Barcelona

View of Spain!

FINALLY we make it to Spain! And better yet…to Barcelona! A city we have been excited for! The first thing we see as we arrive on the bus…a butt ass naked dude walking around in the middle of town! That’s when we heard about the legendary “Elephant Man” who lives in Barcelona! 0o0o what a great first impression! We arrive on a Saturday stupidly without booking accommodation! Busabout always tries to book for you if they can…but the hostels they have connections with are all booked out! I overheard 2 other girls saying they were stuck too…so we buddied up and tried to find something together! We decide to try out a hotel figuring it might be cheap to share a room! The front desk guy immediately says GOODLUCK! EVERYWHERE is booked this weekend…its the “European Championships” …oooo GREAT! So we call about 5 different places who are all booked and it’s looking like we’re going to be pulling an all-nighter! The guy calls a couple places for us and finds us a hostel that’s 30 euros a night each! WE’ll take it!! We get private rooms – And its as cheap as we were going to get in a dorm room at the other hostel anyway! So newly excited…and showered…we get ready for a big night out on the town…the town known for its clubs!

Night out!

We actually have no idea where we’re going…but end up in a bustling plaza with what looks like lots of bars and clubs. We end up being persuaded into going to Razzmatazz with some promoter guy, which is apparently one of the best clubs in Barcelona! It was pretty massive with each floor acting as a different club…playing different music and emitting different vibes. It was packed, and the bottom floor was definitely the best! We danced the night away before deciding to head home around 5:00am! WOAH! late night for Brad and me! Can’t believe we lasted that long!

Sandy beaches!

We hit the beach the next day! Massive beachfront, SAND sand and more SAND!! Yay finally…we can run into the ocean and not have cut up feet or worry about diving into a rock! The only thing that sucked was we heard about pickpockets being notorious in Barcelona..so we didn’t swim together…so someone could always be with the bag!

Gemma and her delicious Paella!

Next it was off to our CouchSurfers place in Castedefelldes…a cute town just outside of Barcelona! We stayed with Gemma and her cute black cat Leo! She was super nice and cooked us Paella AND a Spanish Omelet! We basically just chilled out and had lots of great convo with her! While we were there, we got a message from Alan, who we worked with at LansDowne telling us that his younger sister was in Barcelona and we should hook up! We friended each other and immediately made plans to meet for a movie in the park! So off we went into Barcelona again!

The Sagrada Familia was our first touristy landmark and it was beautiful!! Huge and really Gothic looking…but STILL being built! It is projected to be finished in 2025 but nobody in Spain seems to believe that! We decided we MUST try some local Spanish Sangria while enjoying a view of this beautiful cathedral! One litre for only 6 euros! Woo hoo!

Sagrada Familia

Shannon was easy to spot…an outgoing pretty blonde bubbly American! and Hilarious! The movie was at a park outside of a huge fortress! We all packed dinner and wine, had a picnic and listened to a live Spanish band before the movie started! The movie…haha was a Japanese film with Spanish subtitles! Whoops…sucks for us! It was about a Cello player who got fired from the symphony orchestra and got a new job as a make-up artist for dead people. BUT weirdly…i understood almost the whole movie and even got emotional! It was a really nice night though, and one of the best parts was during the walk down… we found slides that took you from one level to the other! YAY!!

Outdoor Theatre!

Shannon amazingly found us a place to crash for the next 4 days!! Thank god! We really hadn’t seen everything we wanted to in Barcelona but had to leave Gemma’s the next day! Ouali’s (pronounced Wally) place was right in the center of town and we crashed on the futon! Then Shannon walked us around town and we checked out the Gaudi buildings! Super super cool! He must have been on crazy drugs because his designs are all over the place! The line was outrageous to get in so we decided to take a stroll down Las ramblas….the craziest gypsies-loving pick-pocketing central street in Spain! But…SO so fun to walk down! The most AMAZING street performers ever and just an overwhelming sensation to all your senses!

Being silly!

Shannon took us through the famous markets, the St. Joseph La Boqueria! It had everything from fruit, to fish, to ham legs to candy and delicious fruit juices…which we all treated ourselves to!

Market smoothies!

That worked up our appetite, so we walked to this tiny little place along the water that sells Bocadillos FILLED with anything you want for 3 euros! Best deal and biggest sandwich we have seen in a while! THANKS Shannon! We went back the next day too! We parted ways at that point and that was when it happened! I go… OH…MY…GOOOODDD! And Brad thinks i have just witnessed a murder when he looks over and sees it too…. the ELEPHANT MAN!!! He has a tattoo of a speedo on him…but really he is walking around completely naked with this massive…elephant trunk…flopping around between his legs! It must have been gravity but i’ve never seen anything like it in my life! SO…that was that! hahaha

The next few days we spent roaming around, spending time at the beach and checking out the sites! We heard about this famous hole-in-the-wall restaurant where you get cava (sparkling wine) for 1 or 2 euros! We were walking around forever when we finally found it down a dark alley and when we stepped in…BAM it was PACKED!! We could barely even make our way to the bar and when we got there…had NO IDEA what to order! I asked someone next to me what they were eating and thats what we ordered! It was delicious, cheap, dirty and fun!

Cava bar!

One of the last places we saw and LOVED was Guell park! Same Gaudi dude…crazy art! It was amazing…Brad and I always love the parks and natural stuff over museums…but this was art in a park! You could hike to the top where this massive cross was that overlooked the entire city! It was kind of scary because this massive storm was coming, and here we were at the highest point around us! While we were walking around i got this strange feeling like i was in a scene from Jurassic Park! I started to bring it up to Brad and he said the exact same thing before i even opened my mouth! WEIRD…!

Feel like we are in Jurassic Park!

And so we wrapped up our time in Spain at a friends barbeque with Shannon! It was cool to see how the locals do it before we hit up Las Ramblas to see the craziness at night! We love love LOVED Barcelona! It was beautiful, crazy, fun!