Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve

The other day it was such a gorgeous day that Erik and I decided to go on a hike, I love hiking because I would rather hike than walk on a treadmill. We went to

the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve;

the sky was a gorgeous blue color without a cloud in sight. It was great to walk and explore new areas that we hadn’t been to before. We go hiking a lot but not very often to this area because it is a little bit farther for us, but every time we go we try to take a different trail and go as far as we can. All of the people that we would see on the trails were so friendly and that’s also one of my favorite things about hiking, that when you see someone they are always friendly and want to know how your hike has been so far. I highly suggest going on a hike even if it is a small one, and if there’s an ecological reserve nearby check it out I promise you won’t be disappointed.

La Jolla - Spring Break

Yesterday, my boyfriend and I went to La Jolla Cove, the weather was great although it did get a bit chilly around four but with a light sweater that problem is solved. I really enjoyed myself especially after such a hard move I was able to relax at the beach. Watching the Seals is great, they are so cute and seeing them swim and then go to the shore is great. I could stay and watch them for hours but I couldn't because we wanted to get to the sand. We also went and climbed some rocks to get to see the waves crashing into them and see the crabs that are between the rocks which was really nice. I had such a great time, unfortunately I did not get a tan so I am still very white and I will have to head to the beach more often. 

La Jolla Cove

I had such a great day with my sister I always enjoy the time that we spend together. We had some errands to do in La Jolla and decided to go to the Cove since we were so close to the area. It was a beautiful day I really enjoy overcast days at the beach when I'm just strolling around.  We saw the sea lions and some birds that were quite smelly we talked and laughed it was great.The water was especially cold but we still got wet although after a while I was numb. At the end, we saw the museum and unfortunately we had to leave before rush hour traffic started. It was so nice to be able to spend time with my sister because both of our schedules are so hectic. This trip just made me appreciate, even more the wonderful relationship I have with my sisters. 

Smelly Birds  

Park Güell

For our last day in Barcelona we saved the best for last, we went to Park Güell. The metro's stop was about eight blocks from the Park but most of the people that were getting off of the metro were also tourists. It was so nice once we got there, the colors that Antoni Gaudi chose are so vibrant even in winter they look great. On the roof there were kids playing soccer and families having picnics, I really enjoyed being able to see the Park because it has a great view and there are so many things to

see that it is hard not to leave happy.

One of Many Walks

We started the day on La Ramblas and walked along the beach where we ate Paella we decided to walk the boardwalk. Around noon we started to walk to the Estadi Olimpic De Montjuic. We walked for many hours we went up a mountain where you could see all of Barcelona and truly see how beautiful the city is. Once we got the to the top we tried to visit the Museu but by then it was night time. We were not able to take the tour but we still walked around and saw the swimming pool and the soccer stadium. About five minutes away is the Museu Nacional D'art de Catalunya. There were many people around who were just enjoying the music and the company of family and friends. It was getting so cold that we bought some chocolate y churros, which was amazing! I am glad that the chocolate was nice and hot because the walk towards Poble Espanyol was very chilly. After walking all day we were quite tired and decided to take the metro back to La Ramblas we bought some gelato for the walk back to the hotel and called it a night. 

plaza de toros

TAPA TAPA

We went to a very nice restaurant that was called Tapa Tapa the food was so good we actually ate there three times. I love kabobs, if there is a restaurant with kabobs I will definitely order the Kabob. I chose to get the spicy potato because I missed having something spicy to eat, but they weren't that spicy they had chorizo and the white sauce I am not quite sure what it was. The best thing was that after we ate we went into Miu Miu which was great !

spicy potatoes 

Kabob Moruna 

chicken teriyaki kabob 

steak kabob with mushrooms

Sagrada Familia

I really wanted to see the Sagrada Familia Cathedral; the work that Antoni Gaudi designed is marvelous. The design in photographs do not do it justice because once your their in real life it truly takes your breath away. Gaudi had a certain gothic style and he shows it very well with the Sagrada Familia. We got their quite late because we had arrived from Montserrat and decided to walk to the Cathedral from where the tour bus had dropped us of which was about a thirty minute walk. Once we got there we saw that we made the right decision by going to see the cathedral because it truly is a work of art. The first video is of the front of the cathedral which is a bit newer the last video is of the back of the cathedral which is the original side. 

Montserrat

We went to Montserrat, which is a monastery up on a mountain. Driving up was a bit scary we were on a huge tour bus and the road that were two-way streets are tiny which is already scary then there was the fog that was so thick you could not see anything.  I do not know how the driver was able to drive, but once we got to the top where the monastery was it was beautiful because we were above the fog and it looked like the ocean. There was this nice older couple that were celebrating their 56

th

anniversary and they were talking to us for most of the time. It was nice to see how great they got along and how in love they still seemed after so many years.  We also tried the Liquors that the monks make and personally since I do not like to drink they were quite strong it felt like pure alcohol and after I could still feel the burn of the alcohol it was like burning my stomach. But there were some people that did like it so it might just be me. They have four different liquors and they all taste differently some were very strong and others tasted a lot more like hazelnut. After tasting the liquors we went to the church. The church was beautiful and there wasn’t a big line to see the Black Virgin of Montserrat. There was a fire many years ago so the only original piece of the Virgin is her hand which one can go and kiss and pray, I recommend that everyone go and see her it is such a lovely experience. When we finished seeing the church we had free time so my boyfriend and I went to explore the surrounding area, there isn’t much to see around this time because there is only one shop open and one restaurant so we decided to go up the hiking paths. The hiking path we chose said that there was an amazing view at the top so we started to climb the stairs and we kept climbing and climbing until it felt like my legs were numb. Of course my boyfriend said that he was fine so I pushed on a bit more until we saw a sign that said the path was still one more hour to get to the end, that is where we decided to call it a day because we had been climbing for an hour and we wanted to eat at the restaurant and go to the gift shop before we headed back to Barcelona.  We did sit on the rocks before we headed down and were amazed of how beautiful the mountain was it was as if we were in a different world the trees were beautiful and the birds are not afraid to stand next to you like the bird in the picture did with me. We carved our initials onto a rock as other tourists did and we started to head down. As we went down my boyfriend had the idea of counting how many steps we went up, at the end we went up 675 steps. Once we got down it was nice to not have to go down stairs anymore and we walked towards the gift shop and spent some time there. We spent so much time climbing and going back down the mountain that we didn’t have time to eat at the resultant and the food looked delicious. But now that I look back at it I wouldn’t change a thing, it was so much fun to climb up the mountain and see the monastery from so high up it just made the trip so much better. If your ever in Barcelona and have time to go to Montserrat you should definitely go and see it. 

If one stands in the center of the circle like the tour guide is doing they say that you are closer to god and if you pray he will hear your prayer better and it will be answered.

Barcelona

These photos are from one of the many walks that we did in Barcelona. I loved seeing the outside of the churches and the stone work of the streets in every corner that we would turn there was a hidden gem. This church was so wonderful and we found it because there were a lot of people that were gathering around to see some Husky's that were going to be giving sled rides and one could go and pet them as well. I am so glad that we went to check what was going on because if we hadn't we would have never found this wonderful church. 

The dome in the back was for the Husky's 

Our shoes

This Street is to the right of the church 

And this Gaudi exhibit  is to the left of the church

Paella

After walking around the boardwalk we started to get hungry, we were both craving Paella. I love paella it is in my top five foods. We decided to eat at el Chipiron in front of the mare magnum mall on the pier. The view was wonderful and the sun was fabulous we even got so hot that we needed to take our coats off. They served us at our table and the paella was delicious.