Barcelona

Hello sun.

Hello beach.

Hello hot weather.

Hello Barcelona and Spain!

Barcelona Beach

I think that I’ve found another ‘wish list’ place to live.
After a little panic at the airport in London thinking that we were going to have to pay an extra 80+ Euros because our bags were over weight, we whittled them down from 18.3 and 17.6 to 15.1 and 15.3 respectively. Pretty good even though our carry on was now heavier. We were very excited to be back in Europe on the euro and in some consistently good weather.

 

Barcelona was our first stop in Spain and like all other cities in Europe the public transport was awesome so we found our accommodation for the next 6 nights easily. We really enjoyed our crisp Estrella beer that night. Our apartment was great. Easy location for travel in and out of the city, a nice little balcony where we ate our meals  but my favorite relax spot during our many siestas was the Hammock that you could hook up in the lounge room. I fell asleep there a couple of times a few with a book and a beer. 

Me Relaxing on the Hammock (yes with a can of Estrella)

We started our first day by walking around the busy La Rambla. We were greeted with annoying guys trying to sell you a whistling thing hidden in their mouth, lots of souvenirs stores with ‘I heart Barcelona’ t-shirts, sunburnt English tourists and some very impressive human statues with huge golden wings or silver robes. At almost every store they sell Barcelona Football Club Jerseys. Home colours, away colours and alternate colours with Messi #10 or Neymar Jr printed on the back. The amount of people wearing the Barcelona jersey was crazy, maybe 1 in 20 people! I even saw a Grandma in a wheelchair with the home jersey on.

Onto the Barceloneta beach, where 1000's of beach goers filled the sand with tanned bodies, red bodies, colourful umbrellas and an assortment of towels. We found out that the sand is actually imported from Egypt once a year and has been since the preparations for the 1992 Olympics.

Barceloneta Beach

We saw all the cool sites like the Barcelona port, the ins and outs of the Gothic quarter, Cathedrals, arty stuff , statues, memorials, markets, the Arc de Triomf and heard heaps of history that went in one ear and out the other on our walking tour. The most breath taking was the Sagrada Familia an ever-changing church that is never finished. We also went to check out the 1992 Olympic and sporting area where we found this cool rock climbing tunnel where people were just ‘hanging’ around.

The port.

Sagrada Familiar

Rock climbing tunnel

It was also cool to learn about the Catalan culture, which is very different to that of Southern Spain. They have their own language, flag, customs and are still having referendums for independence, even though Spain would never allow it. We also learnt that Catalans are obsessed with bowel movements, with a  doll called a caganer, depicting different famous people 'pooing', being a popular tourist souvenir.

Night life was really fun. One night we caught up with Carlie, an Australian who we worked with in Tallinn. A night out with Carlie is never a quiet one and we tasted Barcelona’s nightlife with a couple of bars and a shot bar with over 500 shots. Some of my favourites were campfire and Bob Marely. On another night Leah had researched some hidden bars for us to try. We started off at a 1 euro tapas bar and ended up drinking with a Columbia and a Peruvian. Very random night and very hung over the next day. 

RSA? Nar. The Campfire shot where you have to toast a marshmallow in the flame before taking your shot

On our beach day we caught a train about 30 minutes north of Barcelona to a beach called Ocata. Beautiful calm blue waters, hot sand, topless sun bathers, families, friends playing games, people reading books and guys walking through selling cold drinks and sunglasses. The whole all day we didn't hear a word of English and it was a nice feeling being away from the hustle of tourists and relaxing somewhere where the locals hang out.

Octava Beach

We caught the sunrise our last morning during our compulsory “run in every city”. A nice early start so the weather wasn’t too hot to run in got us down to the beach perfect timing for the sun to rise. 

Sunrise

Next on our travels is Valencia.

- Arvi