Andrea and I went without agenda, our only purpose to meet up with some of her friends there and enjoy the city together. I did have a few things in mind that I wanted to see, but mostly I wanted to relax and soak everything in. I expected a lot since I had heard so many great things about Barcelona, but my expectations were fully met, even exceeded!
The first thing we did when we arrived Thursday night was meet up with Andrea’s friends, a young married couple from her church back home. We shared a hostel with them while we there, the best place I’ve stayed in throughout all my travels, nice and cozy, set up just like a small apartment. That night we walked around the city a bit before getting dinner and then going to bed to wake up early the next day to explore.
We set out Friday morning without any plans, just walking around to see what Barcelona had to offer. It made me happy just to walk around, experiencing the grandiosity of the city which reminded me of walking around Paris or Madrid—so big that it would be impossible to explore the entire city even in a week. We went to the center of the city where the streets were lined with the most fashionable clothing stores and small, expensive boutiques. It was fun to see it walk around, only window shopping, of course, because I couldn’t afford any of it! As we continued walking we stumbled upon a Dalí museum in the middle of all the shops and I was more than pleased! We looked around there for a while, and then continued shopping throughout the city.
Another exciting discovery, almost at the same level as the Dalí museum, was Starbucks! That day I finally was able to satisfy my craving for a good cup of Starbuck’s chai latte, which I hadn’t had since I came to Spain. It was my first cup of Starbucks in over 3 months, and I was so excited I couldn’t leave without getting a picture! It felt like home just to walk in and smell the familiar smell of bitter coffee grinds and sweet pastries—that smell that sticks to your clothes after leaving the store, the lingering reminder of time well-spent in good conversation with close friends. It made me a bit homesick and really excited to catch up with all my friends when I come home. I noticed in this Starbucks that they served most of the coffee drinks in mugs instead of only paper cups. I think the culture allows for this here more than in America. Spaniards go to a coffee shop expecting to spend a lot of time there without any other agenda. In fact, it’s almost impossible to find a place that serves coffee or other food to go in Spain. I’ve found one, a more Americanized place coffee shop in Granada, that does. But it’s the only one. At first I found this rather inconvenient, but I’ve grown fond of the relaxed way of life here. I think Americans could learn a lot from it.
Starbucks! mi amor.
Anyway, as we continued walking around we encountered bands of almost every style of music in almost every plaza throughout the city. We would stop and listen for a while, watching the old men who danced to the songs that really set their feet a tappin’. The guy in this picture was having lots of fun with the music!
We eventually found our way to La Rambla, the most famous street in Barcelona, which led us to the port at the edge of the city. It was nice to see water, and I wished we could have spent some time on the beach! We walked along the water for a while before making our way back to the center of the city, where we made our final stop at the Cathedral of Barcelona. We walked through and admired one of the prettiest cathedrals I’ve seen in since I’ve been in Spain. (And I’ve been in far too many!)
The port at Barcelona me, Brandon, Regina, Andrea outside of a cathedral
That night we went to a Spanish guitar show in a cathedral and watched an apartently well-known Spanish guitarist play a set of his own version of songs written by others. We went back and forth between staring with our mouths gaping in awe and trying to keep our heads from nodding backward in sleep. It was amazing music, but a little too relaxing!
The next day I got up by myself to see a few more sights while the others slept in. I went to the Sagrada Familia (a cathedral designed by Dahlí which is still being built) and then the Picasso Museum. These were my favorite things to see while we stayed in Barcelona and well worth the lost sleep. :-)
the Sagrada Familia
I met up with the others a little bit later for lunch at a restaurant that took way longer than we expected, and made us anxious with fear of missing our plane back to Granada! We got out of there as soon as we could, ran to our hostel to grab our things, then to the metro, and transfered to the train which finally took us to the airport. We arrived only to find out that our terminal was on the farthest end of the airport and took off running as fast as we could, dragging our luggage and dogging the crowds the entire way. We finally arrived, huffing and puffing like we had just ran a 6-minute mile, only to find out we were 10 minutes too late to recieve our boarding passes (even though our plane was still there), and no amount of convincing would get them into our hands! After we stood around frustrated for a while, contemplating all of our options (maybe we could take off for Paris for a day...?) we finally decided on an overnight, 12-hour train ride back to Granada. Ironically, this turned out to be one of the most fun experiences of the trip!
Since the train was overnight, we decided to get our own room with four beds so we would be able to sleep. We saw this as a new and exciting experience for all of us, taking an optomistic view on our misfortune with the plane. It turned out to be even more fun than we expected! We bought snacks to take with us to make it through the night, watched a movie on Brandon's iMac and finally decided to make a movie of our own! We made it a horror movie and turned Brandon into a creepy conductor and us 3 girls into the ditzes of the typical horror film. I adopted a British accent to add something a little different to the video. It turned out to be a pretty profesional-looking film after Brandon edited it on his computer and we all enjoyed it (even though I tragically died in the end of the film). We finally decided to go to bed at about 5 a.m. before arriving in Granada at 8! If you have facebook, you can view the video online, but I'll try and figure out how I can get it on here too...
on the train!
The entire trip was certainly an adventure we will never forget! I know for sure that whenever I come back to Spain I will definitely take another trip up to Barcelona. It now ranks as one of the top favorite cities I've ever visited. :-)look at more pictures: www.picasaweb.google.com/kyla.snow
No comments:
Post a Comment