Granada

... another HIKE

... continuous sense of exploration

... sunset overlooking the Alhambra

Palacios Nazaríes


... the beauty within

Patio de los leones


... extraño a mi chichi :(

Jardines del Partal


Palacio de Carlos V

... LUUUUUNCH!

... view from la Alcazaba


... restos de la ciudad castrense de la Alhambra

... free spirit

Catedral de Granada

... through granada's muslim quarter, the Albayazin


... the best travel secret, Jose Campos, the Venezuelan bartender, Tantra Bar

... the new-found twins... Sean you're much better looking ;)

Granada 10

Sevilla

... view from La Giralda

... inside the Catedral de Santa María de Sevilla

... no me acuerdo del nombre


El Real Alcázar de Sevilla


Cúpula del Salón de Embajadores


Jardines del Alcázar


Baños de la Reina Mora

Fuente de Neptuno

... the last supper, Restaurante San Marco Pizzeria

... the end.

Project I- Phase I

As a short summary for our 'monumental' semester project, we are basically to propose a new urban design for the Glories Square, the new urban center of the city of Barcelona, contained within four phases.
The first phase is an experiential analysis of eight different plazas within the city's urban fiber; every phase would be growing in scale in terms of our overall project perse. For the remaining three we will be working more in depth with the actual Glories Square, going from the design of one area, to one whole block, and finally a building.
For this specific phase, we were to work in pairs and analyze three of these plazas by means of an emotion, one element which persisted within the three. In our case (Billy and myself), we decided to focus in the idea of the threshold; a transition of emotions from one space to another, specifically the feeling of comfort vs discomfort.



The idea of threshold in this plaza can be stated as literal. In order to get into the space, one has to go through this enclosed 'hallway' that conects the plaza to La Rambla. The outer facades to certain extent delineate the entrance separating the outer cluster of people, shops, cars, and motorinos from the inner, more serene area.


For Sant Jaume, the threshold is viewed from another perspective. The plaza serves as a dorway to the city; from it one has access to the Barri Gotic and to the rest of La Eixample by means of la Calle Ferran, one of the city's most important streets. This is a space that unlike what most people think a plaza to be, it is more of a meeting or transition point... not a place for one to relax.


When at Plaza de la Palmera de Sant Marti, this whole idea completely changes its scale. There's a spatial transition from the surrounding neighborhoods into the plaza area as well as from within the plaza itself. Plaza de la Palmera is characterized by this sculptural wall that divides the space in two; an arid from an oasis-like playgroung area. Both areas are usually filled with people during the weekends which makes it comfortable to be within not minding the almost monumental scale of this separating element.

That was basically our version of the assignment, an attempt to relate completeley different spaces through one characteristic taking into account the different scales each were contained in.

Compendio of the weekend

EL WEEKEND SALVA VIDAS!!! VIRGEN SANTAAA!!

This past weekend was by far the best... not only did we go to see impressive Roman ruins but I also BOUGHT MY BOOOOOTS!!! FINALLY!

Viernes 19 enero: Pretty good day from the very beginning, starting from 9 AM. We finally got internet installed in our apartment by none other than a fellow 'New Worlder', an Argentinian who by the way even gave me a code in order to make international calls for cheaper... 2 CENTIMAS A MINUTE... take that guys (as in men)... it was either the power of being a girl or the fact of him feeling sorry for us... ;)
Turista Style! During the afternoon we went (minus Billy [he didn't get lost this time], Felipe and Tom) 1). to the Old City Museum in which we saw the biggest underground Roman excavation in the world (ironically bigger than those in Italy).

2). We walked along PART of the biggest commercial (as in shopping) avenue in the city, Passeig de Gracia (which is conveniently near Gran Via), 3). and visited Casa Batllo by Antoni Gaudi.



Mission Semi-Impossible! Later on in the day arose the debate over the next step in our (as in Monica and I) own 'Barcelonian' cultural immersion: getting our hair done. After finally finishing 101 calls to and from Italy, I finally got the nerve to go over to the salon and go on with our mission which turned out to be one radical new hair do (mine) and an awesome result from many translations (Monica's).


La Oveja Negra (The Black Sheep). Dinner was an adventure by itself. Just heading to the place was an experience... thank God our teacher knew the way :). Dinner came included with it's own 7 bread rolls (which Meghan ate by herself before she left on her H.O.T. date ;)), delicious tapas.... and Monica's cuddlefish (A TYPE OF SQUID). The ending for a couple of us was at the fabulous bar La Oveja Negra which came with funky smells, huuuge beer pitchers and an immense herd of not very discrete men. Enough said!






Sabado 20 enero: This stupendous day was spent half of it sleeping and the rest taking pictures of two of our plazas for the first phase of our project. On the way back, I BOUGHT MY BOOTS; two jackets for only 40 EUROS, and some pastries. My translating services were offered once again to my friend James Bishop who was in desperate need to buy a phone; we had some type of sausage and peppers for dinner, aaaaand I stayed home while the rest went out.

Domingo 21 enero: The apartment if full of laundry (literally), that's the first thing I see when I get up every morning. We developed this 'ghetto' mechanism to dry our clothes and decided to locate it between the dinning and living area, right underneath the heater... our parents would be so proud (its a cord tied from the entry of the space all the way to the window at the end).

Billy and I got up (as in I woke him up) in order to go and document our last plaza, Plaza de la Palmera de Sant Marti, all the way at the other end of the city. It was very nice to see the environment in that space... crowded with families just 'hanging' out in the playgrounds, little kids running around, and old people sitting down and simply talking the hours away. It is a place worth going when one just wants to get away, take a break from 'stuff'.
We ended up getting off at the Sagrada Familia metro stop for mere curiosity, not knowing that right when you walk up to street level, the church would be standing right behind you.
We simply admired it and decided to have lunch in the rambla-type square we were on... and that's what we did... just sat down, relaxed and ate... very complex indeed.