Spain

and as a last post, some Spanish markets! as most of you know, I went to Spain this summer....and I actually wanted to make an update only Spain-related, regarding each place ive seen, but ive realized it's gonna be way too time consuming, and an endless post, so I would go step by step, and talk about it through the Spanish posts here in the future.

Our first stop in Spain was Barcelona...the lovely Barcelona, with which I fell in love with, and i could definitely live there!
Now Barcelona is all in the name of Gaudi, but also has dozen of other things to offer, among which is the La Boqueria Market on La Rambla....this must have been one of the MOST FANTASTIC markets ive seen in my life!! So captivating! The colours of the market are amazing, esp. at the fruit stalls or ones offering fruit drinks! The colours of these are soooooooo vivid and arranged in such a way that it captures you at an instant! You feel like a small child at the greatest toy store and you just dont know where to look first!
The nuts, sweets and spices sections are a story for themselves as well.

Here I would like to share with you a few of the pictures Ive taken there...

yum-yum-yummie!!!

if you notice, the name Macedonia is hanging in there...for 2 euros :)

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

i dont think ive seen such colourful peppers at one place :)

well, Valencia was our last stop....another place I fell for...must be something coz of the Mediterranean Sea :)
Valencia has its central market as well, which we unfortunately didnt get the chance to see , but at least i have this lovely postcard from there

on the overall, I didnt really bring many cards from Spain...or at least not as many as i expected to...but they are good enough to tell the stories of what I have and have not seen :)

have a great, and not such a cold and rainy weekend!

Barcelona, Spain

Card I received as an official time ago....love it!

ES-48206

I just regret not having seen this during my trip to Barcelona...i love this building! Well, we saw Sagrada Familia, and of course, only from the outside...but we didnt even pass by this one =[.
This is the Casa Batlló, built in 1877. The local name of the building is House of Bones (Casa dels ossos) and it does 
indeed have a visceral, skeletal, organic quality .
The building looks very remarkable — like everything Gaudí designed, only identifiable as Modernisme or Art Nouveau in the broadest sense. The ground floor, in particular, is rather astonishing with tracery, irregular oval windows and flowing sculpted stone work.
Much of the facade  is decorated with a mosaic  made of broken ceramic tiles  that starts in shades of golden orange moving into greenish blues. The roof is arched and was linked to the back of a dragon or dinosaur. 
 A common theory about the building is that the rounded feature to the left of centre, terminating at the top in a turret and cross, represents the sword of St. George - patron of Catalonia.  

the stamp is from a set of two issued in January this year, depicting flora and fauna

Barcelona, Spain (04)

One of the many cards I had bought during my stay in Spain...and I think this has got to be the thing which definitely left me the greatest impression...the famous fountains in Barcelona..

Talking about them is pointless, coz you just HAVE to see them and experience the atmosphere...thats impossible to be done by talking about them, no matter how hard I try to convey the actual atmosphere...
Unfortunately I couldnt find any professional video about this attraction...just videos taken by tourists and you get to hear more their talking and the background noise, instead what you are actually supposed to hear....but still...here are some, so try to enjoy them :)









I love the way the music, the colours and the dancing of the water is synchronized and composed in the first place.
Ive read about other such fountains throughout the world...would love to get the chance to see them all...and if you happen to be in Barcelona, then you just MUSTN'T miss to see them!!

Barcelona, Spain (03)

A friend of mine brought this one to me from her honeymoon...

Its a friend I can say ive practically known for my entire life..we went to kindergarden together...we went to primary school together, in the same class...got separated during high-school, and without any intentional purpose, we ended up together at university...and i was something like a bridesmaid at her wedding! :)
Well, i sometimes think that for such traditional events, we have way too much people involved, and im not really certain what are their corresponding English equivalents...or if the English vocabulary has ANY in the first place...but well, at least you get the picture :)

Just that, now this made me wonder if she had ever dropped by at this blog or no...i havent really been going with a fluorescent ad around my neck about it....and i dont think she has ever mentioned something about it (like a comment, critic, question...)...so my guess is 'no'....well, if she ever gets to comment on this card, means she had seen it :P

Barcelona, Spain (02)

Barcelona, Spain (01)

One of the numerous cards I bought when i was in Barcelona, during my trip in 2004

There are several things i recall right now regarding Barcelona (which have nothing to do with historic facts or such).
I remember this part of the town which probably i could call one of the heaven places on Earth for me. It was a long street with loads of shops and most of them were music shops! Most of them probably didnt sell original CD's/DVD's but it was a pleasure to be able to see them....whenever i go abroad i get literally stuck in one of those Virgin/HMV shops, or whatever they happen to have there.
And I know that in some of the shops i saw Depeche Mode t-shirts and that was the first time in my life i have seen a DM t-shirt (coz music shops are rather retarded here) and I was soooo damn excited, and was ready to buy one, but needed to ask for a smaller number since those were something like XXXXL.....and i would have looked more than ridiculous in that...and when i asked the shop assistant for a smaller size, he responded in Spanish and said something like "para los niños" so I could figure out they only had sizes for guys.....aint that discrimination?! :)
But it was fun....