Spain, BArcelona

It was a relief to be finished with Italy to be honest. A very disappointing country on the whole. Polluted, not very friendly locals and too hot. Arriving in Barcelona was like a breath of fresh air. It was cooler, cleaner, the people were way more interesting and friendly. When you attempt speaking Spainish they will have a conversation with you etc. First thing we noticed was the buildings were cleaner, fresher looking and the streets were wider and more open. The claustrophobia lifted and we all felt quite elated. We spent the afternoon napping and chilling out. We had an apartment so it felt great to be able to cook pour own dinner. At about9pm we ventured out to Las Ramblas which is the famous walking street in Barcelona. It was beautiful to walk down, full of life and some really great buskers. We watched a group of young guys doing the most incredible acrobatic/gymnastic stunts which climaxed with one of the guys leaping across 5 adults who were about 6 foot tall. So he jumped higher than 6 foot and longer than the length of 5 people standing in a row. Amazing. I liked Spain already.


4th august

We basically spent the day wandering Barcelona. On Las Ramblas during the day is the most incredible fresh produce market. They had the most beautiful Summer fruits arranged like something from Disney land. Seafood was eq1ually amazing and the meat selections were somewhat disturbing even for me as an omnivore. They sold whoel animals, like rabbits with their heads and eyes in, skinned. Pigs etc. Massive cows tongues, pigs trotters anything you could name they sold it dead and skinned. Made my stomach turn a bit.
The only thing that was a b it disappointing was the tapas. We had been told that tapas in Spain was a cheap kind of bar disht that you had with drinks and was often free. Nope they have cottoned on and are charging 5 euros for a plate with 3 deep fried prawns on it. Luckily you can buy fresh prawns for 10 euro a kilo at the market and we made an amazing homemade paella complete with nearly a kilo of prawns and a bottle of wine for 14 euro in total. Great feast. We wandered along the beach and the marina etc.

I was excited to be trying out some of my Spanish. Even though they speak Catilan in Barcelona they still understand Spanish. Just from reading signs etc it was easy to see that catilan is actually very different from Spanish.

5th AUGUST

First thing was another trip to the market to indulge in some amazing fresh juice. They sold pure raspberry juice for 2 thing I have ever tasted I think. So good. Then we made our way to the Gaudi Cathedral. Finally a Catholic Church in Europe that doesn’t look like all the rest (can anyone tell I am over old buildings yet especially the religious ones???). But this Cathedral was an exception. Where crucifixes would have been on other churches this cathedral had colourful bowls of fruit. Above the main entrance was a massive green tree with white doves in it. Its still under construction and so we didn’t bother going in. The outside colours look like they have faded a lot though. It was an awesome building nonetheless.

Next we made it to Barcelona beach. I was particularly delighted to find that it looked like some kind of fairy troupe had dropped mountains of glitter into the sea. Literally you could cup your hands in the water and come out covered in massive flecks of gold glitter. It was really beautiful. Despite the beauty the water was freezing cold. Considering it was in the mid 30s outside I didn’t expect to be shivering in the water.

We worked up a massive appetite and went for a 3 course meal on Las Ramblas. The choices were fairly basic but tasted great- I had meat balls with rice and potatos but they spiced everything up so it worked really well. Garlic and cheese soup and fruit for dessert. Not bad way to end the day.