Finally updating on Barcelona! Since it was 10 full days of sensory overload, I had to really sit down to recall all the tidbits and details. I know that I am still leaving SO much out, but here is what I remember...
Arriving to Barcelona is very much a blur to me at this point. Perhaps because I've waited 10 days to document it, but regardless, I was sick, tired, and it's all pretty fuzzy. I definitely remember arguing with the cabby who drove us from Sant Estacio (our bus station) to Yellow Nest Hostel, the first place we stayed in Barca. He tried to charge us 1euro for each bag we had, including our backpacks, which he did not lift or touch and did not meet the size regulations on the window sticker. He also said "si" when I asked if he took credit cards, but was pissed when I had to go to an ATM to get cash. He first took us to the wrong location where he and Nicole argued in the cab as I walked around looking for our building. He tried to charge us for this mistake, but we stood our ground and although he threw our bags out of his trunk and called us all kinds of dirty spanish names, we got our way and only paid 13euro (an easy 6 less than he was demanding).
At Yellow Nest (my first true hostel) our room was a female dorm with 8 beds. The sheets were free (top sheet too) and they didn't nickel-and-dime us for every little "extra luxury" such as sheets, a locker or pillow. I immediately fell asleep and slept as much as possible. Our hostel offered a pub crawl, starting with fresh-made Mojitos and several free shots at bars for only 10euro. I knew my cold was not going to get any better unless I slept and hydrated, so I showed a semblance of responsibility and chose to sit it out. Our original plan once we got to Barcelona was to meet Nicole's friend, Christian, who was going to allow us to stay with him in Barcelona, but the two of them played Facebook tag too much, forcing us to book another night at the hostel. Our second night was a mixed dorm - meaning male and female occupants- but thankfully on the same floor so we didn't have to move our luggage far. We slept much of the second day, but made it to Font Magic around 7pm in hopes of seeing the fountain in its lighted glory. Unfortunately we never saw it lit up or running because we didn't stay long enough. We walked around and saw the Contemporary Arts Museum and then headed to Poble Espanyol, where there was a ZZ Top concert!! We contemplated paying the 50euro to see the show, but we weren't dressed for a rock concert and were a little too tired to be enthused.
Our next day, feeling better, we moved to Equity Point Hostel, right in the heart of Barcelona. Las Ramblas is the "Champs Elysees of Barcelona" where you can walk with the 3000 other people a day and shop, eat, see cathedrals and museums then end up by the ocean at Port Vell. Port Vell would come to be our favorite spot in Barcelona, where the statue of Columbus points towards Italy, Columbus's home country. The best of all worlds, it offers the beach, fabulous restaurants, shopping and of course stunning architecture. The first day in Barcelona, when things stopped being so fuzzy was our second day at Equity Point when we took the hostel's free walking tour of the city. Adam, our Brit/Aussie tour guide, was very knowledgeable about the city and gave us history on all kinds of wonderful places. We saw Pablo Picasso's neighborhood and school, we saw one of my favorite cathedrals so far (I wish I could recall the name, but has been labeled "The Poor Man's Cathedral"), and we learned a lot about Catalan history, the people of Barcelona who don't feel like they are Spanish for many reasons. We ended the tour and ate tapas, then decided to go out and hit the discotheques. We got all dressed up for a stylish lounge bar on the beach, but then ran into a Fanatic camp coordinator at our hostel bar! It was so cool seeing a fellow Fanatic again! Aussies have definitely become my favorite people. We ended up following him to a hole-in-the-wall pub "L'Ovella Negra", or The Black Sheep. This is a place where we cannot go back and I was physically threatened by the bar owner...whoops!
The following day - please don't ask me if it was a Monday or a Friday because I honestly don't think I could tell you - we hit up the beach. It was my first taste of the Mediterranean Ocean and I will always remember how perfect it was. The waves were ideal size and temperament, allowing us to tread, float and jump with the waves. The sand was the smoothest I've felt beneath my feet. The water is most definitely my element. We took a siesta on our towels, dove in a few times, then headed back to Equity. Back at the hostel, we struggled to take our showers... We had to push the button every 30 seconds to keep the water going and the light is censored outside of the shower, so we had to pry open the finicky shower door and wave our arms around every 30 seconds to trigger the light. It was quite the feat, but showering has been our only link to the comfort of home so we didn't complain too much. Yes, if you know me, you know that I often live off of one shower a week, but in Europe, it has become my security blanket. The water is not always warm, nor strong nor consistent and sometimes you end up in the dark with soap in your eyes, but the water rinses away the dirt and stress of travels like nothing else can.
After two more days in our hostel, we moved again, but this time to Be Hostels Dream - outside of town too much for our liking. Luckily with the Metro, which we have become pros at, the ride is only 30 minutes to Las Ramblas, Sagrada Familia and other important stops. Saturday night in Barcelona was our craziest. We started a pub crawl (a tour of bars offered by club promoters through the hostel and are technically illegal) at an Irish pub and ended up at a discotheque where Nicole and I got separated for close to 3 hours. I stayed with our tour guide and searched the club several times, but after 2 hours, I realized I should head back to the hostel and check for her there. I had these panicked thoughts that she didn't have a metro ticket and most likely did not remember the name of our metro stop - Pep Ventura - or our hotel. Thank God, by the time I took the scariest metro ride back, she had arrived just 5 minutes before I walked into our room. Unable to leave Barcelona, we booked another 2 nights. We had to change rooms both nights... and ended up with more Aussies as roommates. We were very tired of moving our luggage around from place to place, unpacking and repacking every 24 hours, but we rose to the challenge and can laugh about it in retrospect.
In Barcelona I had delicious tapas, even better Paella and the most wonderful impression of the city. It truly is a mecca for all things: beach, party scene, history, scenery, shopping, eating and so much more. Every corner you turn is more and more of something worth seeing. We finally had to say "Adios" as we had plans to meet our French friend, Frederick - the man who invited us to his home in Malakoff for a "barbecue" - in Marseille. We planned on only staying 4 days, but ended up there for 10 because it was an indulgence of culture and food that we fell in love with.
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