Valencia & Barcelona, Spain

After Morocco, we had originally been planning to head into Portugal and then spend a few days hiking along the historic Camino del Santiago, but we had a change of plans. Earlier, I mentioned that Nicole's friend Bonna had visited us while we were staying in Granada. Well, Bonna is not only a bad-ass solar scientist, but she's also the current CEO of Lightyear, a small Netherlands-based company developing a 100% solar vehicle (and solar charging systems ["layers"] that can be used in a variety of mobile applications). While visiting, Bonna told us that her company is trying to collect "real application" solar data from all over Europe, and they were planning to hire someone to drive a car around with one of their data-collecting devices on it. Long story short, we jumped at the opportunity and needed to get to Barcelona to pick up the vehicle. As a result, we scrapped the plans for Portugal and instead took a drive up the southern coast of Spain, stopping in Valencia on our way to Barcelona.

We were only in Valencia for about 36 hours, but it was pretty awesome. We were in the old-town and took ourselves on a graffiti/ street-art tour of the streets, which allowed us to see much of that part of the city, and also learn a bunch about the local art scene, which was vibrant. I'd love to return in the warmer months and visit the beach as well, but that will have to be another time, and we were excited to get to Barcelona.

I mentioned earlier that there's a big rivalry between Barcelona and Madrid- much of this centers around futball (soccer), but also has a lot to do with Barcelona's fierce identity of independence, which has deep historical roots, and many people in the region still wish for the Catalonian state to seek independence from Spain (though most are against it). Whatever the history, it's clear that Barcelona is very distinct from other parts of Spain we visited. It's a very international town, and I heard just as many people speaking English as any other language on the streets, though I also heard a lot of French, German, and, of course, Spanish. The Spanish, however, was super difficult to understand, and many people were speaking (and much signage was in) Catalan, which is the official language of the region, alongside Spanish. Catalan is almost like Portuguese, in that it almost sounds like Spanish, but is also completely distinct. It was kind of disorienting, to be honest, after feeling very comfortable in Spain the rest of the time we had been there. Still, we loved Barcelona! Barcelona is home to Antoni Gaudi, and the modernist architect's work is featured throughout the city. Gaudi created architecture that reminded me of Salvadore Dali's paintings, like the buildings were melting or being viewed in a fun-house mirror. Many looked like they should be in a Willy Wonka movie, they are that cartoonish. And then there's the Sagrada Familia, the cathedral Gaudi started in 1882 and is scheduled to be completed next year, in 2026. The Basilica is just mezmerizing in it's accomplishements. Every detail Gaudi planned out for its construction is like seeing inside the mind of an artistic genius... or a mad-man, considering it was the late 19th century (though Gaudi knew the work wouldn't be finished in his lifetime, or for several lifetimes, for that matter). 

While in Barcelona, we also went to the Moco Museum, which was honestly a little underwhelming, and to the Picasso Museum, which was super cool (though there were entire periods of his life and work that weren't represented), and then made an impromptu visit to the White Rabbit museum, which I think was our favorite of all. White Rabbit is an "Off-Museum" that takes you down the "rabbit hole" of Barcelonian culture. It was an immersive experience that's almost indescribable, but we learned more about the culture and history of Barcelona there than anywhere else we visited by walking through various artists' exhibits of different facets of the city they love. The rest of our time in Barcelona, we kept seeing things and saying, "Oh cool! That's what they were showing in White Rabbit!" If you get to Barcelona, I highly recommend a visit to this funky and fun experience. Otherwise, we spent some time trying to get back into school work (there was NO time for this in Morocco), walked through the Gothic center, and ate lunch at the Corgi cafe (where there are actual Corgis hanging out for you to pet). While other places we visited in Spain were very walkable, Barcelona also had a ton of infrastructure for bikes, scooters, and other forms of alternative transportation. There were throngs of people commuting by bike and electric scooters and the city even sponsors an e-bikeshare program that is free for residents. Super cool!

On our last day in Barcelona, we picked up the Tesla that we would be driving around for the next few months, complete with the solar data device attached to a roof-rack, and prepared for the next leg of our journey.