Sunrise Over the Mediterranean

Flying out of Barcelona this morning watching the most beautiful sunrise above the clouds.

Feeling so grateful to have seen so many beautiful sunsets and rises. The best are the ones above the clouds. 

:: Best sunset- first time skydiving as the sun set over the Pacific Ocean 

:: Best Sunrise- Today, first time seeing the Mediterranean as the sun broke through the horizon filling the blue sky with beautiful shades of orange.

The beautiful sunrise was just the cherry on top of such an amazing weekend in Barcelona. Traveling through Spain has been such a wonderful experience and each place has been so diverse with many cultural differences within the Spain culture. Living in Jaén gives me a bias point of view but for me Jaén has been the most "Spanish", Granada was very Arabic, the small pueblo of Puente de Genave felt like I had traveled back in time, and Barcelona had so much Catalina pride. One thing that stuck out to me was the Catalina flags hanging from many apartment balconies and store fronts throughout the city. During out last cultural communications class we discussed how in Spain it isn't very common to see the Spanish flag hanging anywhere beside government buildings. Barcelona was quite an exception. I assume this is because of their desire to separate from Spain and thrive as their own country. We met a girl at the open market in the city who said she isn't Spanish she is Catalan and that seemed to be the consensus of most people there. 

We went to the market Friday morning and after just finishing our reports on the mercado in Jaén, well... The mercado didn't look so great anymore haha. The market in Barcelona was incredible! It had everything you could imagine and in the highest quality. We each bought a smoothie to start to fulfill our craving and it was nothing short of the best food I've ever had! I got the coconut strawberry one, it tasted like a milkshake but a million times better... So good. Later we ended up running back just before they closed to get tacos (loaded with grilled vegetable, guacamole, rice, bean, meat, etc) and one more smoothie. We spent the rest of the day wondering through the city and ended it with a tour of the Gaudi's Casa Batllo which was spectacular! Sunday I spent the whole day wondering through Gaudi's Park Guell. I loved ever minute of it. As i walked through the city to get to the park i stopped at a little restaurant to get a bit to eat. It's funny how extremely touristy Barcelona is, even the menu was printed in Spanish and English. I ordered the Pollo Chocetts (basically fried whipped potatoes with bacon bits hmmm) and a Ensalada (salad). still feeling hungover from the last two nights the food tasted so good! Just before leaving i went to the back to use the restroom as and i waited outside the door (right next to the kitchen) one of the chiefs asked me where i was from and we had a great conversation and joked back and forth all in Spanish!!
Once i finally got to the park i decided to start at the top and make my way down to the bottom. There were many small dirt trails that twisted and winded through the park with scattered musicians from every genera throughout. Their talent was captivating and made my day at the park that much better. As I got down towards the bottom where all the tourist were it was hard to even see the beauty of Gaudi's architectural work with so many people everywhere but i was still able to enjoy it. After the park i headed towards the metro to try and figure out how to get back to my friend's house but first i stopped in a small coffee shop/bar for hot chocolate and churros... when in Spain :) While sitting in the cozy cafe on a brisk early fall evening reading my book (the Wizard of Oz) with the only the company of a kind waiter I couldn't help but feel high on life.