On Tuesday morning, Kristin and I tried to hike up the castle, but they were doing some sort of construction on the side of the mountain, so the path was blocked. We did, however, get high enough up to get a good view of the city. After the castle, we parted ways-- Kristin going back to the apartment and me going to school. We met up a few hours later at the train station and began our exhausting, amazing trip to Barcelona. After a five hour train ride, we checked into our hostel and ate tapas! Thankfully, one of the girls in our room had been studying in Barcelona, so she was able to mark our map with all of the must-sees of the city.
On Wednesday, we visited Gaudi's Parque Güell. His work reminds me of gingerbread houses. The detail really is beautiful.
Next, we took the metro to La Sagrada Familia, which is a building that has been under construction for decades; it is a church designed by Gaudi. Many Barcelonans think that it will NEVER be finished.
We trekked to the Parc de l'Estacio del Nord, which is a nice area near Barcelona's second train station, and the Arc de Triomf (yes, Spain has one too). My inner dictator busting through, I kept making Kristin take "look-what-I'm-holding" pictures. I think it looks very realistic...
Next, we went to the Parc de La Ciutadella, which is similar to Central Park. It was huge and we saw people doing everything from walking dogs, to dancing, to eating lunch.
Our hostel was in the Gothic Quarter, which actually has some amazing stores. I have never seen so many H&Ms in my life-- there was one stationed every couple of feet along the road. We went shopping for a little while and tried to find something green to wear that night; this goal was a bust. The only people who seemed to care that it was St. Patrick's Day were the tourists (especially the Americans). Later, we met a few other American students and talked with them for a couple hours. They gave us directions to Barcelona's famous discoteca, Razmataz. We spent the next few hours trying to find this phantom club. People kept telling us that it was just down the street, but we never found it. Barcelona is much more discreet about its nightlife than Alicante; everything is tucked away from the main roads. After our failed attempt at finding Razmataz, we went back to the hostel and hung out with some Swiss people we met in the lounge.
We definitely utilized every minute of that day in Barcelona!
On Thursday, we were both completely drained of energy, but like the good tourists that we are... we kept going. We each had a plate of patatas fritas con huevos for breakfast (a popular dish in Barcelona) and visited the St. Josep mercado. The outdoor markets in Spain are my favorites! We had so much fun browsing the isles of candy, fruit, cheese, etc.
For our last few hours in Barcelona, we went to the Parc de Montjuïc, which was kind of tricky to get to; we had to take a special metro and then the teleferic. The park contained a pretty, old castle and fantastic views of the city.
We ended our stay in Barcelona by relaxing in the Plaza Real with bocadillos and goodies from the market in hand. Quite the adventure indeed.
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