The weekend of January 28th, I took my first big weekend trip to Barcelona. Or if you want to pronounce it with an authentic Spanish accent, throw a lisp on it and you have Bar-the-lona. It was one of theeeee best weekends I've had! So much fun!
We left Bilbao on Thursday, January 28th in the morning and got to Barcelona around noon. After getting a little bit turned around on their metro system, we finally arrived at our home for the next four days: Ideal Youth Hostel. Every time I mention to someone that I stayed in a hostel, they immediately think about the scary movie Hostel, but this was nothing like that. The hostel was actually nice. You have a security key card to get into the building and to get past the front desk. On the ground floor, there are computers with internet access and a small kitchen. There are also lots of tables and chairs to eat, hang out, and meet new people (maybe certain Canadians, eh?). There are some people that actually live in the hostels for months instead of getting an apartment!
Katie, Val, Morgan, Brittany, Ish, and I all stayed in one room together, which was great for security since we didn't have to worry about creepy roommates digging in our stuff. Nonetheless, my momma taught me well and I had a lock for every zipper on my bag and I brought a bike lock to chain my bag to the bed. My stuff was not going anywhere! The room was really clean too. They give you a new pack of sheets when you check-in and every day you have to leave the rooms from 11:30 am until 1:30 pm so they can clean them.
Baby's first hostel!
We declared our first day as "Gaudí Day" and decided to look at all of the Gaudí touristy things in the city. First stop: Parc Güell. This was my favorite part of Barcelona. It's a large park completely designed by Gaudí. Originally. It was supposed to be a new residential area, but it was way too ahead of its time so no one bought into it. But it's beautiful with a lot of different areas.
While walking through Parc Güell, I saw an area that looked familiar but I couldn't place my finger on it... Then I realized it's the location where they filmed the season finale of America's Next Top Model when Caridee won! So, I of course I HAD to channel my inner Tyra, smile with my eyes, and hit a fierce pose.
Sandra Fierce Goes To Barcelona
Our next stop was Sagrada Familia. This is a church that was designed by Gaudí that has been under construction for like 100 years. They are hoping to finish it in 2036. Once you see it, you understand why it's still not done: it's HUGE and really ornate:
We were going to go into Sagrada Familia, but that 10 euro ticket price was a little too steep for our taste. The view from outside was amazing anyway.
After Sagrada Familia, we went back to our hostel on Las Ramblas. Las Ramblas is one of the most well known streets in Barcelona. There are a lot of street vendors and performers. And by performers I mean people who dress up and stand on the streets, hoping you will pay to take a picture with them. Like these people who I did not pay:
Las Ramblas is also known for being a little shady (like the transvestite prostitute on our corner at night and the men trying to sell us "sexy beer") with lots of pickpocketing. (Luckily, none of the people I was with had anything stolen, but 4 other people from my program who went to Barcelona that same weekend had their wallets stolen.) But aside from that, Las Ramblas is right in the middle of everything so it was a good location to live by.
You can buy chickens and other "pets" on Las Ramblas!
After taking a nice Spanish siesta, we went to see the Columbus statue at the end of Las Ramblas and later had yummy paella for dinner.
I will be cooking this when I get back... Stay tuned...
Later that night, we hung out in 108 Ideal Youth Hostel aka THE place to be and we were joined by Stevie.
On Friday, we visited one of Barcelona's cathedrals in the morning. After wandering around, we began the hard task of finding Alicia who had just arrived that morning. (Apparently she looks like a terrorist because a police officer stopped her on the street and asked her for her passport.) On Friday, we also went to Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria, a market off Las Ramblas in Barcelona. It's a huge market where you can find pretty much any food item you could think of: fruits, vegetables, bread, meat, fish, etc. It was really cool, but I definitely could have done without the moving seafood and whole pigs hanging.
*Almost* makes you not want to eat pork...
Later on Friday, we wanted to go see Montjuic, the Magic Fountain in Barcelona. We heard that there is a show on Friday nights where they play Disney music. While waiting for the show later that night, we went up the Funicular which takes you to the top of a mountain in Barcelona where we saw some great views of the city. You can easily spot Sagrada Familia in the landscape.
We also found the Olympic Stadium used for the 1992 Olympics which was beautiful around sunset.
We thought this was something special like the Olympic Torch. Nope! Just an antenna
The girls
After a lot of walking, we found out that the fountain was closed for maintenance! :( But that gave us time to go back to the hostel and relax before partying at Opium. It was a nice club off the beach in Barcelona with its fair share of creepers and boring Go-Go dancers who had to rest after each song. Other than that, good times.
Substitute fountain since Montjuic was closed
Bustin' out the old school moves
See... creepers. They made me take a picture of them...
The next day, we went to the Picasso Museum. There was a strange erotic exhibit going on while we were there, but the rest of the museum was really interesting. It was a lot of Picasso's lesser-known paintings from when he was a child until his death. After the museum, we went to lunch, took our siesta (we are acclimating to the culture very well!), and cooked our own dinner using things we bought from the market.
Family dinner in Ideal Youth Hostel
Yum!
Saturday night, we went to one Barcelona's famous shot bars. They have all sorts of crazy shots that you can take like Harry Potter, Casper, El Duende Verde (Green Goblin), Buenas Noches (Good Night), etc. The coolest one was the Boy Scout. The bartender lights the bar and the shots on fire, gives you a marshmallow, and you roast the marshmallow.
The bartender was my fave - he gave me extra marshmallows. After the bar, some random nice guy took us to a nightclub and we were able to cut the line and get in for free. VIP? Why thank you sir!
For some reason this guy thought I didn't know how to roast a marshmallow. No, I'm taking a picture!
The bartender was my fave - he gave me extra marshmallows. After the bar, some random nice guy took us to a nightclub and we were able to cut the line and get in for free. VIP? Why thank you sir!
My fave bartender
Katie and me
Sunday morning, we went in search of the Sardana. It is a traditional dance in the Cataluña region of Spain and every Sunday, there is a square where people gather to do the dance. Once we found the right plaza for the Sardana, we saw one little circle of people dancing. That circle grew, then new circles started all over the place. We wanted to join in, but we were a little too enthusiastic and our attempts at the Sardana ended with an old lady shouting "Silencio!" at us. Maybe next time...
This little girl was so cute
After all of this, we were all dead tired after a long but extremely fun weekend. We ate and headed to the airport to return to our home in País Vasco. It was a great weekend though with a lot of memories of great scenery, good food, hilarious quotes ("I like black girls, eh?"), random song breaks ("Is that a challenge?" "Yes."), and other things that I'll keep between myself and the great people of 108 Ideal Youth Hostel... :)
- Kassandra
