This is part five in a five-part series.

In the first seven days of my trip, I had flown across the Atlantic Ocean, visited a Royal Palace, visited museums, and gone to the beach. I thought I had seen it all, but we had yet to go to Barcelona, which might be my favorite place in Spain.

We, unfortunately, did not arrive in Barcelona until the late afternoon on the eighth day, so Raul just let us shop and walk around the city. During this time, we found a street artist and bought some of his work, which were paintings of the city.

Raul then walked us to our restaurant for the evening, and then we went to our final hotel, which was just outside the city.

The next morning, we visited the chocolate museum/factory: El Museu Xocolata. Here we got some delicious chocolate and another opportunity for a photo.

We went on to visit the basilica La Sagrada Familia, which up until then, I thought was an ancient cathedral.

It is not.

Construction began in 1882, and it is actually still being built. It was designed by Antoni Gaudi who lived from 1852-1926.

La Sagrada Familia, from a landscape view of the city, just juts out in the middle of the city and is quite the sight to see.

We then went to the Museu Picasso de Barcelona (Picasso Museum). This was a little intense because they do not like EF Tours, which was the tour group we went through, so we had to “sneak in” and act like we did not know each other, but they caught on to us.

Ms. Laura Pence managed to get us in anyway and it was amazing to see all of the paintings by Picasso there.

A special exhibit, comparing Picasso to another famous artist, Salvador Dali, was on display. I found this fascinating because these two artists were very similar while being individualistic. I made it a game to try and see whether I could tell which artist painted a certain painting.

I highly recommend people to visit this museum.

Parc Güell was the last place we visited as a full group. This is a public park designed by Gaudi. Here is a place where Gaudi’s art style can most fully be studied with his mosaics and extravagant styles everywhere to be found. His symbol, the salamander, is also found here.

The park is beautiful and has a beautiful view of the city.

By this time, it was late afternoon and Raul gave us some options to spend our time before dinner. My group chose to go to the beach, which although not as nice (or empty) as the one in San Sebastian, is beautiful. I would advise to get there early, so you can actually get a spot on the beach. Also, beware of pick-pockets; they are everywhere and are extremely skilled in Spain.

We were careful to guard our possessions and each took turns going into the water and taking pictures. As the sun continued to dip down, we knew it was time for dinner, so we said goodbye to the beach, and set off to find Raul.

We took the city buses, back to the meeting place and then we had our last meal as a group, which was enough to sober us up because it was finally starting to hit that we would be leaving the next morning.

For our final night in Spain, Raul took us to his favorite place in Barcelona: a beautiful view of the city. We lingered here for the remainder of the night, taking in the city for one last time.

In the morning Raul escorted us to the airport, and bade us goodbye. I was sad to say goodbye to everyone, but was also glad to be going home after the long trip.