Barcelona

So after much confusion and headaches in dealing with getting plane tickets, we finally made it to Barcelona! Our 9pm flight ended up being delayed twice until 12:45am and then we arrived in BCN airport at 2 and found our Hostel at like 3am. We were stranded outside for about 30 min in the dark, scary, city streets until someone finally let us in! The hostel was kind of freaky when we got there because it was dark and no one was awake and then the next morning we slept late because of getting in so late and everyone was gone when we got up. I was a little wary of the hostel and didn't want to go back there till we absolutely had to but when we finally did come back we met the people we had shared a room with the night before and everyone was pretty cool. We met a girl from Hungary, four girls from Scotland, a couple from England, a girl from Poland, two from Germany, and a girl from New Zealand named Zoe. She was really cool and ended up coming around town with us on Saturday.

We bought a metro card that took us all around the city and I was surprised how easy the map and routes were to understand, given my sense of direction. Antoni Gaudi practically designed the entire city of Barcelona so we ran around and saw his buildings and all the sights on Friday.

The first site was right by our hostel: Arc de Triomf of Barcelona, built for the 1888 Universal Exhibition. Also, all of the statues lining the mall next to it were designed by Gaudi.

We visited the Temple of the Sagrada Familia- a cathedral which was started in 1882 and is still not finished... let's get a move on Spaniards..

incredible detail... and apparently they don't expect construction to be finished until 2026!

Casa Mila/La Pedrera- built by Gaudi with "trancadis" - little pieces of ceramic tile so that the architecture can curve like this (thank you art history).

These are muslim-inspired ventilation towers on the roof..

Parque Guell (Park Guell)-- This is one of Gaudi's most famous sites and is absolutely gorgeous. However, the hike up a freaking mountain was very unexpected! They even have escalators you can ride part-way up to it. After tons of walking, we took a siesta here in the park. Parque Guell also contains Antoni Gaudi's actual house!- called "La Torre Rosa." There was also a great view from the top of the mountain and you could see Torre Agbar, which is a huge light-up tower that illuminates at night with LED lights.

Our ascent up the mountain to the park

view from the top

hansel and gretel house!
famous trancadis lizard

entire park

Torre Agbar

Camp Nou!- The FC Barcelona futbol stadium!!! We got to take a tour of the entire stadium and see the players tunnel, locker rooms, press room, press box, etc. It was pretty sweet.

field

player's seats!

The second day, we went to the Cathedral of Santa Eulalia Barcelona, and were denied entrance because we were "scantily clothed," which apparently means short shorts and a spaghetti strapped dress.. But here is the outside!

After the cathedral, we walked around Las Ramblas- which is the main street in the city where they hold an outdoor market on Saturdays. It basically had everything you could possibly imagine in terms of food.. and then more, that you didn't want to imagine. . such as sheep heads, and skinned rabbits, ...lovely..

spices and dried fruits
yum!!

maybe you should come to Spain to find mushrooms dad...

The street was lined with people dressed up to get your picture with...

apparently, these are the smallest hamsters in the world. They also sold chipmunks.. who would want a chipmunk? They did backflips in their cages though so they were pretty cool.

After this, we headed to the Palau de musica catalana...which is a huge concert hall where many famous composers, orchestras, choirs, etc have performed.

Here are some other random things we saw along the way..

Shopping street
Dali Museum

After running around all morning, we decided to head to Port Olimpia to relax on the beach! We took the route through another beautiful park near our hostel.. The Barcelona Parliament is located inside, as is a zoo, andddd a Real Live Peacock in the wild!!!- which may have escaped from the zoo!

parliament

The beach was superrrr crowded, but still very warm and enjoyable. There were some very annoying sales people on the beach... think those ppl who put your picture in the little telescopes at OCMD--- x 100000. There were people selling tattoos... massages... drinks... food... everything.. every five seconds. I think I was asked if I wanted a massage about 16 million times while we were there.

Now I have officially been in the Mediterranean Sea! yay!! .. I wish the Atlantic was that warm and clear!!