Thursday morning it was off to Barcelona with Joe, Rachel, Anna, Karen, and Amanda. We flew from Weeze, Germany (about a 15 minute drive away) into Girona. We took RyanAir, a cheapo airline that is no frills at all. No food, no entertainment, no reclining seats. Nothing. But hey, for 20 euros it doesn’t really matter! After about a 2 hour flight we landed and waited for a coach bus that would take us the 2 hours into Barcelona. From the bus station we took the subway to our hostel. While we were waiting for our subway a fight broke out on the platform. These girls started attacking each other while we were waiting! Such a great way to start off the trip…
We got to the hostel and checked into our tiny room on the fifth floor. We decided to walk around for a little before we grabbed dinner because in Spain they don’t eat until around 8. We walked to the water and got to see some palm trees! Such a nice change from the bland Dutch landscape! We made our way back to the hostel and asked the receptionist if she could recommend a tapas restaurant for us. Tapas are small dishes, usually appetizer portions, of all different kinds of food that you order a bunch of and share. The receptionist gave us a recommendation for a place that she goes but she couldn’t remember the name or exact location, she just circled an intersection on the map and said, “It’s kinda sketchy but when it comes to tapas, the sketchier the better.” Grabbing maps, we headed out the door to explore the city and find the restaurant. We made it there with only a few wrong turns and went inside a tiny restaurant that was, in fact, sketchy but adorable. The people working ushered us up this ladder to the loft where we sat on wooden benches overlooking the rest of the restaurant. The food was INCREDIBLE! We had spicy potatoes which had a type of mayo and dry spice on top, roasted rabbit’s leg, tomato bread, manchego cheese, chorizo (Spanish sausage), Moorish kebabs, potato and egg casserole, and spinach pies. Ah! Everything was delicious!! We washed it all down with homemade sangria which was just as delicious!
[Our hostel]
[Tapas restaurant]
After we ate we decided to walk around for a little bit, making our way to La Rambla-the main shopping street in Barcelona. On our way it started to downpour so we decided to stop for dessert in a big square we stumbled upon. Our dessert was an experience and a half as we sat under a leaky tent watching a fight go down between a guy and girl in the area next to us and a police raid on the bar/club across the square. “Fights all around” was definitely the motto of our first day! After making our way back to the hostel we went to sleep early so we could get some rest for a full day.
Friday morning brought sunshine and a walk down to the water. As we walked to the water we found out that the Palace Guell, a building that Antonio Gaudi designed, was two doors down from our hotel so we went in quickly because it was under renovation. We took in the sights along the marina and decided to wander around while the weather was still nice. Later we stumbled upon part of a Roman wall and building that is still standing which was really cool! As we continued walking we saw a crowd of people heading down a street so we decided to follow. The crowd was congregated around the Gaudi Museum which was too expensive to venture into. It was fate that we ended up on that street though because next door was this incredibly beautiful cathedral that housed the tomb of the patron saint of Barcelona- Eulalia. The inside of the cathedral was so incredibly beautiful with an impossibly tall, ribbed gothic ceiling. There were gorgeous stained glass windows above the dozen or so chapels dedicated to saints along the walls of the church.
[View of the water by the marina]
[Inside of the cathedral]
[Inside the Cathedral]
After the church we grabbed lunch at a café. I had delicious fried calamari because Barcelona is known for its seafood. Afterwards, we headed to the Picasso museum which was in a gorgeous old mansion. It was really interesting to see works from all stages of his career, not just his cubist pieces. It really gave me a new respect for him as an artist. Joe, Amanda, and I wandered around the bottom floor of the museum because it was open air and had these beautiful archways all over. We then walked to a random park and found a gorgeous Gaudi fountain! We also saw the Arc di Triomf.
[Oh hey there random woolly mammoth in the park]
[Us in front of the fountain]
[Rachel, Anna, Me, Amanda, Joe, and Karen in front of the Arc di Triomf]
We walked back to the hostel for a siesta after the museum and the park because we were planning on going out to a club that night and Barcelona nightlife goes until very early in the morning! After our nap we headed out for dinner. After walking in and out of 4 restaurants in search of cheap food, we ended up back at the tapas restaurant from the night before. This time we each ordered our own spicy potatoes and split a few pitchers of sangria and calimocho (red wine and coca-cola… weird combo, I know. But trust me, so delicious). I also got an order of mussels in some kind of broth that was so delicious! This time, we made friends with the waiter and the other people that worked there. They ended up passing our pitchers and food to me up over the overhang and kept toasting us. As we were leaving they gave us each a free shot of a Spanish coffee-liqueur that was interesting.
Our walk back to the hostel was rain soaked, leaving us looking like we just took showers. We came back to a leaky roof in our room which was oh so incredible. We dried off and left for the club around 1 am (I know Grandpa and Aunt Fran, I’m crazy for going out that late) when it stopped raining. We went to Razzmatazz, a famous Barcelona club that has five floors of music and craziness. 1 am was actually early to get there because there was no one there yet! The club quickly filled up and the six of us stuck together as we danced to the crazy techno music that was blaring from everywhere. I’ve never seen that many people dancing in one space, it was nuts! We left the club to walk home at around 5 am (again, I know, crazy) and crashed in our hostel after an arduous walk back.
Saturday morning (or should I say mid-day) brought a trip to Park Guell. Park Guell is a park that Antonio Gaudi designed in Barcelona and it is easily one of the most gorgeous places I have ever been. If you like the outdoors you would fall in love with this park. There were trails all over and gorgeous stone work everywhere that created vaulted walkways and seating areas all over. There were musicians and artists all over and I ended up buying a small painting of La Sangrada Familia (the Gaudi church) from an artist who painted it on glass. We worked our way up a mountain (or what seemed like a mountain) to reach the beautiful mosaic seating area. The sun was shining, it was warm, there was happy reggae music in the background, and I was sitting on a handcrafted mosaic bench looking out at the blue ocean. I couldn’t have been happier! We then made our way further up the mountain to a spot where you can see all of Barcelona. Again, so incredibly beautiful! I just want everyone to be able to see this place in person!
[In Park Guell]
[View from the top of the mountain]
[Where we climbed to]
[The underside of the mosaic section]
We left the park in search of the other Gaudi buildings, stopping at a café for lunch where Rachel and I split a pint of delicious gelato! We went to the roof of La Pedrera of Caixa Catalunya-an apartment building Gaudi designed. It was so beautiful because we were there as the sun was starting to set and there weren’t that many people. We spent a lot of time sitting up on the roof just soaking everything in. We then toured an apartment that was beautiful (Mom, you would have loved it!). We kept walking around and found the other Gaudi building which was more mosaic and had colored glass and turquoise lights.
[Outside of the Gaudi apartment building]
[Fun sized roof niche]
[Crazy roof architecture]
Our hostel gave us vouchers for a free dinner at a bar so we had an interesting spicy rotini pasta with some kind of beef for dinner. It left us hungry so we went to the famous market to try to buy bread and chocolates from the vendors. The market ended up being closed so we left in pursuit of a cheap snack to eat before we went to a flamenco show at one of Barcelona's oldest flamenco clubs. The flamenco show was incredible! There was a guitar player, saxophonist, drummer, and singer who were all extremely talented and mesmerizing to watch. The show started with a female dancer who was amazing. She was so graceful yet so passionate and had incredible energy. You could feel the emotions from the music and the dancing. A male dancer came after her that was just as incredible. The whole show was just so passionate and intense. We all left emotionally drained and in awe of what we just saw. It was only a half hour show but I could have sat there for another hour. I loved every second of it!
[Market!]
We then walked back to the hostel for a quiet night of sleep. The next morning we traveled back to the castle without any problems. We stopped at the snack shop for dinner on the way back where I had something new yet again-fried bratwurst (so good!). Sunday night was a night of homework and relaxing.
To end all of the rambling-GO TO BARCELONA! It is an incredible city with breathtaking sights, incredible food, and amazing culture!
