Greetings from Barcelona! ~ Iona College Study Abroad

In the three posts below are sets of group pictures from Barcelona. We have seen everything from the beaches (La Barceloneta to Port Vell) to the mountains (Montjuic to Park Guell); from cathedrals (Sagrada Familia and Santa Maria del Mar) to Olympic sport venues (all of Montjuic) and parks (Parc de la Ciutadella) to museums (the Museu Nacional D’Art de Catalunya, the Museu d’Historia de Catalunya and the Maritime Museum) and even took a Mediterranean cruise to soak in all we have already seen from the perspective of the sea and to scope out our excursions that are yet to come. We have seen the old (Barri Gotic, Las Ramblas and La Boqueria) and the new (the World Trade Center of Barcelona and Torre Agbar). Included are photos from many of our excursions

Most recently, on Friday, we spent all afternoon and into the late evening at Montjuic. We took a spectacular cable car (Teleferic de Montjuic) ride to the top of the mountain where we visited a castle with centuries of history and the most breathtaking views of the city of Barcelona and the Mediterranean Sea below. After the castle, we visited the venues of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. Included were visits to the outdoor arena (Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys), the indoor arena (El Palau Saint Jordi), the indoor and outdoor pools (Piscines Bernat Picornell) and the Olympic torch / pavilion / reflecting pool area. We even caught glimpses of the baseball stadium and field hockey venues. We then visited the greatest collection of Romanesque art in the world at the Museu Nacional D’Art de Catalunya (MNAC) before heading down to the base of the mountain where we visited the grand traditional bullfighting ring of Barcelona, which is now a huge commercial complex. We wrapped up the evening with the show at the Magic Fountain of Montjuic which came to symbolize the 1992 Olympic Games.

We took a road trip to the northwest mountains and Montserrat last week to visit the Basilica and this week starts with another road trip today to the south and the artistic beach community of Sitiges. This week we will continue to explore the diversity Barcelona has to offer with visits from everything to the Palau Musica Catalana to Camp Nou (the home to FC Barcelona and the largest stadium in all of Europe).

We will try to get the students in Spain to get this blog thing going; however, for the moment they claim to be too busy with their school work and some claim too busy walking the city of Barcelona on excursions and taking group photos.