Day 5
Our flight wasn't super early, 8:20, but getting to the airport and checking in is always a pain, we had to take a shuttle at 5:15 which fortunately left right from our hostel, that was a welcome surprise. A little more than 5 hours later we landed at the Girona airport, another hour and 15 minute bus ride away from Barcelona. Finding the hostel was a bit difficult, I think we walked past it 3 times before actually finding it, it was raining too. It wasn't anywhere near as nice as the hostel in Madrid, but what can you do, it was fine. As it was raining, we decided to go to the Picasso Museum. It wasn't really what either of us were expecting, a little disappointing. When we were done it was pouring and everything we wanted to do was outside, bummer. After trying to see a movie in English, we ended up at a mall in Part Vell...for HOURS. It poured the entire day. There was a nice view from the Starbucks seating area which we admired for a while. During this time it ocurred to me that Allison might be in BArcelona as well. I sent her a text and turns out I was right. After I got a manicure, very much needed, we met up with her, her sister and two guys they'd met at their hostel at the imax. One of the guys was from South Africa and the other was Irish but living in Canada, they were both pretty cool. We saw "haunted castle" or "castillo encantada" since it was in Spanish. Even though we couldn't understand it and the story line was a bit lame, visually it was really cool, I thought. It was still pouring after the film, we hung out with everybody at their hostel, which was right on the beach - lucky them - for a little bit before we had to catch the metro. Not the best introduction to Barcelona.
Day 6
Still not sunny, but not raining anymore. We had a lot to do today after we'd lost the previous day. We started at Mercat de la Boqueria on La Rambla. It's all food, but really interesting food. Delicious fruit juices, dried fruit and nuts, meat, vegetables and any kind of seafood or fish you could possibly want. I saw sea urchins, squids, octopus, sting ray and a host of other slimy fresh-from-the-sea goods. It was awesome. We both decided we would move to Barcelona just for this market. We wandered up and down La Rambla after, honestly not much to see, they did have live birds, rodents and fish for sale though and a LOT of costumed people trying to earn money from tourists. My navigation skills are pretty poor, my instincts always seem to be wrong when it comes to picking directions. Eventually we found the Guell Palace and a few important Placas. We found the cathedral after a while, initially I wasn't going to go in, it cost money, but I changed my mind. Becky had already seen it so she waited outside for me. It was really beautiful, mostly a series of intricate alcoves along the wall and a courtyard complete with palm trees and geese. We ended up back by Port Vell and started heading toward the beach. Becky decided to call Allison again since we were close to their hostel. We met up with the same group from the previous night and went out for tapas. I had decently priced mussels. We sat and talked for a long time, mostly the boys talked. I learned a bit about African politics. The girls had to leave for their flight after tapas and Becky and I had Gaudi houses to see. Gaudi was amazing, he was so unique, there's nothing else like his work anywhere and it's completely inspired by nature. We went inside La Pedrera, the highlight of it was the roof. I'd always seen pictures of it before but I'd never realized it was a roof. After another Gaudi house exterior it was time to call it a day. I ended up watching The Terminal at the hostel, in English with Spanish subtitles. It was ok, Tom Hanks was really good in it, I thought.
Day 7
Kristin was joining us today and I had to wake up early to pick her up from the bus station. Turns out she got the bus schedule wrong and had been waiting at the station for over an hour. After walking the wrong direction all the way to the beach, which was beautiful at least, we turned around and met Becky at the Sagrada Familia. They started work on it in the late 1800s and it's not scheduled to be finished until 2028. It was way overpriced for what we got to see, and they charged more to go up the tower, not cool. I would really like to see it when it's complete though, which means I'll have to go back to Barcelona in 20 years, if it finishes as planned that is. Next we headed to Guell Park to see more Gaudi amazingness (the Sagrada Familia is Gaudi as well). It was a beautiful day, perfect for a park. Most of it seemed to be fenced off, Kristin and I snuck in as other people were doing but quickly got kicked back out. Fortunately, all the important stuff was out in the open for us to see. Becky had to catch the bus to the airport for her flight back to Brussels pretty early so we split up in the park. Kristin and I began the long walk to the Mercat de la Boqueria and then the beach. There were one or two wrong turns in there but we found it evenutally. Finding the beach took longer than I expected and I'm sure I didn't take the most direct route, but we got there too. We sat on the beach for a good hour and a half in the sun, it was wonderful and actually might be the first time I've ever sat on a beach during spring break, well, at least it was the first time in a long time. We caught the bus for the airport easily. I have to say, not running around in a frantic rush trying to catch something is a nice feeling. Thank goodness for kiosks and not having to check luggage because the check-in line at the airport was ridiculous. Getting to bypass it was pretty great. Farewell, Spain, I was off to Italy.
ITALY
Rome - Arriving in Rome was easy. Finding the shuttle into the city was easy and finding our hostel was easy. The hostel in Rome was pretty similar in quality to the hostel in Barcelona, still, just fine.
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