Tuesday morning at 6am Caitlin and I woke up to walk with all of our stuff to the bus stop to start our journey to Barcelona. We got to the train station with plenty of time to spare, and made it onto the AVE (Spain’s high speed train) with no problems. We slept most of the way to Madrid, where we got off, ate pastries at an airport café, and then got on the next 3-hour train to Barcelona. Caitlin went to Barcelona for a few days last year with her family so she knew much more than I did. When we got off the train in Barcelona we bought our dual-person metro pass and rode the metro to our hostel. The first order of business was to shower after a long day on trains, and then we went out to enjoy the last few hours of daylight in the city. We walked up Las Ramblas, the main pedestrianized avenue in Barcelona. It is lined with huge trees and shops, stands with artists selling their work and random vendors with flowers, chickens, fish & other pets, and of course FC Barcelona fútbol gear. We took tons of pictures, meandered through the winding streets and found a little restaurant where we shared chicken paella, tortilla de patata and olives for dinner. After we ate we found gofres con chocolate (waffles with hot chocolate sauce) and coffee for dessert. We finished the evening with a walk by the harbor and a few drinks with some people from our hostel.
Wednesday was all about tourist sightseeing. We got up early and hit the city hard. Our first stop was Güell Park, which is full of Gaudi’s works. It was incredible, this beautiful park above the city full of gorgeous, fantastical buildings and works of art. We spent a long time here, hiking through all of the paths up to the very top for a spectacular view of the entire city and the ocean beyond. After we had our fill of the park we walked down through the city on our way to the Sagrada Familia. We stopped at a little shop for bocadillos and a small bottle of wine to share. We took a lunch break in a park before continuing our way down. The Sagrada Famila is a massive, awe-inspiring building designed by Gaudi before his death. It has been under construction for over 100 years and is still far from being finished. The detailing is so complex and the building is so massive, I can’t even imagine how much time it will take to complete it.
The next place on our list to visit was the Arc d’Triumph and a walk through the park. Barcelona is an incredibly beautiful city. It has the charm of a smaller European city when you walk through the tiny streets lined with balconies and window gardens, but at the same time it is very metropolitan and has massive structures like the Arc and downtown skyscrapers. Every park and plaza is filled with fountains and stone statues with benches and patches of grass that are perfect for resting your feet. We slowly made our way back to the hostel and took a power nap to recharge for the night’s activities. We ate a delicious dinner of vegetable pasta and pizza at an Italian restaurant in one of the plazas we had passed earlier, and then Caitlin took me to a crepe place she had discovered last year. We split one of the best desserts I have ever had, a hot crepe with nutella. It was perfect.
Wednesday night, Barcelona was hosting the league fútbol finals and Sevilla was playing Atlético de Madrid. All day long we had been running into huge packs of Madrid fans wearing their jerseys and scarves, singing, chanting, etc. There weren’t many Sevilla fans in the streets however, so I had to represent the city the best I could. Cait and I stopped into an Irish pub for a pint of Strongbow and to watch the game. Sevilla scored in the first 5 minutes and held the lead until the very end, when they scored a second goal to secure the win. It was an exciting night and we went back to the hostel to pack out bags and get ready for our train to Nice in the morning.
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