Barcelona!

A view of the city from the top of la Sagrada Familia, Gaudi’s famous church. My pictures from this trip don’t do the city justice.

Before going to Barcelona, I wasn’t really sure how much I would like it. It has a reputation amongst us Sevilla study abroad kids as a place people go to study abroad if they don’t want to learn Spanish or immerse themselves in a new culture, because it’s so international (which is not totally fair, I admit). And all anyone talks about is the nightlife and the really weird architecture. So I thought I’d like it but not love it. Well, I was so wrong. I fell head over heels in love with the city. I went with two of my good friends in our program here, Steph and Meg, who I went to Morocco with as well, and thank goodness we travel well together. Before going, we mentioned a few things we wanted to do but didn’t really come up with an itinerary because we were busy with midterms. But we knew two things: although we did want to experience the nightlife, we also wanted to explore the city and not sleep all day. In order to accomplish our two goals, we slept about 13 total hours and we were there for 3 nights. We managed to walk around the whole city (the best way to get a feel for the city) and were kind of in a euphoric daze most of the weekend (no drugs I promise). We would get up in the morning, and not stop walking till night time.

It was our first hostel experience, and it was so much fun! Our hostel was in a perfect location, and it was right next door to Cartier. It was on a busy street that reminded me a little bit of 5th Avenue in NYC. The hostel itself was clean and had a good atmosphere – it felt a lot like a dorm room. Our room had 8 beds in it – I never once saw the girl sleeping in my bottom bunk except for the time I opened my eyes early in the morning and she was standing right there. I was slightly terrified but I just rolled back to sleep. There was one girl from London, two girls from Romania and then a couple from Miami and a guy from Asia came later. Overall, I loved this hostel experience. Even waking up to incredibly loud boys blasting my favorite Spanish song way too early in the morning was a laugh.

It was also our first Ryanair experience. Ryanair is a very cheap airline. We walked to the plane and were poured rain on (it rains in Sevilla? I had no idea). Both landings were a bit rough but hey, we made it.

We got there Friday early afternoon and checked into our hostel before exploring the city. First we got lunch and then we were off.

Main daytime activities:

– Visited la Sagrada Familia and took the elevator up to the top.

– Walked by many of Gaudi’s buildings.

– Found the most adorable bakery called, “Lolitas.”

I didn’t think I’d like Guadi’s buildings but they were really incredible. La Sagrada Familia was unlike anything I’d ever seen. The outside was cool, but it looked like all the pictures I’d seen of it. The inside was just breathtaking. It barely felt like a church because it was so different than every other church I’d been inside. The different height columns with branches melting off made me feel like I was in a forest. The stained glass windows were brilliant and the bright sunlight was magical. The detail was just incredible. There were all of these secret rooms and levels that I desperately wanted to go into but couldn’t. We took the lift up to the top of one of the spires and the views were insane. I had a minor panic attack because we were SO high up and there was nowhere to go. Mom, you would have had a panic attack much worse than the Eiffel Tower one.

The city captures your eyes. Everywhere you look there is a beautiful fountain, monument, or building. The first day we explored the part of the city that I guess felt more American or more like any big city – but it still had that European charm, I thought.

We got back to our hostel in time to change and go out to dinner at a lively tapas bar called Tapas 24. They sat us at the bar so we had fun interacting with the cute bartender who told us at the end of the night which nightclubs to go to. Too bad we ended up going to different ones. We stopped by our hostel before going out and met some nice British guys, who were in Barca for a soccer tournament. We ended up hanging out with them in the common room of our hostel and then going to the nightclub with them. It was nice being around some testosterone after being in my apartment with 12 girls, I must say. The three of us had so much fun that night!

Saturday we woke up in time for free breakfast at the hostel. That was a mistake. White bread and jelly – yum? No. The day got infinitely better. This day was just fabulous.

Main daytime activities:

– Walked along the famous “La Rambla” street with awesome people-watching, shopping and eating.

– Went to the famous market called La Boqueria and brought a picnic to the beach. Oh my god it was delicious.

-Saw a very large Columbus monument.

– Went inside the Gothic Cathedral.

– Saw the Catalan Parliament building.

– Went through a park called Parc De La Ciutadella.

It was beautiful weather, not too hot and not too cold. We explored some of the quainter parts of the city with the small cobblestone streets that we’re used to in Sevilla. An ocean setting made me so happy, and reminded me of home. I think we walked 8 miles this day. We were gone for 8 hours straight. But we didn’t want the day to end. We bought fresh whole wheat bread, manchego cheese, salted almonds, the most green and delicious avocado of my life, juicy grapes, sweet plums and homemade strawberry juice at the market. We were in there for almost an hour exploring. Wow.

We decided we would treat ourselves to a nice seafood restaurant along the ocean for dinner. Although it was pricey (Barcelona is expensive) it was SO worth it. I think I had the best seafood of my life there. I got salmon, Meg got swordfish and Steph got hake. Our tummies loved the meal. Then we went to a nightclub on the beach – the setting was spectacular, the music was great, and we had another awesome night! It’s usually a 20 euro cover but somehow we got in for free.

Sunday we started to notice how tired we were. We were a little more sluggish that day but we still walked around for a while.

Main daytime activities:

– Got on a bus to go to a castle with beautiful views of the city but ended up at a museum with equally beautiful views of the city.

– Went to the Picasso museum.

Waffles with chocolate for breakfast started the day with a bang. We hopped on a bus to go to this castle but didn’t quite make it there. Thanks British man who told us to get off the bus, you were wrong. The views were lovely and you could see how big la Sagrada Familia is compared to the rest of the city.

I loved the Picasso museum. The neighborhood it was in was so cute and enjoyable to walk around in. We picked up dinner on the way home and went back to our hostel to crash because we had to wake up at 3:15am to make our flight the next morning. We got into Sevilla around 8am and I had class at 9am for 8 hours. You can imagine my delirium – but I did it.

Lines from the trip:

“We’re young, we’ll bounce back.” (in reference to not sleeping)

“All we can do is laugh, because if we don’t, we’ll cry.” (said at 4am on our way to the airport)

“Oh my god look at that building!” (in reference to the gorgeous buildings)

“A BIRD JUST SHIT ON US.”

“Was that an old midget man dressed up as a woman?” (we saw a very interesting looking cross-dresser)

“Want to split a jar of sangria?”

How could you not love a beautiful city right on the Mediterranean!?