Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona, Day 1

After a very early train out of San Sebastian, Tess, Jill and I made our way to our lovely hostel to meet Big Britt who had flown in earlier that day. The 4 of us then hit the town, taking a Spanish stroll down Las Ramblas, a famous long street through Barcelona. It has a similar feel to the Champs Elysees but skinnier so it feels much more crowded. We were warned by Rick Steves, our hostel, our bike tour guide, and about every Spanish store we walked into, to be careful of our bags because there was a high amount of pickpocketers in Barcelona, so we were all very paranoid on Las Ramblas. Personal Opinion: I did not like that street at all….simliar to Champs Elysees, its packed with tourists, overpriced cheesy restaurants, and people trying to sell you junk. We then made it to the pier, saw the Christopher Columbus monument and sat on a dock and caught up and did a bit of people watching.

Since it was the first Sunday of August, museums are free, and we wanted to check out the Picasso Museum. Group opinion: mildly interesting, kind of slow, and we waited in line longer than we were in the actual museum. Personal opinion: the best part of the museum was seeing Picasso’s versions of Velazquez’s Las Meninas. I wrote a paper on these in high school, so its always fun to see the real deal of something I studied for a period of time.

We did our best to find Spanish food but when a Irish Pub promoter told us he had a cheeseburger/beer deal for 5 Euros we pretty much ran into the restaurant. To top it off he threw in a free shot for the 4 of us! Its nice to travel with 3 pretty friends J

That evening we watched the magic fountains music show near the national palace. It was a pretty funny show. The waterworks were amazing but the music choice was a bit interesting….songs from Alicia Keyes, to Craig David, Destiny's Child, the Beatles...very interesting

Barcelona, Day 2

  Today we did the Fat Tire Bike Tour to see how it measured up to the Paris operation. Of course, Ben is a better tour guide than the one we had but the tour was very fun and informative. It was funny later because 1 of the 4 of us would remember something the guide had said on the tour and the other 3 wouldn’t remember at all….I think we all were a bit tired and zoned out more than we thought.

Highlights of the tour:

Barcelona Cathedral

Bull Fighting Arena

Arc de Triopmhe

Sagrada Familia

Beach, lunch and sangria

After the tour, at Tess’ request we went to the chocolate museum. It was a pretty small room of the history of chocolate, chocolate making, and chocolate sculptures. You couldn’t eat the sculptures though so I didn’t understand why they needed to be chocolate, but there are chocolate sculptors out there who are passionate about their trade.

Gran and Uncle Wayne: this is a chocolate sculpture of Ben Hur :)

After the museum, we walked around a park, then around the city in search of 4Gats, a restaurant recommended by a good friend Abbey Konz, who studied abroad in Barcelona. It was a place where Picasso hung out while he was living in Barc. When we got there though, we decided it was a bit expensive for what we were looking to spend so we just picked the next best for dinner. Nothing too special. None of us are too passionate about Spanish food so far. 

Barcelona, Day 3

After a late breakfast at the hostel, we went to the Boqueria Market to check it out and find food for our picnic that afternoon. Once we got our food we headed to Park Guell, in the northern part of the city. The park was originally meant to be an exclusive neighborhood for the rich in Barcelona. The man who bought all the land began to get investors for the neighborhood and gave the architect Gaudi free reign to design the area. If anyone has seen some of Gaudi’s style, you might understand why the very wealthy didn’t particularly like it. If I was a millionare I would not want to live in a home that looked like a gingerbread house either. Only 3 homes were finished when the investors began to pull out of the project. The city then bought the area, left the homes, and converted the rest into a park. We ate our picnic here and then did a little bit of exploring. Group Consensus: Nice park, wouldn’t want to live there.

Then we headed back for a relaxing afternoon at the Beach. Not quite as nice as the ones in San Sebastian, but it was pretty neat to be in the Mediterranean Sea. Jill and I feasted on burgers and Tintos Veranos for dinner while Britt and Tess were above the bar food and ventured for something a little different. We met back together at the bar and played cards until it was time to pack up and get ready for bed and another early morning train. Group Consensus: We are not particularly in love with hostels. Since none of us have a paycheck in hand, they did just fine for Spain, but next time we travel, we are splurging on the hotels and private bathrooms. Its very odd to sleep in a room of 8 and only know 3 of them.

Im on the train now back to Paris!! The only thing that is getting me through this ride next to yet another European man who thinks he is above showering is that my parents are going to be in Paris! 2 months is too long to go without seeing family that I normally saw every other week at the most! Love you mamma and daddy, see yall in 5 hours!!!