Hello lovelies! Once again, thanks for heading over to my blog and reading about our fantastic month-long adventure in Europe! This post is about the 5 days and nights we spent in Barcelona, Spain, which was amazing. Jeff and I cannot wait to return! We stayed at a hostel, Barcelona Nice and Cozy, which was a great deal. We got a room with a balcony, and it was so nice and clean! I have to rave a little about this place, because it was the best place that we stayed at during the entire month! The owner was the sweetest. Upon arrival, she took us in and gave us a map, but also showed us what we could do in Barcelona, and how to get around using the Metro system (which is super easy). She cooked an amazing breakfast everyone morning, and was just very personable. I would highly recommend this hostel, it was also in a great location, about a 10 minute ride on the Metro to the beach and anywhere else you would want to go. It is located near a residential area, with local restaurants, and we met some really great, kind people. The rooftop was also accessible, and the view was so amazing !
We arrived in Barcelona from Paris. Our flight was delayed quite a few hours, and we kept being shuffled around. But we finally made it, and we took the metro to a stop near our hostel. We then walked to the hostel. In Barcelona the Metro is super simple to navigate. They have about 5 different lines, that all connect at some point. The Metro also offers a deal where you can buy a card with 10 rides, for 10 dollars, which is great when you are there for a week. Jeff and I each got one card. The Metro drops you off a short distance from the beach, and directly onto the Rambla.
It rained, actually poured the first day we arrived. I was still a little sick, and due to the rain we decided to hang-back at the hostel and rest for a little while. Once the rain let-up we went out and explored the little down-town area. We ate at a little restaurant, and the food was super good. I got a brisket type sandwich and Jeff got steak and eggs over fries. Our server was really nice, and tried to help us feel comfortable using our high school learned Spanish. I felt really uncomfortable at first, but eventually we were speaking some Spanish easily with others.
We then went back to the hostel, I was feeling much better, had re-gained most of my energy back, but Jeff began feeling very ill. The next morning we woke up, and I was ready to explore and go to the beach! But Jeff woke up just as sick as I was when we were in Paris. So, we had to have another day in bed, so Jeff could rest up. We went to the grocery store and bought food for the day. One item we got was microwavable chicken dinners, but they were not frozen. Well, I thought it would be fine, but I woke up in the middle of the night and got food poisoning, so lovely when you're sharing a bathroom with strangers in a Hostel. So here we are both just so sick in Barcelona, in a hostel, let's just say it was pretty embarrassing.
So our second day in Barcelona, was basically our first. Jeff felt well enough to be able to go around Barcelona. I was so excited to go to the beach! It stopped raining on us at this point. Everyday of our trip it rained, but after our first day in Barcelona, it finally stopped raining on us, although we did go to Spain which was in a current drought.
We took the Metro to the beach, and then soon realized we did not have a towel... oops.. we had to end up buying one of those touristy towels. The beach isn't you're American beach. It reminded me of a beach you find at the lake. It was very lovely, we stayed in the sun and packed a lunch and had a picnic on the beach. We had salami and crackers, cokes, and some fruit! The water was much colder than I had expected! We explored the beach area and some shops.
The next day we went to the Rambla. We did a little shopping, and found an incredible outdoor food market. I got some fruit cups, and we also bought some nachos, they were not so good.
We also explored areas around the Rambla. Honestly, I was so exhausted from our exploring in Europe, that I treated our time in Barcelona as a "real vacation" and tried to enjoy, relax, and not try to do so many touristy things and sightseeing. It was worth it, we may not have seen all the wonders of Barcelona, but we had an amazing time, and we loved being in Barcelona, and we know we'll most likely make it back again another day!
Our fourth day in Barcelona, we set out to see the Gaudi benches. My advice for seeing this wonderful sight is to map it out ahead of time. We were going off of a metro map that had a place near the Gaudi park, where the benches are, however there are two ways you can climb to the site. One way, which is the way we took was about 1000 vertical stairs, it was a treak, then on the other side of the park there is a freak escalator... when we saw that we couldn't believe it. I know that some buses as well will take people pretty close. Either way you take, it's worth it, because the view is amazing. Another word of advice, is that during the summer times, high tourist season, they block off the benches and make you pay to go see them... well we were not down for that so we just looked from afar. It wasn't the exact same thing, but it was pretty cool!
Our last day spent in Barcelona was a mix, we went to the beach for a little, walked around, and hunted for souveniers. We ate paella at a restaurant near the beach, it was so good! It also happened to be fireworks night in Barcelona, a day they celebrate every summer, it was such an awesome way to end our time there! Everyone was doing fireworks. We went to the beach for a little while and watched some of the fireworks over the ocean, and then went back to our Hostel where the owner had set up a spread of cheese and such and wine, and we enjoyed our last night in Barcelona! The next morning we had a bus to catch to get to Madrid. Also sorry the photos are poor quality below, they are from my iphone... this difference is crazy, haha!
I hope you all enjoyed reading this blog, up next is our five days spent in Madrid! - M