Barcelona!

Hola!

I’m back in London, safe and sound, after the most amazing week in Spain. I’m physically drained from all the walking I did, and exhausted from a lack of sleep the past few nights. Sleepovers at the airport don’t make for the most restful nights. But, it was all completely worth it. Spain was a last minute addition to my travel plans, but I’m so glad I did decide to go (even if it meant traveling to Barcelona by myself)

Anyway, this is the Barcelona blog post, because as I said in my last post, Madrid and Barcelona need two separate posts! They were both completely different experiences.

I arrived in Barcelona last Tuesday evening, catching a glimpse of the beach and ocean from the plane. I hopped on the train and then the metro, and finally made it to the apartment of Shivani (a friend of Alex’s from the states, who is studying in Barcelona for a year). It was so nice for her to offer up her couch for two nights… thanks Shivani! And her two roomies, Alicia and Steph were super nice and welcoming, too.

Wednesday:

Unfortunately it was rainy and cloudy that day, but the temperature was still low 50s so it was completely bearable. Walking around Barcelona makes you feel like you're in such a tropical destination, spanish and gothic architecture, palm trees, the ocean. Some people say there is Barcelona and then there is Spain, just because Barcelona is so different from the rest of Spain. Also, Barcelona is in Catalonia, so they speak Catalan, an official language that sounds nothing like Spanish. 

The first thing I did was to take the metro to La Sagrada Familia, the world’s oldest construction site and one of Antoni Gaudi’s most famous architectural wonders. I had seen pictures before, but nothing can prepare you for this cathedral. It’s pretty crazy looking. From afar it looks like... a blob of melting stone, but when you look closer you can see the details... like fruit on some of the steeples? No wonder why this is such a work in progress.

Then I headed to the bus station to get my bus ticket to Madrid for Thursday night. Standing in line, I prepared my Spanish, saying it over and over in my head… ready to put my Spanish knowledge to the test. When I got up to the counter, I said, “Do you speak English?” I guess I got a little nervous. But lucky me, he didn’t speak English, so it was back to my Spanish and I was successfully able to get the bus ticket I wanted. Go me!

Afterwards I walked to the Gothic Quarter, I think it’s called, and saw a few beautiful churches, and navigated my way to the Picasso Museum. I absolutely love Picasso’s work, so I was really looking forward to the museum. It was awesome! I can’t believe how much Picasso’s work changed over time, but it really took a 360…from his early landscapes to his wacky, colorful cartoonish paintings. Being able to take as long as I wanted in that museum, or at any of the other sites I went to, was such a great positive of traveling alone. I was able to do what I wanted, when I wanted to, for however long I wanted to. Complete freedom. Those questions — What do you want to do? Are you hungry? Bathroom break? Can we go?  — were all up to me to answer.

After the museum I grabbed a quick croissaint and café con leche at a café nearby, and then headed toward La Rambla, or the main touristy, restaurant/shop street in Barcelona. So of course it was full of street performers, vendors and… pickpockets. You better believe I was hugging my purse like a teddy bear the whole time (as I usually do when I’m traveling). I stopped at La Bocqueria, a huge open air food market. I’ve never seen so much fruit in my life. I treated myself to a mini xuxo (crème filled pastry) at one of the stands.

And then, right next to the market, in a angelic glow, was a Dunkin Donuts (or a Dunkin Coffee as they called it).  Dunkin Donuts iced coffee lovers will understand my joy, especially after living in England without Dunkin Donuts for 3 months. Of course I had to get an iced coffee… but it tasted nothing like the iced coffee in the states. Oh well.

I walked all the way down La Rambla and ended at the pier, where there were hundreds of boats lined up by the docks. I walked along the docks until I ended up at the beach. Ocean! Sand! Beach! It was so great to be able to not only see the ocean, but to see the Mediterranean, which I’ve never seen before. No one was out on the beach because it had just rained, so aside from a few stragglers, it was just the Barcelona beach and I.

Then I took the metro back to Shivani’s apartment, where I cooked a frozen pizza for dinner. Yes, a frozen pizza. Traveling alone, while great, also means you don’t have company to eat a nice meal with. But it was fine by me to save some money! And then I slept. 7 hours of walking around Barcelona = a tired Jen.

Thursday

Unlike Wednesday, the weather was beautiful on Thursday! Sunny and mid-60s. Barcelona is pretty rain or shine, but I was glad the weather was nice on the day I was going to a few parks. First up was Montjuïc (Hill of the Jews), where Franco imprisoned Barcelona’s Jews.  Montjuïc is kind of like a park and landscaped gardens, thrown on a mountain, with a huge museum, a few smaller museums, an Olympic stadium and a castle. It was far too large for me to see all of it, but I did some exploring and caught some beautiful photos. And again, while it would’ve been nice to delight in the scenery with company, it was good to just take it all in on my own.

Then I took the metro to the northern part of Barcelona, to Park Guell, Gaudi’s attempt to build a neighborhood for Barcelona’s elite. Instead we were left with a theme park, wacky Alice in Wonderland type place. I climbed up to a stone pedestal that overlooked the whole city. I could see everything!

Even though I had already been to the beach, I needed to go back because the weather was just too nice. So I crossed some sites off my to-do list, and headed back to La Rambla and the beachfront.  I found a nice little patch of sand, laid out my raincoat (which I definitely didn’t need that day) and sat in the sun for about a half hour.

Me sitting on the beach in Barcelona? Is this my life?

After that I walked back to Shivani’s apartment… it’s not really walking distance but I made it happen. My legs hated me afterward, but the weather was too beautiful not to walk everywhere!

I headed to the bus station Thursday night, for a 1 a.m. bus ride to Madrid. A 8-hour bus ride... but hey, seeing the sunrise in the Spanish hillside was so worth it.

I absolutely loved Barcelona, and I'm so sad I had to leave! Definitely my favorite city thus far... my trips keep getting better it seems. The culture, the art, the architecture, the weather, the ocean, the general vibe of the city... everything was just perfect! And I can honestly say I had "fun" by myself. Yeah, I wish I had company at some points, but I still felt completely satisfied with everything I did and everything I saw. 

I cannot wait to return to Barcelona in the future ...Hasta pronto!