So the last couple of months have flown by – and I have become slack on the blog front. But lucky for you, reader, I have a killer memory (plus a notebook full of notes) so I can still make you jealous of my amazing travel times.
I’ll start where I left off – on the way to beautiful Spain. Mairead, a fellow Brisbanite, and I started off our all-night journey at 11.30pm, touching down in Spain at about 7.30am the next morning. We jumped on a bus to head into the centre of Barcelona, catching our first glimpses of Spanish streets and feeling the warmth of the sun on our skin.
The hostel was easy to find and thankfully they let us check in early for much needed showers. We were tired, but our stomachs won over our eyes this time. We ventured outside and immediately appreciated a sun on our skin and the fact we could be outside without a coat! Taking photos along the way, we made our way through the maze of narrow laneways to the main tourist strip of Barcelona, La Rambla, and of course fell into the first of many tourist traps by paying way too much for a bit of tapas.
Barcelona Tip #1 – Don’t eat on La Rambla or anywhere directly adjacent.
The food was still great though and filled our bellies. The wall of tiredness hit us by the end of the meal and anyway, it was a perfect time for a Spanish siesta. So we headed back to our comfy hostel bunk-beds.
By the time we woke up, it was dinner time. We decided to stay close to the hostel that night and the receptionist guided us to a local tapas bar – much cheaper and better than our lunch time tapas.
Barcelona Tip #2 (or really just a general Spanish tip) – Tapas is the best, and you usually get it free with drinks! But be prepared to eat a lot of carbs and meat.
The next morning we had planned to meet up with one of my friends from Brisbane, who was doing exchange in Vienna and also spending some of the Easter break in Spain. The plan was to meet her at 9am at the Picaso Museum, but that plan was soon dashed when we woke up at 8.50… So we took our time with breakfast and walked leisurely though the streets, admiring the stunning architecture of Barcelona, before reaching the Picaso Museum at about 11.30. Though contacting Claire was a bit difficult as she didn’t have wifi, we thought she would possibly be done by now so milled around the exit hoping to see her.
Crazily, this plan worked and we ran into Claire and her friends. They told us their plan for the rest of the day and we decided to follow. We set off merrily on our way and jumped on the tube. By our first changeover however, something felt slightly wrong. I reached for my wallet and realised my bag was open, when I clearly remember closing it. Panic started to set in as I dug through my bag – but nope, my wallet was nowhere to be seen. You always hear of pickpocketing stories, but never think it would happen to you.
Barcelona Tip #3 – Keep your possessions close. Even if you think they’re close, keep them closer.
Everything was in that wallet – cards, money, ID. Luckily, they hadn’t taken my passport (cannot even begin to imagine how bad that would have been – I might have been still in Spain!). So, unfortunately, we had to leave Claire and her friends and do some damage control. Luckily, I was able to cancel my cards and didn’t have too much cash. My wonderful mother transferred money to wonderful Mairead for me to use for the rest of the time and all was well. My parents were visiting in a couple of weeks and they would bring new cards over.
After a quite stressful ordeal, we decided to head down to the beach. It was a lovely day and a stroll along the Marina, soaking up the Spanish sun after months of living in the overcast UK was exactly what was needed.
Felt so good to put my feet in the sand again!
Later, we tried to catch up with Claire, but again wifi proved difficult. So we took another punt and went to the place where Claire and her friends said they wanted to go for dinner (luckily near our hostel). Crazily, we ran into them again! We had a great evening drinking sangria and eating tapas, then walking past some of the Gaudí houses near Claire’s hostel. Although a bit (lot) stressful, the day was still great!
The next five days were spent exploring the beautiful city of Barcelona. If I could say one thing about Barcelona, it would be that its buildings are a joy to the eye. While we were there, we did a Hostelworld architectural tour where we learnt the history behind some of the buildings and their owners. One building is literally shaped like a chocolate bar because its owner was the boss of the biggest candy company in Spain.
Chocolate pieces at the top
We did tours of one of the Gaudí houses and learnt about his technique of hanging weighted string and looking at its reflection in a mirror.
Gaudi’s mirror technique
Gaudi rooftop
We vistied Gaudí’s Park Güell and admired more of Gaudi’s handiwork, along with stunning views over Barcelona.
Barcelona Tip #4 – Don’t pay for Park Güell. You can see the majority of it for free.
Gaudí impressed us a third time with the amazing construction of the not yet finished Sagrada Família Basilica. It has already been in construction for 133 years and is not due to finish until 2026 – the centenary of Gaudí’s death. Even in its current unfinished state, the dreamlike towers and intricate detail create a sense of magic and being part of something larger than yourself. The colours produced by light shining through the stained glass make you feel you are in some kind of fairyland, while the sheer size of the roof can make you feel insignificant. By far the best religious structure I have seen in Europe yet – the photos do not do the amazing structure justice.
The architecture in Barcelona was complemented by incredible food and drink. Tapas bars were everywhere, packed with amazing cheap food. In the centre of town, we explored markets with seemingly endless fresh fruit and veges.
Barcelona Tip #5 – People speak Catalan in Barcelona, not Spanish. The Spanish menu is usually more expensive than the Catalan menu and the English menu even more so than the Spanish.
On our third night, we joined a tapas tour. Only five of us turned up – two other girls who were in our hostel room from Manchester and another older English guy who was on a cycling tour. I was worried it would be super awkward (which it was at first) but it turned out to be one of the weirdest, but most fun nights in Spain. We tried three different tapas bars (which were okay, but not great) before heading to a bar where our guide knew the owner. We all got quite drunk on red wine and coke (a thing in Spain) before heading to the club. Even the older guy came (I think he stayed even later than the rest of us)! We drunk beer on the street, bought from guys selling it ridiculously cheap and the guide ended up hooking up with one of the girls from Manchester.
We were a bit worse for ware the next morning, but still wanted to go explore Barcelona. Moving slowly, we headed to the Picasso Museum. It was absolutely amazing to see so many Picasos in one place. The exhibition on was a comparison between Dalí and Picaso – the similarity between their styles and development was incredible. The afternoon was spent catching a train to a random part of town and lying in the sun. After the cold British weather, we both felt like we could be back in Brisbane.
Our goose friend
Being in Barcelona over Easter, we of course noticed the impressive religious and political history of the country. We spent time exploring the massive Cathedral in the centre of town and a great Sandeman’s walking tour told us about the development of religion and cultural practices in the region, including massive human pyramids.
The tallest of the human pyramids
The history of Spain is so colourful, full of ups and downs, and there is so much I do not know especially during Franco’s regime. We saw bullet marks on the wall from executions that happened not that long ago. On Easter Sunday, we headed to the Cathedral – the town was alive with music and dancing. We soaked it all in before jumping on a train that night to start the next part of our Spanish adventure – Madrid!