Beautiful Barcelona

Hello from Scotland! I know you might be a bit confused, wasn't I just in Scotland with my family? And the answer is yes I was with my family in Scotland! Now I'm heading to Perth to stay with my wonderful aunt and uncle for a few days. I'm traveling there on the train from Glasgow where I made a slight detour to see a friend who lives there. Anyway, flashback to my weekend in Barcelona!!!

MC and I earlier in the semester decided we really wanted to go somewhere in Spain but couldn't figure out when and where. We wanted to make a trip to Madrid and take the train to Barcelona, but that was too expensive, so we just decided on Barcelona. We figured it would be a bit warmer and there would be a beach so why not? Anyway, I'm just rambling and I'll get to the actual trip!

We left Wednesday morning/afternoon to head to the airport. Unfortunately you can't take the tube to the Stanstead airport since it's so far out of the city. You either have to take a train, taxi or an Easybus (a very cheap option, but involves riding in a van and me getting very very carsick). We've taken the Easybus quite a few times to get to the airport and you think I would have learned my lesson by now, but I guess not. I almost tossed my cookies a couple of time while on the way to the airport, but I managed to keep in locked down. The plane ride was very smooth and only about two hours or so, so I tried to sleep for some of it and read for the rest. There were quite a few FCB (FC Barcelona) fans who were on our flight, wearing jackets, scarves and bags that displayed their team logo, FCB was playing Man City or Man U. (I can't remember which)

Once we arrived at the airport we took a train to the city center (while clutching our bags very tightly to avoid pickpockets) and met up with MC's friend who we would be staying with for a couple of days! We met her at this fancy house (I don't really remember the name, Spanish is not my language, mind you, so I felt very disoriented)

But it was everything I ever dreamed! Lots and lots of tall buildings with small balconies that had flags, clothes and plants hanging all over the side.

Once we reached MC's friend's place (let's just call her A) we took some time to relax a bit before heading out for dinner. Her apartment felt very Spanish, the ceilings were very tall and the tile on the floor had pretty cool designs. Her room even had a balcony that opened to the street below (which was VERY noisy). We finally headed to the bar called The Black Sheep (that's the English translation, I can't remember the Spanish name for it) at about 7:30 to find a place we could watch the Barcelona game. I really wish we could have actually gone to the game, but those tickets are even harder to come by than the tickets to an EPL match. 

At the bar we got to try some very Spanish food and let me tell you...I REALLY enjoyed it!!! 

The food on the top is called Patates Braves (I think that's how you spell it) and what it is is fried potato chunks with hot sauce and a sort of mayo sauce on top.

While I don't typically like spicy food, it wasn't half bad! The two bottom foods went together. The one on the left was a hard sausage jerky (it was pretty tough to chew) but you ate it with the bread which had a very light tomato paste.  

We stayed at the bar until it closed at about 2 and headed home. While it was late, the weather was perfect! I'm guessing it was probably about 55 degrees outside, while that may sound cold for an Arizonian, it was quite a bit warmer for someone from London!

Before I go further, I should probably explain a little about Spanish culture. The Spanish are very laid back. No one really gets moving in the morning until 9 or 10. And in the middle of the day they close everything down from 2-4 o'clock for something that's called a Siesta! You can't really go anywhere cause everything is closed, but then places stay open till 12-1 o'clock in the morning on weekdays!

Anyway, A took us to La Boqueria, which is a HUGE fresh food market!

There was a ton of fresh meats, fruit, smoothies, chocolate, and breads. I was in love. Here is a sample of some of the things we saw:

These are the different chocolates shaped in all sorts of things!

Lots and lots of different parts of animals (I'm not even sure who's head is staring at us through the picture). 

This is a different kind of Patates Braves held in containers similar to chips!

For breakfast MC and I got strawberry and banana smoothies, a chicken and cheese croquettes (don't ask me what it is exactly, I'm not sure, all I know it was deep fried and delicious), and chocolate covered strawberries. 

After our journey and breakfasting at the market, A took us to the place where we were meeting our walking tour. The weird thing in Spain is that they have a bunch of Gelato shops. And I couldn't just walk by all of them without stopping at least one!

I thought it tasted pretty good. I'm hoping that the ones in Italy turn out to be the best or I'm going to be sorely disappointed!

We then met for our walk and took off! I'm not sure what it was, maybe it was the fact that our guide was American or not very enthusiastic, but I was not very interested in the tour that day!!! I know! Me not wanting to know more about the history of beautiful Barcelona! Don't worry, I won't make it a habit. But we did stay with the tour about an hour or so, so I did get some facts. 

This is one of the oldest Roman graveyards in Europe! As you can see, it sits below the rest of the city, apparently there is an actual museum you can walk into and get a close up of, but we saw them just fine. 

This is the Barcelona Cathedral also known as La Seu and the spires can be seen from all through the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona. The construction ended sometime in the 15th century. The Cathedral is dedicated to the Santa Eulàlia (yes I had to look that one up) who was killed as a martyr and her body is currently buried under the high alter. 

This lovely drawing on the building can be found right across from the Cathedral. If you think that a five year-old drew that, you're wrong! (Don't worry, I thought the same thing. Great minds think alike) Actually, this drawing was made by Pablo Picasso after he had moved to Paris. He originally grew up in Barcelona, but moved away to study art in Paris. The city wanted something made by him to display, this is what he drew, supposedly on a napkin, and sent to Barcelona. (Kinda like a big Eff you! To the city) 

Another crazy thing we saw all over the city was the number of different flags flown and displayed all over the city. Why do you ask? Well currently Barcelona and a number of other cities known as Catalan are trying to become their own county. The plain red and yellow striped flag is the plain Catalonian flag, you know for the people who are proud to be Catalan. The second type of flag has a blue star atop the red and yellow stripes. These flags are flown by the people who don't want to be part of Spain anymore! The final flag has a yellow and red star on the top. These flags also do not want to be part of Spain, but they are linked with Communism that was popular in the 60's and 70's. They aren't very popular. 

After that MC and I ditched out on the tour and decided to head of to Sagrada Familia since the tour wasn't going to take us there! We walked for about 3 miles before deciding to take the metro, but we were able to see some cool sights along the way!

I'm not entirely sure what this is, I think it had something to do with the aquarium in Barcelona next to the ocean.

This is Barcelona's very own Arc de Triumph (I think that's the french way to spell it, so I apologize). I don't know the history behind it, but MC and I passed it on the way to the Familia. 

As you can see, there was a lots and lots of construction that surrounded the Familia. Apparently it's never been completed! The designer died a while ago and they are still finishing is final piece. We overheard people joking that it was going to be another 20 years before it was actually finished, but I'm not exactly sure when it will be completed. Another cool fact about the Sagrada Familia is that there are bible depictions all over the front of the building. I know its kind of hard to see, but the Nativity is right above the front doors. Honestly, even I had a hard time recognizing all of them and I like to think that I know my Bible Stories pretty well.

Next to the Sagrada Familia was a little shack that was selling food and we were hungry!

So we had our first round of Spanish Churros!

And our second round of Patates Braves.

We then headed back to A's place to rest up for a bit before we took off to meet up with her boyfriend and then out for dinner!

I can't remember the name of the place we went for dinner, but it was a cute little restaurant and we ordered even more Patates Braves! Although I think they were the best at the restaurant we went to Thursday night!

The next morning, A left really early for a school trip she had to Madrid and we left to check into the Air B&B we were staying in. Our directions weren't very clear so we got a bit lost, but everything else went rather smoothly. 

After checking in, we headed to Park Guell which was one of the highest points of the city, so we were able to get a great view!

I also learned a very important lesson! Don't wear a dress up to the park! It was super windy and I was very grateful to have leggings on underneath. We then attempted to see the mosaics that are farther down in the Park (the mosaics that are seen everywhere on Pinterest when you look at Barcelona). Unfortunately we didn't know that you needed to buy a ticket in advance to see the mosaics, so we had to take pictures from afar. 

Thats ok! It's on my bucket list for the next time I go to Spain! 

After Park Guell, we headed to the beach for some sand and sunshine! HA. When we arrived at the beach it was cloudy and very very windy!

We didn't walk very far into the sand because we didn't want to get any in our eyes. But we enjoyed looking and the pretty water and wishing for warmer weather. 

We walked back along street towards the city and stopped at a place called Makamaka for lunch. It was AMAZING!!! I was so surprised how good the food was. To be honest, it was an American diner and I wasn't expecting very much, but I'm so glad we went. Unfortunately I don't remember the name of my burger, all I know was that it was sirloin and it had caramelized onions on it as well. 

I would definitely hit up Makamaka if you are planning to go to Barcelona anytime soon!

The rest of the day was spent browsing the touristy shops looking for souvenirs to take home with us. MC and I both ended up with mugs from Barcelona and post cards! We headed back to the place we were staying and then after a couple of hours headed out to dinner where we got Tapas (tiny plates of food that Spain is famous for). The next morning we headed out to the airport and I thought we would get home pretty easy.

That was not the case, however. Upon entering the airport, we were rushed right through security. Which normally wasn't a problem, but we were flying with RyanAir. An interesting point with RyanAir and US Passports is that they make you get your passport and boarding pass checked, usually with the bag check desk. So we realized our mistake and headed back through the arrival gate and to the bag check queue where we waited for 30 minutes, to only get to the front and be told we were in the WRONG LINE!!! We then had to wait for another 15 minutes in another line just to get our passport checked, it seriously only took 1 minute for the lady behind the counter to look at each of our boarding passes and passports and stamp them. Then we had to travel back through security, thankfully the Spaniards know how to get it done, so we were through pretty quick. It was then a long wait to get onto the plane. 

Wow! That was a lot! I'm sorry that I'm so terrible at uploading posts:/ I probably won't get better throughout April, but I should be posting about last week and my trip to Scotland tomorrow because my flight to Italy leaves early Wednesday morning! So look for me!