I've always wanted to go to Barcelona, somehow I knew I would love it there. And that was definitely the case. This city stole my heart in just two days thanks to my awesome tour guide. Robby had been there before on another quick trip so he knew some of the must sees and we hit them fast!
Bam! My two favorite places...the magic fountain and Park Guell!
Our first night in Barcelona was spent curled up comfortably in a dark corner in the airport. Our flight from Morocco got in around 1am so why spend money on a hostel?? The airport is quite accomodating actually. this one was spacious, really nice and super clean- especially in comparison to places we had just been. I was more than happy to use the free bathrooms there with flushing toilets and hand soap! Surprisingly or maybe not- finding good real estate to sleep in at the airport was difficult mainly because the good spots were already taken by other travelers sleeping in the airport! Haha I was surprised at how many there were!! We found a spot though (pretty close to this other girl that was dead asleep) and busted out our sheet sleeping bags and eye masks and got cozy homeless style.
Don't try and tell me that this doesn't look like the lobby of a five star hotel
Somehow feeling refreshed in the morning and pulling a Mexican shower with doubling up on deodorant and perfume we were ready to hit the city. The morning started off amazing - after checking into our hostel we discovered the best bakery right next to it that was having a 2 for 1 sale. Did we end up buying eight different pastries? And did we go there Three more times before we left Spain the next day? That's none of your business.
That face is pure ecstasy he was so happy!
First on the list of sightseeing was checking out the different Gaudi architecture which was amazing! He is a very famous architect who constructed a lot of unique and edgy buildings I think in the 18-1900s. I love his style- everything is a little eccentric and overboard. We got a pretty good tour of the whole city walking to different buildings he designed and I couldn't help but love the feel in the city. I don't know what it is but it's full of culture, yet laid back, extremely beautiful, but still kind of rugged and natural.
Gaudi #1
Gaudi #2 - you just don't see stuff like this at home!
Gaudi #3 and a perfectly ripened nectarine minutes away from being eaten. Although this was designed decades and decades ago it's still under construction and will probably be for another x10 years Atleast!
Theres some Intricate detail on this bad boy!
To keep on the theme of Gaudi for the day we had to go to Park Guell (Gaudi park)! This park overlooks all of Barcelona and has an incredible view! The park is full of Gaudi arctecture as well as natural gardens. Alot of his stuff actually reminds me of something you'd see in a Dr. Suess book. Maybe an inspiration? Gaudi originally intended on these buildings now at the park to be used for high income housing, but it didn't work out. So now it's just a beautiful park with lots of beautiful natural surroundings splashed with rad architecture. Add to that the view and it has everything! We spent hours up there exploring!
View Of all of Barcelona from the top of the park!
Zoomed in view of the view. Recognize this guy from earlier- its Gaudi #3
Woman in nature
In front of Gaudi buildings in the park - totally Dr Suess-esque right??
More Gaudi stuff in the park
Gaudi-licious
Gaudi Gaudi Gaudi!
The park is super high up above the city- so Barcelona conveniently installed a few escalators to spare you from pulling a hammy on your hike up. Just a random escalator in the middle of a city. Why aren't there more of these? I asked myself that everyday in Italy.
After Park Guell we went to Plaza Espana to watch the magic fountain! It was so amazing and the show went on for over an hour!! It was made for me because the beginning was set to Disney songs (all in Spanish of course) and then the last half was all dance music like David Guetta. Dance party at the fountain? The place is loaded with people who come to watch it - and it's right in front of this amazing building I think it's an art musuem we didn't go in but it is the perfect backdrop behind the fountain. The street leading up to the magical fountain has small fountains to each side of it that light up too. I just kept thinking about how cool it was that the city puts this on and how it seemed like such a cool hang out! The streets in general were packed with people out and about enjoying the city. I love the way the streets are set up there, everything kind of leads to different large plazas that all have specific events and entertainment. I can't explain it, it is just so cool!!
This!
The next day we wanted to hang out on the beach and explore without a plan. Remember our friend Marcos we met in Morocco? Well he is from Barcelona and was back home so we made plans to meet up with him that night! But first beach time..we made our way to the beach which actually remimded me a lot of Santa Monica and Venice. A cool boardwalk with all sorts of random weirdos on it and cool shops and entertainment nearby. Unfortunately it was a little cloudy- we used the hot and sunny day the day before to hike around town. Wish we couldve switched them! It was ok though the sun came out and we got our tan on in attempt to get rid of some strong farmers tans forming.
We started to hear this super loud music that sounded like a live band playing 80s music. well thats an obvious magnet for me so we had to know where it was coming from! Walking along the boardwalk we saw all these banners for "Barcelona Fitness Challenge." little did we know that this fitness challenge would almost kill us that day..
Literally, we were walking past this huge sign held up by massive metal poles and suddenly the wind got so strong that it knocked the whole thing down just steps in front of us! The huge metal poles crashed down right where us and an old lady were about to step. Everyone came rushing probably afraid of a lawsuit. Whew those fitness challenges can be brutal! As we kept walking we found out that the band was playing at the fitness challenge - awesome!! I thought it had to be like one of those 10ks where live bands play as you run so we walked over to scope it out and found this:
Hahaha the band was playing to a bunch of people on stationary bikes! We thought it looked sooo funny! How awkward would that feel as a band to be playing to a bunch of people stationary biking in front of you? They even had people on the bikes join in with clapping - it looked so funny! Of course we tried to join but we got in trouble. At least Robby got on it long enough for a picture!
That night we met our friend Marcos to walk along Las Ramblas and eat Tapas. Las Ramblas is a huge street area that goes down the center of Barcelona and its just for pedestrians. They have shops and vendors, restaurants and entertainers all along the way. It was so cool to be hanging out with our Morocco buddy in Spain too!
Us and Marcos at Las Ramblas
His friend Alba met up with us after dinner and we explored the night life of Barcelona a little. She took us to the Placa Reial where lots of young people hang out at night. This place was so cool with of course beautiful architecture and cool lit up lanterns. The lamposts there are actually our man Gaudi's oldest known work (Gaudi central out there!) We walked under this bridge where she said the story goes that if you walk backwards underneath it and think of something that has been weighing on you, when you get to the other side of the bridge you turn around and have to leave that trouble behind and never think of it again. I love old wives tales like that!
The bridge you walk under
Hangin out with no cares now!
Then she took us to the oldest part of the city called Gothic Quarters where there's an old and dark plaza there where you can see bullet holes all over one wall which were sustained during the Spanish Civil War. One of my favorite things about these old cities is how history is just in your face and you can't help but learn as you explore.
A door I liked!
We were sad to leave the next morning, it was a mad dash to the airport to make our flight like each and every flight has been so far on this trip! Stressful but worth any extra minute in Barcelona which now ties Sydney Australia for my favorite city in the world! We will for sure be back!
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