Viva Barcelona

Barely four days after I returned from France, it was time to head out to Barcelona. (November was a busy month for me if you couldn’t tell.) My friends, Megan and Emma, and I booked this trip together ages before we left for it. Once more, we left Thursday afternoon to catch our flight, getting into the city in the early evening. I was happy to see that Barcelona was warmer than France, though we still had to wear jackets. We were staying in an apartment on one of the main streets, close to Las Ramblas. Though the apartment wasn’t as nice as the one I stayed in in France, it was still pleasant and much better than a hostel. The man who rented us the apartment was also very nice and helpful—he had already highlighted a map with all of the tourist sites and the easiest routes to reach them as well as the areas of the city we should avoid (aka the Red Light District at night) and spent nearly half an hour going over the map with us to make sure we knew how to get everywhere. 

Once we were done checking in, we asked for suggestions for dinner and he pointed us in the direction of a Tapas place, so we could try some local cuisine. Tapas are more like appetizers so you usually order two or three per person and though the restaurant originally didn’t look too pricey, when you have to order several small dishes to fill you up, it can add up quickly. Clearly his idea of cheap and our idea of cheap were not the same. Then again, the college-kid idea of cheap never matches anyone else’s idea of cheap. And the food was just okay, but at least we tried it. I also attempted to order in Spanish, but the waiter could obviously tell we were American and reverted to English which I was kind of disappointed about since I had been looking forward to trying out my long dormant Spanish in a real-life situation. However, nearly everyone we encountered in Barcelona, much like other cities, spoke English or spoke enough of it that we didn’t have to stress out about understanding, which usually I appreciate, but I finally knew/understood a different language but didn’t really get to test it out that much. Oh well, I haven’t taken Spanish in so long, I’d probably make a fool of myself anyway. I’d probably accidently order shellfish and then we’d all be sorry. (Just kidding, I actually do know the Spanish word for shellfish).

The next day we headed out to do some site-seeing. We first walked to Las Ramblas, the market street with all the touristy shops and stalls. We even passed a Dunkin Donuts, the first one I’ve seen in 3 months since it’s Starbucks that dominates in Europe. It was nice to see it, though we didn’t go in. Instead, we kept walking until we reached the harbor where dozens and dozens of sailboats and yachts, and other boats were moored. And there were palm trees!! Even if it wasn’t quite warm enough, seeing palm trees was a treat because it was different from every other city. It made the trip feel more vacation-y. 

The harbor area was absolutely beautiful. I could have easily stayed there all day, which we did end up spending a decent amount of time there because right after the harbor was the beach! I can’t even how describe how happy it made me to see the beach; despite the fact that it was too cold to lay out or go swimming. It was just so relaxing to hear the waves and be able to look out at the sea. And relaxing was exactly what I was looking for since my last two trips were jammed packed with things to do and see. (Not necessarily a bad thing, but it wears on you after a while.) The three of us actually enjoyed it so much that we grabbed lunch at one of the beach side cafes.  And even though it wasn’t exactly warm per-Se, you could still feel the sun, which you can’t say about the watery sunlight in England. It was some much needed Vitamin D. 

 

After lunch, we walked around the beach area a bit more since it was so pleasant. There were actually a bunch of people surfing in the sea, and there was a big boardwalk running the length of the beach that we meandered down for a while. (We also passed by a little kitten snuggling in the sand:). Once we finally left the beach, we walked through more of the streets of Barcelona, which are quite beautiful, and even stopped for some gelato. Across from the gelato shoppe was also a funny little store called "Happy Pills" that had a small pharmacy symbol above it. No, it wasn't a drug store--it was a candy story, which we all found very amusing.

 

 Later on, we got dinner at this restaurant called Rosa Negra which not only had 3 euro margaritas (yum!) but also a really good steak burger! Needless to say it was much better and more filling than the tapas.  

The next day we had a couple of things on our list to check out. The first were a couple of Gaudi buildings, a very individual and distinctive style of architecture by Antoni  Gaudi. The buildings are certainly different and fun to look at, but I am also pretty sure his name is where the word “gaudy” stemmed from ha ha. But, his work is all over Barcelona, including, most famously, the Sagrada Familia, which is what we went to see next. It’s an impressive and strangely beautiful church that we had often learned about in Spanish class in high school, so it was cool to get to see it in person. However, and unfortunately, it is under rather heavy construction which kind of detracts from the whole site. 

After La Sagrada Familia, we swung back by the beach area to hit up a famous sandwich shop for lunch. It was funny because it’s one of the smallest sandwich shops I’ve seen, down this narrow little side street, but it has lines extending from its door before it even opens at 1pm because of its reputation, which passes by way of mouth from study-abroad kids who pass through Barcelona. We were some of the first in line because we got there early, and boy did it live up to its reputation. I had a great sandwich of chicken, corn, cheese, lettuce, lentils, and guacamole, and at only 3 euros you couldn’t beat the price!  The three of us sat on a park bench by the harbor to eat our lunch—it was another beautiful sunny day—and we probably would’ve been content to stay if not for the next thing on our list—Park Guell. 

You would never know that this is a fantastic
sandwich place

Park Guell is half-park, half-architectural masterpiece also designed by Gaudi. (Told you he was everywhere.) You have to pay to go into the areas where he actually built things, so we stuck to the main terraces of the park that give you a fantastic view of the city! You could see all the way to the sea in one direction and to the mountains in the other. And there were cactus (cacti?) everywhere, which for whatever reason I found really amusing.  Park Guell is also unique because though it sits on this incredibly steep hill, there are actually escalators built into the hill to take you up to the top—that’s how steep the walk is to reach it. 

Atop Park Guell

We spent a good amount of time at the park and then got back on the metro to head towards “The magic fountain” which does a light show every night after dark. It sits at the foot of the National Art Museum of Catalonia, which itself is beautiful. Since we arrived before sunset, we hiked the many stairs to the top of the Museum which overlooks the city and has three beautiful waterfall fountains set into the hill so that we could watch the sun set on the city. Barcelona at dusk is just as beautiful as it is during the day. 

Sick waterfall right?

After the sun set, we walked back down to the fountain only to see that the light show wouldn’t start for another two hours. As it was getting cold and we didn’t have anywhere to really hang out for two hours, we decided to head back to our apartment to hang for a bit before dinner. Before we left though, we took a couple of pictures in front of the waterfall as they too lit up at night and were stunning. 

Watching the sun set on another beautiful city

The 20-block walk back to our apartment later (it seemed like a good idea at the time), we hung around for about an hour before going in search of dinner. We decided on a place that served paellas as both Emma and I really wanted to try one. (This was another thing we constantly learned about in Spanish class.) Though paellas (which are kind of rice and vegetable dish) are usually served with shellfish, this restaurant had a chicken-based one that I ordered which was very, very delicious. Now, at last, I realized why we talked about them so often in class. But in reality, I was actually very happy I got to try one and very pleased that it was so good. Who would’ve known that I liked the local cuisine in so many countries? But, all in all, Barcelona was a great, and mercifully, relaxing trip. 

Yum!