Girl by the Lake

travels: majorca, the beautiful.

I honestly feel like I created a full time job for myself when I decided to post all the pictures from my time in Europe. First, all the editing. Then, deciding which pictures to post and what experiences to write about. I can’t say I regret the time spent, though (and it’s not like I have a job now anyways). I’ve had a lot of fun reliving the trip. More importantly, I’m glad I have the pictures + some of my memories captured for future reading!

The last stop on our trip was Majorca, Spain. I was quite surprised how short the flight from Barcelona to the island of Majorca was…one second I was looking out my window at water, the next a beautiful mountain range appeared out of thin air. Instantly, I woke up Eric from his usual plane-ride nap so that he could take a look at the amazing view. I just knew Majorca was going to give us the relaxation we needed after all the touristy activities over the past week.

church in Palma, Majorca

We stayed at the Castillo Hotel Son Vide, which is an old castle now turned nice hotel. The hotel sits on a hill overlooking Palma, Majorca’s largest city, and the Mediterranean Sea. We loved the view from the hotel. In fact, we loved it so much we hardly ever left! Sitting by the pool with a nice book was all I could really bring myself to do, but I am glad we ventured out a bit to explore the island.

Our second night, we went into Palma, the closest and largest city near where we stayed. We walked around, took some photos, bought some cigars and ate more tapas. The main street had some great shopping, but I didn’t want to bore Eric, so I passed!

There were trees like this all around Palma. So twisty and cool!

Palma, Majorca

travels: barcelona, all the rest.

I decided to put all of my remaining Barcelona pictures into one, probably very long, post. I hope you enjoy scrolling through!

Beautiful statue in downtown Barcelona.

la Catedral

travels: barcelona, sagrada familia

Barcelona was the second stop on our July trip to Europe. Eric and I were both very excited to visit someplace new, despite how tired we were following our time spent in Paris. We ate a lot of tapas (including a foie gras burger…chew on that thought for a bit!), enjoyed the scenery and spent some time visiting some well known tourist attractions.

On our first day, we stopped by the famous Sagrada Familia. Designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, and still under construction, the Sagrada Familia was by far the most interesting church we visited during the entire trip. Gaudí’s design is incredibly unique, as you’ll see in the below pictures, and we spent more time in this church than any other on our trip.

Construction on the church is expected to finish in 2026, 100 years after Gaudí’s death.

Inside the church. Designed to resemble a forest.

travels: paris, all the rest.

The five days we spent in Paris were adventurous, breathtaking, exhausting, but overall amazing. I’m so hopeful that we can go back again one day. Then we’ll be able to spend more time in certain areas…and maybe fall in love with the city a little bit more than we are today.

This post will show some of my favorite pictures that don’t necessarily focus around a main Parisan landmark. Have fun scrolling!

Orsay Museum

Parisan street in Montmartre

Statue at the Pompidou Museum

Pompidou Museum

travels: paris, sacre coeur

Ahhhhh, now for the prettiest church we visited during our trip to Paris: Sacre Coeur. Situated on the hills of Montmartre overlooking the city of Paris, this church caught my eye on our first day in Paris. I saw it sitting on a hill and begged Eric to go there.

And you see all those people??? They were EVERYWHERE. They obviously thought it was really pretty as well. (even though they made things difficult for picture taking!)

This church actually suffered substantial damage during World War II, so a lot of work happened following the end of the war. This work included replacing the beautiful stained glass windows. The good news, though, is that you don’t visit Sacre Coeur for the windows. You go for the mosaics. I wasn’t allowed to take photographs while in the church, but I found some images for you here, here and here.

one of my favorite pictures from the trip. The view from the church was breathtaking.