FCBarcelona

‘We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch - we are going back from whence we came.’ -John F. Kennedy

Day 1- Ahola Barcelona and hello sunshine J We finally landed in Barcelona around 7.00 and made it to our hostel around 8.30 or so. Exhausted, yet pretty hungry, we unpacked and upon the suggestion of our hostel, headed out to a local bar for some tapas. Tapas are a typical Spanish food, which are basically a collection of different h'orderves you can have one or two for a snack or get a bunch and eat them all together for a meal. I ordered some deep fried squid and then tortillas española, both which were mighty tasty. After enjoying our meal, we headed back to our hostel and got looked up directions to this jazz club some girls in our hostel were telling us about and gradually made our way around the streets to find the Harlem Jazz Club. At the club there was a band playing a mixture of traditional Cuban and Spanish music and they sounded amazing! But what really got me was the way the Spaniards can dance. I know my family is highly lacking in anything having to with the arts- dance, music, art, acting, etc.- I have problems clapping on beat- so moving and grooving the way they did I knew was going to be impossible for me. But Abbie, she is a music major, so I was expecting her to keep up a little better than me, but I seriously, unless you have it in your blood, I swear no one can move like they do. We stayed for a while, then we were off and crashed after a long day of traveling and dancing.

Day 2- Today was the first full day in many months where I believe I was actually warm whenever I stepped outside. Absolutely beautiful. We get a free breakfast at our hostel and best part of the morning was getting to eat it outside in one of the beautiful patios at our hostel. Everything here is bright and colorful.

After a late breakfast we joined another free walking tour and got a glimpse into some of Barcelona’s history and some of the important buildings around the town. We learned that Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia and there is a debate whether Catalonia should separate from Spain and become its own nation. We saw the old Palace, which is where Christopher Columbus met with Ferdinand and Isabella upon ‘discovering’ America. What was really amazing though was the celebrations going on for Palm Sunday. We saw countless cathedrals, which was surrounded by so many people and there were so many cute children running around waving really elaborate palm branches. There was also a parade going throughout the city we kept running into.

After the tour we wandered down towards the beaches and saw the Christopher Columbus statue and shopped a little on La Rambla- one of the major streets in Barcelona. Finally we stopped for lunch on one of the side restaurants, which was great again because we got to sit outside and eat. I had patella, another traditional Spanish food based with chicken and rice. We then wandered back to our hostel to partake in one of the greatest and oldest Spanish traditions- the siesta. We relaxed for most of the rest of the late afternoon/early evening and then headed to the restaurant downstairs. This restaurant was directly connected to our hostel and great this was- we got 25% off of all of the food and had certain drink specials. We finished the night eating and drink sangrias.

Day 3- Day three in Barcelona was beach day! The weather was supposed to be the nicest today and let me tell you- I have never experiences such wonderful weather. Today was also the day you could spot a tourist in any crowd- no question about it. Want to know how? Tourists were the people in shorts, sandals, t-shirts, etc. Spaniards were the ones in winter jackets, boots and scarves. I seriously could not believe the amount of puffy parkas I saw, while I was walking around in a summer dress!

After breakfast, we first stopped by a huge market off of La Rambla. I have never seen so many colors in my life! The stands were filled with fresh fruits, veggies, spices, candy, meats, eggs, etc. Half of the things I saw I didn’t even know what they were! Abbie and I tried some fresh coconut, which wasn’t too bad, but it isn’t my first choice in a snack. What really amazed me were all of the cuts of meat there were. I just don’t understand how you could prepare some of them to even taste seemingly good- we saw brains, hearts, lungs, hoofs, heads, faces, ears, tongues, pretty much anything possibly you could get off the animal.

We then toured the Barcelonan Opera house. The opera house had been built in the 1840’s but had burned down twice after that- once in 1860’s and then again partially in 1994. They have rebuilt it all and restored the parts of the old building they could keep and it looks wonderful. Like I said Abbie is a music major, so I think she gets a little more out of it than I do, but it was a really beautiful building.

Then ladies and gentlemen- it was time for that amazing sunshine, sand and sea to all come together. We wandered our way along the harbor and came to heaven. The beach was incredible. It was warm and blue and lots of great people to watch and naps to be taken and sun to soak up. Unfortunately, we had forgotten a long Norwegian winter left us very white and unprepared for the hot Spanish sun, and we came back looking like cherry tomatoes. Well since the sun was shining from one direction, I should say only half of our bodies came back looking like cherry tomatoes. Mainly my right arm and nose took the blunt of it, but Abbie is red from her forehead down. But I would take that sunburn any day for the chance to be on that beach again. The water was too cold to go swimming, but there were many surfers out in their wetsuits riding the waves, and it was fun to play in the water as it came crashing up on the shore. We spent most of the afternoon at the beach before the sun wore us out and we headed back to our hostel to relax.

In the evening we headed down to the hostel bar/restaurant again for some food and something to drink. There was also a soccer game on, so while I was enjoying watching that, Abbie headed upstairs to researching and see if she could find a good bar or club to head to tonight. While watching the game, a guy came up from the table next over and asked where I came from. When I said the States, he was surprised and then asked why I was so interested in the game on if my country wasn’t playing. He invited me to join him and his friends at their table. It was a collection of lone travelers from all over the world- Lithuania, China, Brazil and Argentina. I sat with them talking for a while and eventually Abbie came back down and joined us. We sat together for an hour or so and then decided to all head out- some of them hadn’t eaten yet and were going to find a bar and get some tapas, so we decided to tag along.

One of them had heard of a pretty good restaurant over on the other side of the city and said it would be easiest to take the metro. I usually try to pick my hostels I stay at so they have a really central location and I can walk everywhere- not having to pay for transportation everywhere I go really saves on money. So Abbie and I bought a pass to share and then followed them down to the metro. At the place we were waiting at, there happened to be a really intoxicated Spanish man waiting too, who was talking very loudly and kept yelling at different people walking by. The guy from Argentina with us speaks Spanish, so he explained to us that the intoxicated man was complaining that the economic crisis they were experiencing was the fault of all of the foreigners there. Soon the metro came and we all got on, unfortunately so did that man. We walked down a couple of cars, so we didn’t have to sit by him. However he kept walking up the aisle and coming closer. We were far enough away though not to cause any problems and so we just stayed where we were. But we did see that while that man was walking up the aisle, still complaining about foreigners, he came upon a seemingly foreign looking man and punched him for no reason. The man started defending himself and they started fighting. All of the other passengers moved forward to our car and someone pushed the emergency button. Thankfully the metro was stopping at our stop in the next 15 seconds, so we quickly got off. At the same time a girl ran up to the station office and told them what was happening, so I hope they got it all taken care off.

We continued on our journey and found a nice bar to sit and talk at, and after some drinks we found another place to do a little dancing (well at least try to copy them) and then called it a night and headed back to the hostel and back to bed.

Day 4- Today it was another beautiful day, so once again I stuck out as a tourist in my dress and sweater amongst all of the winter parkas. After a quick breakfast, we attempted to head over to the Sargrada Familia, the giant cathedral they have been working on for hundreds of years, but still haven’t yet finished. It was so elaborate and they keep running out of funds and have to postpone the work, only to start up again once they get more money. After a failed attempt at reading and navigating the metro, we decided to just to walk there. Thankfully, my map reading skills have gotten a lot better, especially this semester since I have somehow become the designated map reader, but I cannot tell you enough how excited I will be the day I do not have to look at another map. After a couple of turn a rounds and street checkings, we made it. The Sagrada Familia is quite a sight to behold- it tall, imposing and gaudy. You can see right in the brickwork on the building where they stopped and restarted building. Our poor college budget could not let us go inside (plus it is ridiculously expensive to get in, and I have heard it is not worth the money) so we just took in its glory from the outside.

Afterwards, we headed to Guell Park and looked at some of the work made by the architect Gaudi. The park was beautiful and we were able to climb up to a peak and get a wonderful look over the city. We made our way to the main part of the part and saw the house Gaudi lived in and some of the mosaic work he completed on some of the other buildings- stunning.

We then made our way done a main street and saw some of the other buildings Gaudi designed and the Palace of Catalan Music. All were covered in bright, beautiful mosaic work.

By this time we had walked for a good majority of the day and headed back to rest for an hour or so. Soon we left to meet up with one of my friends- Jana. Jana is from Germany, studies in the Netherlands, but now has an internship at a hotel in Barcelona. About 4-5 years ago, she came to Wisconsin and studied at my high school. She was there for our whole junior year and we ate lunch with her almost every day. It was so nice to see her and catch up with her. We spent the evening eating and then walking along the harbor, talking and catching up. I could not believe how much she remembered about us. She asked about all of my high school friends and my family. She even remembered my brothers’ names and asked how my grandparents were (my Grandma used to cook us lunch once a week). She was a really sweet and funny girl. So it was great catching up with her.

After about 4 hours or so, we parted ways and Abbie and I headed back to pack. We tried to catch some sleep but soon enough the alarm went off and we were off to the airport to catch our flight. End of phase two. Now we have one week left on our adventure and two more cities to discover- Madrid here we come!