BARCELONA!
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
With my bag packed and my tuna bocadillo para llevar (to-go), I went to my 6:30-8:00 p.m. class. Directly afterwards, I met up with Amanda and Rachel to walk/cab it to the Granada bus station. On our 1 and ½ hour bus ride to Malaga, Rachel and I talked in Spanish for a good portion of the viaje. We actually held a pretty legit conversation too! We hopped the airport shuttle and we set up camp in our usual airport café couches. I probably slept around 3 hours that night, which was way more than expected!
Thursday, February 24, 2011
We had a semi-early flight to Barcelona at 8:20 a.m. but right before our time to go through security, Amanda got attacked by food poisoning or some kind of stomach flu. We are blaming it on her Senora’s bocadillos that sat out on the counter all night. The plane ride was pretty rough for Amanda, but all of the flight attendants were super nice and continued to ask if she needed anything to feel better. Once we landed, Amanda was starting to feel a little better, but we all really needed to just get to our hostel and rest for a bit. I was hoping to just pay for the four nights at the hostel and head straight to our beds, but a bit of a bump in the road occurred. I had booked a 4 person private room for only 3 people…so that meant that we were forced to pay for the 4th bed. Not cool. If we switched to a different room with only 3 beds, it would have cost just about the same. Oh well. We paid the extra 40-euro and stormed off to our room. We were all really mad at the time but later realized that it was probably worth it in the end to stay at this hostel because of the amazing location on Las Ramblas and the fact that we had a huge room with our own bathroom and shower was amazing. Free internet with no time allowance was an extravagance that we were not used to as well. Once situated in our rooms, we settled down for a nap, which shortly turned into a 5 hour nap. No pasa nada. It was much needed anyways, especially for Amanda.
Once we were all awake, we decided to walk along Las Ramblas. This is a very touristy street that has a bunch of restaurants, tourist attractions, entertainers, and much more. We stopped in at the Boqueria Market were there was fruit, vegetables, fish, meat, nuts, and CANDY galore! I was in heaven. After being super touristy and taking photos of everything, we were on a mission to buy super cheap food at the grocery. We were successful in purchasing our breakfast/lunch/snack food all for under 8 euro each for our 4 day weekend. Pretty awesome I’d say. That night, we stayed in and planned our mammoth weekend in Barcelona.
Fruit!
Candy!
Friday, Feb 25, 2011
After researching tours around the city from the night before, we found an intriguing 4 hour bike tour of Barcelona. If anyone is interested in a super fun time and also get to learn a thing or two about this wonderful city, I highly suggest checking out Flat Tire Bike Tours. It was 20 Euro but worth every penny- seriously. The day was perfect and sunny. I think the other girls would agree that it was probably the best thing we did all weekend. We toured some of the best places in the city including the Gothic quarter, Sagrada Familia, Parc de Ciutadella, the Olympic Villave, Port Vell, Barceloneta Beach, La Catedral, Palau de la Musica Catalana, Plaza de Rei, Arc del Triumf, and the Basillica de la Santa del Mar. It was the perfect afternoon! The tour even stopped near the beach for a lunch and sangria break. Amanda, Rachel, and I ordered a pitcher of sangria while we ate our delicious packed lunch that consisted of nutella sandwiches, apples, granola, and cookies. So nutritious! After our basically 2 glasses of sangria, it was quite entertaining to hop back on the bike to finish our fabulous bike ride through the city. Once back at our hostel, we decided to nap for a little while before we got up and rallied.
Arc de Triumf- Bike Tour!
Sagrada Familia with the chicas!
Lunch break near the Barceloneta Beach
We decided to do a little shopping, mostly for jewelry (and long earrings, but failed) as well as stopping for dinner at a fast food vegan restaurant. I ordered my first falafel pita and thought it was super tasty, and only 4.20 euro. We were super cheap, and as typical poor college students, we searched for our cheapest pregame option, which turned out to be 1-euro bottle of white wine. Yep, you heard me right. We pregamed in our hostel that night and headed out to Razzmatazz. This is apparently a super fun discoteca in Barcelona, but by the time we got there, the three of us were so tired and ready for bed, a bit lame but true. We paid the awful 15-euro cover to get in (which didn’t even include a free drink! --Granada, there are so many great things about you that I take advantage of). Once inside, we enjoyed our favorite shot, tequila. After exploring the place, we decided we’d give dancing a try. Basically, it only proved to us even more how creepy Spanish men are, pero no pasa nada, it was great to experience the nightlife either way. After getting lost and being forced to take a cab home, we all passed out in our beds and looked forward to hiking in the morning.
Saturday, Feb 26, 2011
Because of our late arrival to our hostel last night around 6 a.m., we slept until 12:30 that afternoon. Even though we were still exhausted and a bit hungover, we gathered our strength and put on our hiking clothes. Actually, it was more me putting on hiking clothes and Amanda and Rachel dressing like athletic Sorority girls. We set off for Mt. Tibidabo with our google map directions. Google steered us a little wrong, but we eventually found our way 2 hours later. Once on the trails, we found a great spot to eat our cute packed lunches of the same food- nutella sandwiches, apples, granola, and cookies. Shortly after, we stumbled upon a steep bike path, which obviously, we took up the mountain. Man was it a workout! My quads are still store! Thank god we finally made it to the top of the mountain. It was a long way getting up there but the view made it all worth it. From the top of Mt. Tibidabo, every part of Barcelona could be seen. None of my pictures do it any justice. The way down was much quicker, as well as way more hilarious! It included a photo shoot on the side of the road, which apparently, was witnessed by some friends studying abroad in Barcelona who coincidently were taking a bus up the mountain…shout out to Alex Catuara! Within an hour, we made it down to the bottom and like magic, we found a metro station with our train leaving in 5 minutes! Talk about good luck J
The sorority hikers.
The Intense Hiker.
The end of our awesome photo shoot!
Back at the hostel, we napped a bit and got ready for a fun evening with some AOII’s in Barca. We met up with Stephanie D’Anza and Alex Catuara along with some of their friends to have an actual apartment pregame! It’s crazy how someone can miss something like getting drunk in an apartment. The plan was to go to a shot bar and get a flaming harry potter shot, but a few got a little too drunk so we decided to call it a night and hail a cab. A bit of shambles, but hilarious all the same. We made it back safely around 3 a.m.
Sunday, Feb 27, 2011
Around 11 a.m. that day, the three of us were ready and eager to go on our free Gaudi walking tour of Barcelona. It included all of his major architectural works except for Park Guell. Our guide was really knowledgeable about the city as well as about architecture and Gaudi. We were able to revisit the Sagrada Familia too. By the looks of his works, Gaudi was both a madman and a genius. Most of his works look like they were created after taking some acid and drinking some absinthe, oh wait, I’m pretty sure that’s true? Around 2 p.m. that day, the tour ended and we ate our adorable lunches and I’m sure you can guess what we packed. Amanda was eager to see the inside of Sagrada Familia, but Rachel and I were curious to check out the tour of the Gothic Quarter. On our way to the second tour, Rachel and I tried the gelato and loved it! I had a bit of trouble eating mine. I ended up with ice cream all over my hands and spilled a bunch on our table. A bit embarrassing, but I guess I can see why my Senora always tells me I eat like a child. For our second tour, our tour guide had an attractive Australian accent. Let me tell you, I hung on his every word. I actually learned a lot on this tour including: 60% revenue comes from tourism in Barcelona, it is legal to carry 50 grams of weed in one big bag (not smaller bags though), it is legal to walk around naked but illegal to walk around without shoes. Also, it is tolerable to carry around 2 pills of ecstasy and a small amount of cocaine. Hmm, who knew!?
Gaudi
After this interesting tour, Rachel and I enjoyed a 1 euro glass of sangria with the rest of this tour group. A bit tipsy, we met up with Amanada and headed off to Gaudi’s famous work of Park Guell. It was a race against the sun setting basically. By the time the metro dropped us off, we were watching the sun set. It was difficult to really see the extent of this park because of the lack of light, but I got the general concepts. The park was a bit trippy but understandable because it was created by Gaudi. On our way home, we grabbed a quick bite to eat and chilled at the hostel. Early bed time tonight because our alarms were set for 4 a.m. to catch our 6:30 a.m. flight back to Malaga. Woo! We were up and traveling from 4 a.m. to 2 p.m. that day but we finally made it back to Granada.
** It’s a great feeling to know that I will be able to have a long relaxing month of March in Granada with only a few one or two day excursions.
Viva Espana!
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