A Warm, Tropical Paradise: Travel break part 1.5 (BARCELONA!)

We set out Tuesday night for the next part of our Euro-trip: Barcelona. It's a good thing that we had an awesome time in Barcelona, because it sure was quite an experience getting there! Being penny pinchers, throughout the trip (and semester) we have been booking the most inexpensive flights and hostels we could find, which is how we ended up flying on RyanAir.  They might be cheap and my sense of security was questionable on board, but they should not be underestimated –they are a clever little airline and manage to compensate for money lost in airfare by gate-checking a majority of the passengers trying to carry on their luggage. Passengers are only allowed to carry on one thing (no extra handbag this time) and the bag must be a certain size and weigh no more than 10 kg. Most of the time, you can bypass these restrictions, but not on RyanAir. They will catch you. We knew it was going to be a tight squeeze for all of us. I ended up checking mine due to the large handle on my suitcase that would prevent it from fitting into the box they use to measure. Ryan Air: 1, Christine: 0. When we got to the check in counter, my friends put their bags on the scale for their fate to be determined. After seeing the weight, everyone frantically ripped open their suitcases in the middle of the airport, and started putting every article of clothing they could on themselves. Emily even bought the ultimate Madrid tourist bag in an airport shop that I ended up using as a carry on to hold any excess items. After several unsuccessful weigh in’s, we were all set! By this point, Caroline looked like she was about 9 months pregnant, with twins and Lexi, like she enjoyed those Danish pastries a little too much. She was wearing two belts, multiple shirts and a dress and had an umbrella hanging from her waist. I wore my purse on my back, underneath two jackets so that I could carry on the Madrid bag. Oh, and everybody had their jacket sleeves completely stuffed with clothes, which made walking difficult –and this was before security! It’s a good thing that RyanAir is a pretty unreliable airline and was delayed a good two hours, so we had plenty of time to make it to the gate at the other end of the airport. Our efforts paid off though, and we made it onto the plane (drenched in sweat) without anybody having to pay the dreadful 60 euros at the gate. When we immediately started stripping off the excess layers when we found our seats, we got a few funny looks from people and some applause from others. Well played, girls.

We arrived at our hostel at around 2:00 am, exhausted. All we could think about was falling asleep, even if in a crappy hostel. We were staying in the Lenin hostel (yes, as in Soviet Union, communist Lenin) and were welcomed by a nice picture of him immediately upon entering. Nothing gives off homey vibes like a big picture of Lenin in the foyer. The receptionist, who we nicknamed Strega Nona, did not speak English. We may have been half asleep, yet we somehow managed to check in completely in Spanish.  I guess we must have gotten good practice in Madrid. 

Unfortunately, the weather in Barcelona wasn’t ideal for spring break- cold and rainy until the day we left. All of us packed about one pair of jeans, and the rest of our wardrobe consisted of shorts, sundresses, and all of our cute spring outfits that hadn’t gotten any use in Denmark yet. We had been checking the weather daily for the week leading up to the trip, and even though all sites said 100% chance of showers, we were still convinced that it “never rains in Spain.” So, we were forced to tough it out. The first day, we did a bike tour through the city in the pouring rain. We were soaked from head to toe, and subsequently stunk up the hostel room with our damp clothes and wet Sperry’s. We also had the pleasure to take some refreshing cold showers at the Lenin hostel that turned off in the middle of shampooing (I literally showered with a dripping handheld faucet). Later that afternoon, we checked out Las Ramblas, which is a famous street in the city with lots of street vendors and a big outdoor market that sells great fruits and veggies, meat, fish, and chocolates –and cow tongues, hearts, and stomachs (how appetizing!). It wasn’t until a few days later (when the sun finally came out) that we realized the actual Las Ramblas was a lot bigger once all of the stands were set up! That night, we headed to one of the pubs in the city to watch some soccer matches  (Barcelona wasn’t playing, so we watched Madrid –huge rivalry!) and enjoy some Spanish sangria, which is delicious!

The second day in Barcelona was not any drier and we had to dodge in and out of shelter to hide from the rain showers. We were hoping to enjoy our lunch and have a picnic in the park, but the weather ruined this plan. The alternative? We ended up eating in the parking garage of an apartment complex. Later, we headed to Parque Guell, which is an amazing park designed by Antonio Guadi, who was a famous architect in Barcelona. Fun fact: Gaudi died by getting hit by a tram in Barcelona. I told you those things were dangerous! He also designed the church, Segrada Familia, Barcelona’s most visited tourist attraction, which we saw on the bike tour. Personally, I thought the park was way cooler. Most of his structures are wavy, and since you can’t put tile on a curved surface, he uses a lot of mosaic in his designs. Even though it was raining, we had a blast trekking to the top of the mountain and exploring the park.

As usual, this blog post would not be complete if I didn’t talk about the food for a little bit. Heading into our trip to Spain, I think it’s safe to say that all of us had the wrong idea about Spanish cuisine. Deep down, I think we all knew that Spanish and Mexican food are quite different from each other, but the only thing on our minds were tacos, burritos, and nachos. So, we found tacos, burritos, and nachos (I think they have a lot of Mexican restaurants there to cater to all of the Americans who come to Spain thinking that they will be eating Mexican food). We figured trying paella was pretty Spanish of us and I also got a few ham sandwiches for lunch, which is pretty popular in Spain apparently. I have to admit though, they made some pretty darn good burritos!

On our final day in Barcelona, the weather started to clear up a bit and we took advantage of the random periods of sunshine. We started the day with a tour of Gaudi’s Casa Batló, which was just a few blocks away from our hostel. It is such a cool building, and was totally worth the splurge! A family used to live there, and I think it would be a little strange for that to be your house but pretty neat too because it has the very typical Guadi-like designs throughout the house. I thought the coolest part of it was the stairwell. The house was a few stories high, and you could look all the way down as you were climbing. He also designed it so that when natural light hits the tiles, they appear different shades of blue as you climb towards the top. It’s pretty genius if you ask me!

We also took a walk along the water and checked out the port area of the city. It is absolutely beautiful – “a tropical paradise” as Kelly would say (although, it’s not exactly tropical…but close enough compared to Copenhagen!). It was so nice to see everyone outside eating ice cream and enjoying the weather. A few degrees warmer, and I would have put on my bathing suit and went for a swim! (The bathing suit never got used on the trip unfortunately…what a waste of luggage space!).

  We ended the day by hiking up to the top of Mount Montijuic. It is a beautiful area, and has a really pretty view of the city. I think Barcelona is such a cool city because you have all different types of terrain there. The city itself is so unique, and is surrounded by mountains on either side, but it also has a beautiful beach area down by the water. What more could you ask for? It’s also pretty interesting to me that no matter what city you travel to in Europe, they all have their own feel and are completely different. At the top of the mountain, we went on a mission to find the Olympic Stadium that was used in the 1992 Barcelona Games. We found a random track early on in our hike, and our first instinct was, “that’s it!” After looking a little closer though, I decided that it looked like an abandoned high school track and that it must have been a huge disappointment to make it all the way to the Olympics and have to run on track that even Neshaminy could trump. A little while later on our walk, we found the real Olympic arena. The area was huge and the decorations and fountains leading up to it are awesome. The stadium is still used today for a lot of concerts and sports events. We even came across a group of crazy tweens who were celebrating the one year anniversary of Justin Beiber performing in Barcelona. Wow. That night, we had a “grocery store” dinner, and ate it while watching the Magic Fountain of Montijuic. The Magic Fountain is an enormous fountain in front of the palace.

Every few nights, they have a water show complete with background music. . It wasn’t dark yet, so we didn’t get to see the water change colors, but it was still pretty cool…plus, it was free! We got a lot of funny looks from people as we ate and a group of girls was even laughing at us. We thought picnicking as we watched the show was totally normal, but I guess not in Spain! It was a great end to an amazing trip. Later, we even got a chance to meet up with some other Gettysburg friends who had just arrived in Barcelona that evening as a stop on their travel break.

I wish I could have stayed a little longer in Barcelona and explored the surrounding areas. I think it is my favorite city that I have been to so far. If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend you go. My friends left early in the morning on Saturday to head to their next destination. I had a flight much later in the day back to Copenhagen to meet up with my family for the second week of travel break. I went for a run to kill some time before I had to get to the airport, and of course the weather was absolutely gorgeous!  As for now, I think I need to get back to writing my paper that I’ve been procrastinating on for the past month. I’ll update with the second week as soon as I can! Hope all is well in the States. I miss everyone!