So basically we spent every day at the beach because the weather is just so gorgeous. I was still sick at the beginning of the trip but I think by the end the warm weather knocked my cold out of me. Erin has been great, she speaks Spanish fluently so I don’t think we could have survived without her. We decided one afternoon to go on a catamaran boat ride because Rosie did it last year and said it was amazing. We found an evening boat ride with a jazz musician, and it was a highlight of the trip. We sat out in front where the water splashes up on you, and just enjoyed the ride. There were two bachelor parties on the boat at the same time. Some of my friends were surrounded by the one from Manchester but Alicia, Rosie and I were with the one from Italy. Donatello, the groom to be, became my new best friend, connecting straws together for me so that I had one really long one for my sangria. Haha. I don’t speak any Italian but I have found it really fun to try to talk to people who speak other languages because you have to find other more expressive ways to communicate. Maybe all Italians never understand each other and that’s why they all use their hands?We went exploring on Las Ramblas and discovered a huge market right off of it. I have never seen so much food in my life. Alicia and I wound up spending way too many euros on chocolate but oh well, chocolate is never a bad thing. We hit up a flea market at the end of the day and got some great gifts for our friends and families. I got my roommates handmade bracelets and this really cool drum/instrument thing in a coconut for my dad. I don’t know what I think he’ll love it but he will. On the way back we passed the different artists in the street and I wound up buying my first piece of art! I passed this guy a million times and I decided it was something I really wanted. It’s an acrylic scene of an alley in Barcelona, but on a rainy day, and even though it didn’t rain while I was there it reminded me of my time there.
In our hostel there was an ‘International Stencil Convention” which when I got back from the beach one day I found meant that all these graffiti artists had come and spray painted the roof of our hostel. These compositions were out of control, I couldn’t believe I missed watching them do it. Lucky for me Rachel got some cool pictures of them in action.
On our last day there Alicia and I went up to see the Sagrada Familia, the Gaudi Church. It was immense, and although we didn’t go in (there was lots of construction) the outside was enough. Then we went to Park Guell, Gaudi’s park that he designed. There was mosaic tile covering every inch, with trees twisting to the sky, and caves curling in on themselves. It was unreal. I could have spent the whole day there but we had to get back to catch our plane home.
Unfortunately the trip home did not go as smoothly as it did going. Laurel got pick-pocketed on the way to the airport, and once we all went to check in we found that Laurel and Alex were not on our plane and they were going to have to stay in Girona and leave the next day. Ugh. So we sadly said goodbye to our friends and then waited for our delayed flight to leave. We got into London’s Stansted so late that we missed our bus back to central London and had to pay for a different bus and then take a cab and collapse in our beds when we got home.
Barcelona to me felt very authentic, and I hope I have the chance to go back because I was really happy there.
(The pictures are of our Jazz musician on the catamaran ride, Alicia, Rosie and I on the boat, the market off Las Ramblas, The ridiculous graffiti on the roof of our hostel, the Sagrada Familia church and pictures from Park Guell.)
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