Museos y Barbacoa

January 12, 2019

Museos y Barbacoa

Saludos from Barcelona!

Over the last few days, I've been lucky enough to find a few hidden gems in Barcelona and I'm so excited to share my experiences with a couple of them below :)

Yesterday, CIEE organized a barbecue and mixer for students to meet each other and hang out. It was nice to meet more new people and visit a new place outside of Barcelona. We went to Can Xec, a location for events about 30 minutes away from the city center. We had a traditional Catalan barbecue lunch (just a sausage and some bread with olive oil).

We then explored the Gothic Quarter a little bit and found a fabulous churro place called "La Pallaresa Xocolateria Xurreria" (a couple blocks off La Rambla). I tried the Hot Chocolate Suizo and Kaitlyn had the Spanish hot chocolate. The churros were amazing and cured an afternoon craving!

This morning, I woke up and decided to go to the CaixaForum in the Montjuic area! It's a modernist building originally designed by Josep Puig i Cadalfach to be a textile factory but was later acquired by CaixaBank and turned into a museum. They had a couple really great exhibits of art by Velazquez and some French art based on the theme of Montmarte. The Velazquez exhibit focused on 7 pieces of Velazquez art in context with other art from the Golden Age in themes such as Religion, The Court, and Portraits! It also featured a few paintings by Peter Paul Rubens and other famous artists.

After this, Kaitlyn and I met up to do the MNAC (National Catalan Art Museum). It's free on Saturdays after 3 PM and has a large collection of artwork. I especially enjoyed the paintings by Picasso and Dali, the architecture-based art by Gaudi and Puig i Cadalfach, and the mural by Joan Miro.