Barcelona sans Vicky, Christina, or Javier Bardem
Okay, part 3 of spring break. Sorry for clogging up your worlds with all these disgustingly long entries, but I’m just trying to get it all out there so my American loves can enjoy.
I got into Barcelona at about 3 and walked to my hostel, the Hip Karma Hostel, which was luckily only a few blocks from the bus station. Let me tell you, it’s definitely as good as its name. Definitely my favorite hostel that I’ve stayed in — everything was super clean and nice, and I felt like I was friends with the staff by the time I left, with the owner Marcelo telling me what to watch on TV at certain times of the day and talking to the the night receptionist about movies. Anyway, after I settled into the hostel, I made the mile and a half walk to the beach, stopping at places along the way and enjoying the beautiful sunshine and city, and all the interesting things along the way. Barcelona is without a doubt one of my favorite places that I have ever been. It’s a big city but feels like a little beach town and everything just seemed so relaxed and happy. Love it. And it was my first time to a beach in five months, which is far too long.
Arc de Triomphe
With all the sunshine, palm trees, and Spanish I felt like I was back home in California. That was all I could think about and it was perfect.
Parc de la Ciutadella
After I had had my fill of Spanish beach volleyball players, I went back to the hostel and ate and hung out, crashing pretty early because I was still exhausted.
The next day, I did the exact same thing, in that I wandered around all day and eventually ended up at the beach. I went to the Barri Gotic, which has the most historical atmosphere and the most beautifully classic architecture, including the cathedral.
After that, I headed down toward Port Vell and the Ramla de Mar. So beautiful.
Capitania General
Columbus monument
Rambla de Mar
And of course, back to the beach!
I wanted to take this stray home so bad.
After eating my own little picnic on the beach and wandering Barceloneta, I went back to Port Vell and then headed down La Rambla, the big shopping street that starts at Columbus and goes into the city, including an amazing farmers market, pet stands, and plenty of street performers.
Placa de Catalunya, at the end of Las Ramblas, and right near my hostel.
I also didn’t really do a whole lot that night, as I was worn out from walking around for hours all day. The next day, Manuel flew in from London, but I thought his flight got in a lot earlier than it did so I didn’t really intend to do anything until he got there. I did however go to the Chocolate Museum, which was delicious. They give you a free bar of chocolate when you buy your ticket and you basically learn about the history of chocolate and see a lot of chocolate sculptures. Love it.
Other than that, I hung out at the park, walked down to the Torre Agbar and back where I chilled at the hostel, doing some studying and preparation for the final exam I had the day after we got back from Spain.
That night when Manuel arrived, we went down Las Ramblas again, got some food on the street, and wandered around the beach before walking back and crashing. I was pretty excited for him to be there if for no other reason than he speaks Spanish. I think I might have died otherwise because I hadn’t even learned enough simple phrases to keep me alive.
The next day was Gaudi day, where we decided to go see some of Antoni Gaudi’s most famous works in the city. They were all pretty amazing. First, we took the bus up to Parc Guell, his fairytale world of a city park.
Hey Barcelona.
Gaudi’s home within the park
While we were there, the clouds rolled in and we went back down the hill and took refuge inside a cafe until the rain cleared up for a few minutes, when we decided to head down to La Sagrada Familia, Gaudi’s elaborate cathedral that has been under construction for over 100 years and is still largely unfinished. We didn’t go inside, but the outside was already too much for me to handle. I’ll go back and see the inside when I’m old and it’s finished. It also started raining again while we were there, and the weather continued to be bipolar all day.
The Passion facade.
The Nativity facade, which is even more trippy.
So beautiful.
Next stop after La Sagrada Familia was Casa Mila, or La Pedrera, the most ridiculous apartment building I’ve ever seen. We did go inside here, which had an exhibit on Gaudi’s life and work in general, and on Casa Mila in general. You could also go through a model apartment as it would have been in Gaudi’s time, and then up to the roof.
No, you’re not on acid.
On our walk back down towards our hostel, we stopped to see Casa Batllo from the outside, our last Gaudi work of the day.
Before I went to Barcelona, I just thought Gaudi had a crazy design sense, but after learning about how he worked and the way that his buildings were designed, he was incredibly talented and innovative, especially in terms of light and the environment. I am a fan.
Also, I saw the biggest bag ever on the way back. I want to live in it.
After Gaudi, we went back down to Barri Gotic so Manuel could see it during the day, watching some pretty awesome street bands and dancing in front of the cathedral on the way.
That night, we went out to some Tapas bars until the wee hours of the morning, which is the best time to go to Tapas bars. It was so much fun and we wandered through the city at night and got ready to check out in the morning before sleep time.
The next day, we had to check out of our hostel, but Marcelo let us keep our stuff there until our train left that night, so we decided to go to Parc de Montjuic, running into ridiculous Barcelona sights on the way.
This ship is so huge. Blows my mind.
We decided to hike up around the park, though I was in flats which was not a good decision for our physical exertion. But they made it. And with every level that we climbed up to, the views got more and more beautiful, until we made it to the Castell de Montjuic. It was an exhausting climb, but it was worth it.
After hanging out at Barceloneta and back at the hostel for a bit, we took a night train from Barcelona to Madrid. Unfortunately, it was not nearly as comfortable as my French night train, and I struggled for hours to get any sleep before finally going to one of the booths in the food carriage and passing out until we got into Madrid at dawn. Which I will write about later. To be continued yet again…
To sum up: I. Love. Barcelona.
