Arcadia Scotland

This week Jessica Watson, Arcadia's University of Aberdeen Scholarship recipient, explores Barcelona.

It is here that I truly experienced the most joy and love for any moment in my current life and past years. Barcelona is a beautiful place filled with culture, history, music, and magic. Let me explain…

La Catedral de Barcelona is a wonderful place to visit when the sun is glistening off of its Neo-Gothic walls like diamonds twinkling in the light of a thousand newly christened stars.

My absolute favorite destination in Barcelona is shown in this image (the contest was very close with another location to be mentioned later). At Park Güell I felt truly at peace with everything around me to the level of the atom. The sunset on the horizon appeared as a newly ripped sheet of pastel paper exposing the darkness to a brand new night. The dark hues soon covered the park in a blanket of midnight shortly after this image was captured. Gazing off into the vast expanses over the beautiful walls of this park I felt as free as a dove.

Wondering away from center city Barcelona I drifted into the parks and set my eyes upon a landscape that couldn’t even be captured sufficiently in a panoramic shot the size of a cinema. Gorgeous architecture and incredible images painted across the landscape like Gaudi himself had created such remarkable masterpieces.

An afternoon out of the busy touring schedule was taken to eat a picnic lunch in the park. An amazing thing in this so very industrialized world we are chained to.

Street art and La Plaza Real as well as artwork by Pablo Picasso painted just below his first ever studio apartment.

A day at the beach was very much relaxing and truly needed after such a copious amount of touring. And what a beautiful beach it was.

The next few photos are after a photography class I decided to take in Barcelona to tell my story a bit better. In Barcelona the dragon is a symbol of ferocity and blooming independence and patriotism.

42 children lost their lives to the Mussolini/ Franco bombing of the Spanish Civil War. These flowers are placed over the shrapnel holes in memoriam.

A quick note on the historical components I thought were very cool…

Super Cool Historical Barcelona

1. It’s an old legend that Barcelona was named because Hercules had lost his ninth ship in a wreckage that ended up being found in a new land. Ninth in Catalan is Nona and ship is Barca. Barcanona… Barcelona.
2. Jewish insignias are found all over the buildings of the city because during the time of the Black Plague the Jewish people didn't fall ill. Many blamed them for the infection and stole their tombstones to build their monuments and architecture.
3. The higher to the sky you are the closer you are to Jesus, thus the judges were at least 4 stories above the people appearing in court.
4. Columbus led mass genocides. Columbus asked hundreds of kings and queens to sponsor him to travel to the new world. Many people thought he was crazy because he thought the world round. The Spanish king and queen had no money and nothing to lose so they allowed Columbus to use their worst ships: the Niña, Pinta, and Santa Maria to lead the expedition and to use prisoners as a crew. He returned to Spain with spices and fruits not yet known to Europe, but also gave disease to the Americans and killed a massive proportion of the population.
5. The Catalonia flag has 4 red stripes because in a final attempt to represent the nation the friend of the dying leader of the revolution shoved 4 fingers in his wounds and painted the blood on the wall claiming to never give up independence
6. Catalan is basically a mixture of Spanish and French

A very close second to my favorite place, the Magic Fountains of Montjuic... a true sight to behold - water of all hues and contrasts dancing a ballet suite in front of your eyes to different genres of music and children dance, lovers kiss, and families huddle together and gaze at the majesty that is Barcelona in all of its glory.

If you would like to read Jessica's post in its entirety as well as see some of her previous adventures, you can visit her blog.