Barcelona was quite an adventure. Me and my friend Michelle went solo to this tourist city and found ourselves in many interesting situations. Unfortunately the weather was really crappy/ cold so we weren't able to experience the beaches- however there was so much to see! To start off Michelle (love you) booked our hostel for June 17th instead of May 17th so we were homeless at one point in time. Our flight got in late on Thursday so we decided to go to the only place we had directions to and hope for the best. Our hostel was called Pension Segre and I have to say it was pretty ghetto! Me and Michelle got a room with two twin beds the first night and to my dismay, I found what appeared to be bug shells and bodily fluid stains on my bed sheets.... Disgusted, I refused to sleep in my twin bed and Michelle was nice enough to let me squeeze into her bed for the night. The second night we got a room that was the size of Harry Potter's broom staircase closet (literally) and we had to share a bed again. The third night, the owner (of questionable character might I add) convinced us because of the trouble, he would get us the best private room in the hostel for free- 60 euro later we got the room, obviously not free. It was alot nicer though, we had a Queen bed, our own bathroom and balcony that looked into the streets so we were content with our room. It wasn't located in the safest area and at night we would hear foreign people screaming at eachother... like I said ... quite and adventure
On a brighter note, the city was absolutely beautiful. The first day me and Michelle went to the famous Catedral de Barcelona which is famous for its elaborate gothic architecture. We then got tapas at this cute outdoor cafe near the Cathedral. Tapas in Spain are small dishes that are meant to share. My favorite was called patats bravas which is basically roasted poatatoes with a creamy spicy sauce! so good! On a food note people in Spain are crazy i mean CRAZY about Ham. every block there are atleast 3 or 4 shops called Museo del Jamon- They take pride in their ham and claim its the best anywhere. After it was free admission day for meusams. Me and Michelle went to a mesueam attached to Catedral de Barcelona which displayed the the wardrobes and lifestyles of the royalty who influenced and erected the cathedral. The area surrounding the Cathedral is really nice so we then shopped around and went to dinner. We took it easy since we were exhausted from traveling and our gross bed deliemma the night before. So we went to a bar near the hostel had a drink and relaxed.
The second day was alot more jam packed. We first woke up and had breakfeast at a nearby cafe and then headed towards the the main plaza area. On our way we passed by a flee market where small vendors sold hand crafted jewlery, leather items, toys, t-shirts and other like items. Michelle got a Spanish leather purse and wallet and I got a really cool looking necklace and ring for only 10 euro. After the Market Michelle and I went to the History Meuseam of Barcelona- in it, explains the orgins of the city and its relation to the Roman Empire, Iberians and its progression through the centuries. The coolest part were the Roman ruins that lie beneath the meseam. On the bottom floor are ruins of a Roman town- the meseam has these small bridges that walk over the ruins and explains piece by piece the relevance of what appears to be shambles of old stone and rock. It breaks down the the town from the wine making room, to the baths, to the fish shop. After that, we headed towards the famous Picasso Mesuem. In the mesuem is a large collection of Picasso's work and categorizies the work into time periods and explains his stage of life at the time that the drawings were produced. We then headed to dinner at a really cool place called Cuines de Santa Caterina. This place was a fresh market but has a resturant and outside seating. Michelle and I ordered Tapas again this time encorporating seafood. Barcelona is famous for its seafood so I had grilled calamari with a little lemon juice! Soo good!
After dinner we went to the peer. The peer was full of young and old alike and had small ice cream kiosks along with a outside resturant right on the peer. I liked the peer because I got to hardcore people watch and I noticed something; despite the insanely high unemployment rate, everyone seemed genuinely happy. Everyone was laughing and enjoying the sunset at the peer and as I think more about it, everyone I talked to in spain was so nice! Although my Spanish is very elementry, they always helped with directions, tried to start conversation or just flashed a smile. Hey, its the simple things that add up! :) I found this very interesting and very admirable.
The peer es Muy Bonita! :)
Me at the Peer!
Our Tour Bus
Although BARCELONA WAS AWESOME! I have to say this next adventure was bar far the most unforgettable/ most spontaneous thing I have ever done. Upon arriving at the airport me and Michelle knew we needed to catch an 830 train or else we were stuck in Paris for a night and would miss Monday's classes. The taxi was apparently going to be atleast 40 minutes (without traffic) and we landed at 7:15... desperate for time we run to the arrrival/ taxi area in hopes of finding a taxi that would be convinced to crazily speed or have some magical way of getting us to the train station in time. Now, Im not sure If you ever have seen the movie "Taken", when human trafficers pick up American girls at the airport … But I was extremely skeptical when two men in leather jackets and chic jeans approached us offering us a motorcylce ride to the train station. Michelle (again I love you) was hastily naïve and agreed for us to both go on their motorcycle- hoping we would make it there in time. Scared out of my mind and put on the spot, I agreed. I rode of the back of this motorcycle while the man blared techno music and veered on the white line between lanes the whole time. ( we actually hit side view mirrors -twice). Finally, we arrived to the airport with time to spare. I felt really bad for being mean and passive aggressive to these two men- but come to find out they are actually a business and we paid them for the ride. That was probably one of the craziest things I’ve done…Good thing I survived :)
All in all, Barcelona was a
roller coaster. I got the opportunity to see a lot of great things, learn a ton
of history and brush up on some Spanish! :) Id love to return there in the future because
there is so much more to see!
No comments:
Post a Comment