January versus the more popular times in the spring and summer.  It got a little cool at times and there wasn't as much daylight, but it definitely was not as crowded and easier to take photos.  I did get lucky as it did not rain any of the 10 days I was there.  I think this was the only day where the skies were not bright blue.

I enjoyed this trip as it was nice to leave the city and see the beautiful landscape of mountains in nature.  The fresh air was definitely welcome as I am allergic to dust and being in the city can be difficult for me.  I would definitely recommend this tour to anyone visiting the Barcelona area!

I appreciate you stopping by my blog as always.  Please feel free to leave your thoughts and/or comments.  I hope you all have a wonderful week. 

~Michelle

This is one of Antoni Gaudi's most famous houses in Barcelona.  It always caught my eye when I walk past it.  Each time I tried to capture it better in a photo as it wasn't easy with so many cars and people walking by.
This is not the hotel I stayed at but it is an example of how many of the hotels were very attractive at night because of their lighting.

Although Barcelona was a very beautiful city at night this will be a mostly photo only post.  Although I am so glad that I switched to using a Mac computer a couple of years ago.  It's been a little difficult getting used to not having nearly as much storage space as I did with my other PCs.  I will be leaving soon on another adventure and want to edit and share my photos before I go.  It's probably silly but I feel like I'm behind if I have a lot of photos from a previous trip on an external hard drive that still need to be edited.

I think one of the best things about Barcelona and especially about Barcelona after dark is the colorful fountains around the city.  Many of them change color.  I felt very fortunate that some of them were right outside my hotel as I don't go out at night when traveling alone.  The photo below was taken by the friend I met from Marrakesh Morocco down near the coast. 

I felt very fortunate to have made a friend in Barcelona not only because it's nice to make friends, but because we were able to go out walking at night and see some things that I never would've seen otherwise.  Barcelona is a beautiful city and at night the lights on many of the hotels as well as the Gaudi house were very interesting and picturesque.  It was also nice to have some photos of myself as I dislike carrying a tripod and or asking strangers to take my picture.

This is an area Down near the coastline where one would board a cruise ship around dusk
People seem to stay up late in Spain as I took this photo around 10 o'clock at night.  Most restaurants and stores stay open late.  Many of the fancy restaurants didn't even open until seven or 8 o'clock at night.
I took this photo from the rooftop of my hotel.  I stayed at a very nice hotel called the Casa Fuster hotel.
Here is another photo taken from the rooftop of my hotel with my camera set at an aperture of 1.4 F to create the Bokeh affects.

Thank you so much for stopping by.  Please feel free to leave any comments or questions below.  I hope you all have a wonderful week.

~Michelle

When I decided to visit Barcelona in January 2016 one of the main things that I wanted to see while there was the Sagrada Familia Cathedral designed by the architect Antoni Gaudi.  After seeing so many beautiful photos of this church my expectations were very high and I was not disappointed.  I have visited many Beautiful cathedrals around the world and was starting to think I had seen them all.  The design of this church was unique because of Gaudi's influence.  It was so bright, colorful and ornate, but also had an Art Nouveau feel to it.

As you can see from the photo below construction of this Cathedral is not complete. Construction of this project went slowly as it relied on private donations and was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War.  Gaudi passed away in 1926 at the age of 73 and construction was only about one quarter complete.

 I was fortunate enough to be able to see the inside of the cathedral which is now completed.  Everything seems so new bright and well cared for.  I was there on a sunny day and seeing the sunlight streams through the windows was breathtaking.  One of the things that I found most beautiful about this cathedral was the bright colors of the stained-glass windows.

 It was a little cold in Barcelona visiting in January it was generally in the mid 50s during the day.  The good thing about visiting this Beautiful and interesting city during the winter months is their are fewer tourists.  I did not have to wait in line for a long at all.  My ticket was only €15.  If I had chosen a tour with a specialize guide it would've been €24.  You can learn more about the prices and hours here .

The Sagrada Familia Cathedral along with six other buildings designed by Antoni Gaudi is a UNESCO world heritage site. 

 It's quite shocking to see how Close to being finished the interior of the cathedral is when you look at the exterior.  Construction of the exterior is scheduled to be completed around 2026.  This is definitely a place I would recommend to anyone wanting to visit the Barcelona area.

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As with so many buildings and cathedrals that I have visited around the world and especially in Europe the ceilings were incredible!  Everywhere I looked there was something interesting I wanted to take photos of.
As I said the stained glass were so bright and were different colors than any I'd seen before
The staircases were so different than anything I'd ever seen!

The ceilings are not the color they appear in this photo.  They are white but the sunlight streaming through the bright colored stain glass windows causes a reflection that makes them appear different colors. 



Thank you for visiting.  As always I appreciate hearing any questions or thoughts you might have.  I hope you are have a wonderful week

~Michelle 

When I decided to visit Barcelona Spain in January 2016 I looked at photos on the Internet to make my decision as there were other places that I was considering visiting instead.  It was photos of Guell Park that made me most want to visit Barcelona over other cities.  I liked how it was very colorful and unique.  The architecture was like nothing I had seen anywhere else in the world.  When I travel I love to take photos and I like colorful subjects.  I enjoy taking photos so much that I don't remember what I like to do before I started taking pictures when traveling! 

A gentleman named Eusebi Guell assigned the design of Guell Park to Antoni Gaudi who is a very renowned architect in Spain.  The park was built between 19oo and 1914.  The park was designed for a group of high-quality homes with all the latest technology and an artistic touch. 

Visiting this park was one of my favorite things that I did while visiting Barcelona.  There are many famous artists such as Dali and Picasso who have works on display in the city.  However Gaudi's's works appeals to my artistic sense the most as I love his use of color and detail.  Most of what I did while I was in Barcelona involved visiting his architectural works including the famous cathedral Sagrada Familia and the Gaudi House. 

You can find the hours and rates for visiting this park at Guell Park rates and hours.  It only cost me €8 to visit.  There is a snack bar as well as a gift shop on the premises.  Without further ado I will show you some of the photos that I took.  I was fortunate to have met a very nice girl from Marrakesh, Morocco while in Barcelona and we had a great time visiting this attraction together and I didn't have to ask any strangers to take photos of myself.

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I wanted to visit Europe in January partially because there would be less tourists, but as you can see there were still a lot!
I loved the benches surrounding an open area in the park.  The intricate detail of the ceramic pattern was fascinating!
It was great not having to ask a stranger to take my photo.  And you know I had to touch and have my photo taken next to the mosaic cat fountain !

 
Here is a photo of my friend with an entertainer whom I thought was a mannequin.  He really got my heart racing when he stood up out of his chair acting as though he was going to grab my friend.  I gave a lot of visitors a good laugh!

These were the only two houses constructed in this project.  Several more were planned.  Unesco declared the park a world heritage site under the works of Gaudi.


Thank you for visiting my blog.  I'd love to hear your thoughts and questions below.  Your email address will not be published.  I hope you all have a wonderful week. 

~Michelle

I visited Spain three years ago and saw four different areas of the country.  There are still other areas of Spain I would like to see such as Barcelona, but I do feel like I saw a pretty good cross-section of the country.  I'm writing this post from memory so I'm afraid it won't be as detailed as if I had written it three years ago after the trip.

I started out in Malaga which is in the southern part of the country and made day trips to the rock of Gibraltar and to a charming beach town called Nerja.  While visiting these three areas I was fortunate enough to have my high school friend join me who now know lives in Sweden.  She was a very good tour guide as she knows how to drive in Europe which I never would have dared to do by myself.  Of course having a great friend from way back join me made the trip 10 times more fun.  We would have enjoyed the trip no matter where we were!        

After leaving Malaga I went to Madrid for a few days.  As some of you may know, I am not much of a city person and Madrid is a very large city in my opinion.  I thought the architecture and buildings were beautiful and I learned a lot about the history of the country by going on a tour. 

  The rock of Gibraltar was fascinating to see.  The monkeys were so much fun.  They were not aggressive at all compared to the ones I saw in Bali. 

From what I have seen in Spain so far I would say that the beach town, Nerja, was my favorite.  It's definitely an area I would love to go back and visit.  I thought it was really beautiful, clean not a very big town with still plenty to do. 

My photos are not the best either I didn't have any knowledge of photography at the time I have tried to improve them but that is hard to do without a raw file.  I had no idea what to take photographs of or how to take them and definitely not how to edit them.  That is something that I am working at getting better at now. 

Here are some photos of the rock of Gibraltar and a concert hall inside it:

My friend and I at the Rock Of Gibraltar:

I thought the babies were adorable!

The following few photos are of the southern section of the country called Malaga.  The following is a photo of the marina.  There are a lot of nice restaurants and shops.  It was a great place to have lunch and dinner.

This park was right behind the hotel:

My one souvenir from Malaga - I only bought the purse because it matched my shoes so well!

 The following few photos are of Nerja:

Here are a few somewhat pathetic attempts at taking photos in Madrid:




Lastly, here are a few photos of my friend and I goofing off at a restaurant we liked and frequented:

And one more in Nerja:
Thank you very much for stopping by.  Please let me know if you have any questions.  I hope you all have a wonderful week!

~Michelle