Holy Week in Barcelona

I spent my Holy Week, also known as the 'holy week' before Easter, in Barcelona with Matthias. On 25.03., I flew from Madrid with a completely packed (!) suitcase. Why was the suitcase so full for a 6-day stay? So that at the end of my semester abroad, I don't end up sitting in Madrid with 50 kilos of luggage and not knowing where to put it all. At the end of the holiday, I flew home for a few days over Easter, but more on that later.

After the fear of an overweight suitcase disappeared after checking in the luggage (only 18 kilos, yeah!) and the flight was fine despite my fear of flying, I arrived in Barcelona full of anticipation. Matthias and I found each other after about half an hour of searching at the airport, he was at the other terminal, which was two kilometers away from mine... the one-hour metro ride to the city went very smoothly, although I immediately noticed that I clearly prefer the Spanish (or Castilian) language to the Catalan language.

Once we arrived at the hotel, we quickly dropped off our luggage in the room, enjoyed the view from the balcony of the Ramblas, and then went out to find a Mexican restaurant (because we both love Mexican food). We were not disappointed and ate our fill of nachos and burritos before falling asleep in bed, tired from the day of travel.

The next days of the holiday were mainly characterized by the following: walking, sightseeing, and eating. We walked an average of 15 kilometers every day and visited many of the classic tourist attractions such as the Sagrada Familia, the Plaça de Catalunya, Gaudí's Park Güell, and of course the port and beach area. But we also wanted to get to know other sides of Barcelona and therefore searched for smaller streets and squares as well as parks, which you can find there quite often. Of course, there were also smaller and larger shopping trips, which Matthias was particularly happy about. An absolute highlight was the evening light and music show at the Font Màgica on the Plaza de Espanya, which was absolutely crowded with tourists but really worth seeing. We were also quite lucky with the weather, except for an evening mix of rain and thunderstorms, we had a lot of sun and pleasant temperatures for a city trip. The last two days (Maundy Thursday and Good Friday) brought an extreme influx of tourists, so the city became unbearably crowded, which is somewhat logical at such a time. It was a bit of a shame that we didn't experience any of the Semana Santa celebrations, as the processions took place when we were not in the city.

Nevertheless, we had a very nice week in Barcelona and finally flew together to Düsseldorf on Good Friday evening, where I spent a few nice days with my family. This brings everything full circle: the visit also served, as mentioned briefly, to unload some clothes, as it would have been impossible to fit everything into my two suitcases at the end. So hopefully it works out.

In two days I will go back to Madrid, where I have many university obligations as well as more trips and activities waiting for me. I am looking forward to my last few weeks there!