The Friday right before spring break, I went to Barcelona. It was my first time traveling completely alone, which my parents were a little worried about but it turned out great! I stayed in a hostel there and met some really cool people staying in my room. One was from Australia and the other from Morocco and we all went on a pub crawl together the first night. The next day, I spent all day checking out Gaudi’s architecture, like La Sagrada Familia, Casa Batllo, and Parc Guell, all of which were incredible. His buildings alone definitely made Barcelona one of my favorite cities. He incorporated a lot of elements of nature into his works so there’s a very organic feeling to his buildings, almost like they could've grown out of the earth. It’s just so unusual and different from the classically beautiful structures that you see everywhere else in Europe! The cathedral, La Sagrada Familia, was constructed in 1892 and isn’t going to be done until 2026! I definitely plan on coming back to see it. I can’t describe it well enough to do it justice so I’ll just post a few pictures here:
On Sunday evening, I flew to Italy and met up with my family in Rome!!! Even though I talked to my family over the phone quite often while abroad, it was so, so good seeing them in person. I arrived just in time for dinner and ate spaghetti pomodoro (aka spaghetti with tomato sauce, which I probably ate every single day in Italy) and tiramisu and it was great. In Rome, we visited the Forum, Colosseum, Navona Square, Trevi Fountain, and Pantheon.
The next day, we went to Vatican City. Our tour guide led us through the Vatican museums, which were absolutely packed. I couldn’t really hear anything our tour guide said but I probably wouldn't have paid attention anyways because of the endless amounts of paintings on the ceilings. It was too beautiful to describe. How people even create something like this is crazy. We also visited the Sistine Chapel (where I unsuccessfully tried to take a selfie with “The Creation of Adam” painting on the ceiling) and Saint Peter’s Basilica.
After Rome, we took a train to Venice where we spent the last few days. Walking down the narrow streets, with the buildings so high up on either side of you, you could only see a small strip of blue sky when you looked up. It was so different from anywhere I had ever been. I didn’t get a chance to ride in a gondola but I did take the water bus a couple of times. Most days were spent wandering along the canals and occasionally sitting on the docks to enjoy a drink. My family left 2 days before I did, so I got to do some more solo traveling. I explored the city without my phone’s GPS and stumbled upon a cute little antique market. I also hung out a bit in Piazza San Marco and visited St. Mark’s Basilica. I went up St. Mark’s Campanile, which is a bell tower near the basilica. The wait was long but the view from the top was worth it:
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