BARCELONA ITINERARY
La Sagrada Familia
Casa Milà
Casa Batlló
Gothic Quarter
Park Güell
Cathedral of Barcelona
Eat as much tapas as you can. My favorites were the following:
Patatas bravas
Croquette
Spanish omelette
Olives
Gazpacho
Calamari
Albondigas
Pulpo (octopus)
Tapas24 or Tapa Tapa for… tapas
La Rambla
Vintage and antique items for sale on La Rambla
Gaudi
Croquettes, patatas bravas, Spanish tortilla, risotto
Lunch at Tapa Tapa with a new friend
Tapas24
BARCELONA JOURNAL ‘15
I decided to try and meet my travel buddy at the airport so that she could have some support on her first time traveling abroad, I know I certainly needed it. I spent a good hour trying to figure out how to get our of the Charles de Gaulle airport, so I thought it would be nice to be there for her. Plus, it was nighttime which makes navigation a bit trickier. Because I arrived way earlier in the day than my friend, I decided it would be good to find the whereabouts of our hostel. It’s worth noting that I only found our hostel after having a conversation in half Spanish/half French with some kind people who ended up drawing my clueless self a map. My GPS on roaming was not working. I had some wifi at the hostel and tried to initiate contact with Cindy to get her flight info (should have done that before - lesson learned) but I couldn’t get ahold of her. All I knew is that she was coming from Frankfurt at 7 (or at least that’s what I remembered).
When I got there, I had to figure out which terminal she was coming from. After going back and forth, going the wrong direction three different times, I found her terminal, and I sat down and waited. Finally, I decided to try and call her. Maybe she’d have service. When I reached her she said she was at a café by the terminal. I was also sitting at a café by the terminal. I asked her which one and read the sign of my café as she said “Café del Fioré”. We were sitting right behind each other facing opposite directions. Not even 5 feet away. We turned around and started laughing as other customers around also found this highly amusing. We then made our way back to the hostel, which I was able to find easily after running around so much earlier. So many lessons learned this day.
I wasn’t able to do quite everything I liked to do in Barcelona, so I definitely plan to go back. Cindy was still quite tired from her incredibly long flight, and so we spent our time in Spain mostly going with the flow. We met two girls from London in our hostel room, Libby and Becky, and we chatted enough to decide to meet up when we make our way to London. We also met a German-Croatian girl named Tea who would eventually meet up with us on New Year’s! More so than sightseeing, we made friends here.
Cindy’s jetlag hit her pretty hard on the first day. So on my own, I walked around Barcelona admiring the architecture of Gaudí. There were balconies with stained glass for floors, rails with that resembled twisted vines. Rounded edges replaced industrial corners. Some buildings looked as though they were fit for aristocracy with stone detailing of crowns in the brickwork. Some of it was gothic, some of it seemed alien. All of it was beyond imagination. I decided to visit Sagrada Familia too, but I started walking there towards dusk and got quite lost. I’m embarrassed to say so because it wasn’t that hard to find, being the tallest building in Barcelona. By the time I got to Sagrada Familia, it was dark and I could hardly see the building except for the lights that they had cast on it. Around there, however, was a Christmas market with all sorts of wonderful foods and jewelry and nicknacks.
When Cindy was feeling rejuvenated, we visited La Rambla and Mercado de la Boqueria. At La Rambla, you can see painters, street art, thingambob venders, and my personal favorite: human statues. The most memorable one for me was a man dressed as The Mad Hatter. His makeup, hair, and clothing, though incredible, paled in comparison to his flamboyant, manic, jittery gestures. He had a hat out for tips and people lined up to have their picture taken with him as he pretended to pour tea on their head. He even made crazy eyes at people who passed without stopping by. At the market, there were all sorts of antiques I began to imagine on a nice mantelpiece or knick-knack shelf (both of which I don’t have). There were beautiful brass figurines, shiny old tobacco pipes, and enormous keys to nowhere I could ever find in my entire life. At one point, I was pretty close to buying a 30 euro compass from the London Navy. I somehow mustered the strength to walk away despite my new-traveler irrationality. The desire to turn anything into a travel keepsake was almost overwhelming.
I absolutely fell in love with tapas while there. I can be decisive, but when it comes to food, I tend to want everything which makes it overwhelming when things are expensive. But tapas provides the solution - a little bit of everything for a reasonable price. We ate at Tapas24 and enjoyed their pan con tomate and patatas bravas. We asked the server for a suggestion for dessert, and he lit up. He brought out an incredible chocolate dessert drizzled with olive oil and topped with sea salt and crispy crackers. We also ate at Tapa Tapa with our friend Tea and covered every inch of our table in delicious plates like patatas bravas, fried camembert, tortilla espagnola, and risotto.
