Barcelona

My first impression of Barcelona was ‘get me the hell out of this city!’. The first 12 hours were freaking horrible! The metro system is impossible to understand, hence it took about 2 hours to make it from the airport to our ‘hostel’. Then, on our way up the stairs of the metro when we thought all our troubles were over, some idiot squirted paint all over our backpacks, up my legs and shorts! Not happy Jan!! 

Finally, to top it all off, we rocked up at our ‘hostel’ (and I use this word very loosely) at 11.30pm, to check in at the bar downstairs, before being directed upstairs to the hostel. Let’s just say this is by far the most horrible, depressing and derelict place I have ever stepped foot in! Was more like a brothel/war zone than a hostel! I actually thought I was going to fall straight through the top bunk and kill Kim during the night because the beds were so flimsy and old. We woke up the next morning to something suss being smoked in the hallway, and a ‘breakfast’ that consisted of cheap arsed muffins straight out of a packet. No hot water, not even a kettle or microwave that worked! Ridiculous. After hot footing it and getting our butts out of there in record time, we headed out to Barcelona’s main strip ‘La Rambla’, where there were some funky markets and a cool vibe. Our luck changed when we met our couchsurfing host, Rob from Alabama. Rob is a very well travelled guy, who has previously been working in London and is now in Barcelona, and has done some pretty amazing hiking all over the world. The view from the terrace of his top floor apartment is absolutely stunning, overlooking the Tibidabo (a huge cathedral on the top of the hill out the back of the city which you can see in the below photo), and much of the city of Barcelona.

In our rush to get out of the hostel that morning, Kim had locked her bag and forgot to write down the combination, so at Rob’s we had to do a break and enter into her backpack. Sorry for breaking the lock Kimmie! The next morning we headed to an area of Barcelona where some Gaudi architecture stood. 

The buildings were like something from Lord of the Rings, although the sheer number of tourists was a bit disheartening. So we did an early morning trip back the following morning so Kim could capture the buildings without all the tourists! That day we headed up the hill to Tibidabo (the cathedral). We didn’t have a detailed map, and weren’t entirely sure where we were headed, but knew that if we continued to go up the hill, we would eventually get there. After maybe 2 hours of walking, we popped out onto a road which we followed the rest of the way to the cathedral. The hike up the hill was well worth the effort, with views overlooking the entire city, from the Mediterranean to the mountains surrounding the city. 

We decided that walking up the hill merited us a ride down the hill on the cable car, my feet still have the blisters to prove the hike! Our Lonely Planet guide directed us to a food market just off La Rambla, to find chocolates, nuts, fresh fruit, a huge fresh fish market, meat and yummy fruit juices. I tried the mango and coconut (and the next day the kiwi and coconut) and Kim had banana and coconut & the mango and coconut (a big hit!). Somer, you would have loved this place!

Whilst we were in Barcelona, there was a huge protest in the main square, with hippies and dogs sleeping in the streets and banners hung all over. Rob said that there were elections whilst we were in Barcelona and the Government had been easily defeated. Apparently the hippies were protesting for the Government to do something about the unemployment rate, which is currently around 50% for people under 30. As part of the protests, every night at 9pm people go out onto their balconies and bang pots and pans for 15 minutes. We heard this from Rob’s terrace one night, the sound was echoing up the hill. Rob also took us out for tapas at this cool, cozy little Moroccan inspired restaurant, with tiny child size chairs and such good tapas. We had tortilla with spinach, amazing patatas bravas (these were much better than the ones in Ibiza), meatballs, the patty of a hamburger with rocket and cheese and something else too (can’t remember but all super yummy!). On our last day in Barcelona, we hired bikes and rode all the way along the coast, stopping at some exercise equipment which is perched on the sidewalk, where all the oldies were working out. At one point there was a slight hill, so I decided I was going to take my bike up the escalator’s. It was tougher than it looked, and after 2 escalator’s I had to carry my bike up some more stairs anyway. Defiantly took the hard road! 

For lunch we decided to treat ourselves to a traditional dish of seafood Payella, at a restaurant suggested by Rob. It was a good sign when we couldn’t get a table outside, meaning the food was quality! And it defiantly was! 

The day we left Barcelona, Rob had to catch an early flight back to the U.S., so after closing the door behind us, we headed off to the train station for one of the most broken train trips in history! Going from Barcelona to Nice, we ended up having to change trains at Figures, Montpellier (with a 2 hour stop over) and Marseille. Then to top it all off, we got off at the wrong stop wasted and hour and a half wandering the city carrying 20kg’s of luggage each, before finding the right train stop. We headed down to the beach to a fancy restaurant asking for directions to our next couch surfing hosts home, and had the manager and the boss pulling out a map and the phone, calling our host and getting him come and pick us up! It is amazing how nice and generous people are! So that gets us to Nice….