Barcelona: A New Angle

My mother was born and raised in Barcelona, Spain. Spanish was my first language (well, learned simultaneously with English, that is), and my Spanish culture has been one of the most important parts of my life since I was a child. I travel there frequently (twice a year), and I know the city quite well. I've seen all of the photos on post cards in gift shops of your typical tourist stops: la Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, the Mediterranean Sea, etc. In some ways, knowing Barcelona so well and seeing the same old photos of the city has made me lose my appreciation for it.

But earlier today, I was browsing a subreddit where people upload cool photos of cities that they visit when I stumbled upon a photo of Barcelona. I stared at it for several minutes, analyzing the once familiar streets that, in this photo, looked completely foreign to me. This photo was taken from above.

I was completely mesmerized. I immediately recognized the Sagrada Familia located towards the left of the image, but...did the streets always line up so straight? Had the buildings always been standing in those formations? I couldn't help but feel embarrassed at the fact that I'd visited a large number of these buildings and had never noticed the way that they all line up. This image presented me with a whole new city. A new angle can bring about a whole new appreciation for something you thought you knew quite well.



Image Source:
http://i.imgur.com/1ePb80R.jpg