Caught Up in Catalonia

We spent the remainder of our time on the road in the beautiful country of Spain, more specifically in the region of Catalonia, in the town of Moja. Friends who had previously lived at the home of Jono’s parents had invited us to stay with them for the duration of our time in Spain. We were picked up at the airport by Jordi, Carlos and Jessica, and were soon at the home of the Federico-Arnabats. We spent the first few days of our time in Spainish Catalonia at the house, just resting and enjoying the experience of “not living out of our backpacks”. We enjoyed delicious Spanish food as well as an extremely comfortable bed! A few days into our time in Spain, we took the train and made our way to the beautiful city of Barcelona. We, along with our friend Jordi, enjoyed a great day in the city. We saw some great sites, including the Ramblas, and we attended an interesting exhibit called “Bodies”. Here we were able to see real dead bodies, plasticisized, and cut open to view different parts of the human anatomy. Very interesting! Our next big outing in Spain was with Jordi’s parents, Nati and Carlos, who took us out of Moja to see the popular mountain range of Mount Serrat. Here we walked around a beautiful monastery and saw the famous virgin of Catalonia, La Moreneta. We were also lucky enough to see the former Presidents of Catalonia (Sr. Jordi Pujol). He was a President that the people love and he served in office for over 20 years! We made it up to the top of Mount Serrat, although we wimped out a bit and took the funicular up to the top (and back down again!). Our next trip was with Nati, and she took us to see Tarragona, an ancient city of Catalonia that is home to many things Romanesque, including the still intact Roman Aqueduct. We ended our tour of Tarragona early due to heavy rain, but we got to take a close look at the Mediterranean Sea and we really enjoyed the things we were able to see and do. The next day we were back in Barcelona, and with Nati once again. She was a wonderful tour guide, and even though she didn’t speak English and Amanda didn’t speak Spanish (or Catalan for that matter) they seemed to get on just fine together! We spent this day enjoying more of the sites of Barcelona, which included Barcelona’s most famous building, the Catholic Church called “La Sagrada Familia” (The Sacred Family). The Sagrada Familia is a church, designed by Antoni Gaudi, and has been in the works since 1882. It’s still not complete and might not be even before we die. It is extremely huge, and funded primarily by donations. Don’t miss it when in Barcelona! This day could have been called the “Gaudi Day”, as we spent the rest of the day touring around the city and seeing different buildings and creations that were all made by Gaudi. Some of the most impressive were the homes that he transformed, they are truly masterpieces!! We spent the rest of our days in Spain enjoying time with our friends. We spent one night in the beach city of Sitges, which would have been a paradise if it wasn’t December! (it still was pretty awesome though!). We spent more time in Moja, and some time touring the small city of Villa Franca. However, we didn’t have long to spend in Spain, and we soon found that our time had run out. On December 21, at 9 am, we boarded the first of three planes that would safely bring us back to Canadian soil. It had been an amazing trip, 8 months in total, but now it had come to an end. We were filled with mixed emotions as we boarded the plane and began to think about our adventure and what we would find ourselves into next!