SPAIN! Beautiful, luminous, incredible Spain! What a fantastic place. It's full of passion and fire and is truly magnificent. Our first stop was in Barcelona, and we immediately fell in love. We stayed at a really great hostel that was just a five minute walk from La Sagrada Familia. The first thing we noticed about Barca, is that everywhere smells like oranges! You get constant whiffs from all the little fruit markets. It is amazing! Even better, you can buy about 20 of these oranges for only 1 euro! (We probably ate 500 in total during our stay.)
Our first day, we ventured out to explore the city. This is a place you can literally spend all day just walking around and looking at everything beautiful surrounding you. I have long been a huge fan of Antoni Gaudi, and Barca is dripping and oozing in him and all his work. He is so prominent in this city, and it's so unbelievable seeing his creations in real life, before your own eyes. Me and B hiked up to Parc Guell, which was BEYOND! So incredibly cool. There is the park area itself, which would have probably been more enjoyable during warmer months, but was still very nice. There is a lookout point that you can stand on and look out over Barca and gaze upon the sea. Spectacular! We also went to the famous street Las Ramblas for a lovely stroll. We gave our taste buds a trip to heaven and back at Mercat de la Boqueria. (A huge, awesome, organic food market). We literally just stopped in the middle of the crowds and simply smelt the air around us. It was the most delightful combination of fresh fruit, artisan breads, dark chocolates, spices, and anything else to make your nose go crazy!
One of the things that made us fall in love with this place (because there were MANY), was the fact it is so colorful and bursting with life. Not to say we don't absolutely adore other European cities, we DO, but if we're being honest, a lot of their color schemes are brown, grey, cream, pastels, etc. And still so beautiful, but something about how artsy Barcelona is in every aspect really just is a delicious feast for the eyes.
We will just tell you all right now; meeting wonderful human beings while traveling is such a great thing. It really does make a place that much more fun and memorable. That being said, in Barcelona we met some Canadians, and Australians who were loads of fun! We also were graced with the presence of our dear friends Bri and Tom. Meeting up in cool cities, with cool friends is FUN. Us four rang in our reunion with pizza and homemade sangria. Yums! We then ended our night, or better said; began our morning, with a pub crawl! (They were free at our hostel, so we all made sure to take full advantage of that!). We pranced from bar to club, danced, laughed and I even got a free samosa at the end of the night! (That a dude dropped for 3.5 seconds on the ground but absolutely refused to eat...I'll take it Ms.Priss!) We all got a good nights sleep and were up and ready for a new, beautiful day in Barca. And oh boy, was it ever beautiful. :)
Since Bri and Tom arrived after me and Bailey did, they hadn't been to Parc Guell yet. We of course had no problemo going again, so up the big hill we trekked! It was the most perfect day. Blue skies, the faintest of breezes and palm trees basking over top oneself. We all made our way to the highest lookout point and as all four of us snuck away from the crowds, the bustle of everyday life; and we were able to immerse ourselves into such a beautiful moment. The city of Barcelona beneath us, the sea as our horizon and nothing but absolutely everything in front of us. Tears of complete, indescribable joy streamed down our faces. It is one of those moments that slips its way into your heart forever.
The next morning Bri and me went on a walking tour (B had to rest her knee) that was all about Gaudi, and his impact on Barcelona. We got to see some of his most famous, gigantic homes he was assigned to design and build, the incredibly cool Casa Battlo, and of course ending at his unfinished masterpiece; Sagrada Familia. Bri and myself were told incredibly interesting facts about the construction, the outside and each facade, but we KNEW we had to see the interior. So off we went with our tickets, our headphones, and one audio guide (so we literally looked like we had each other on a leash). It's funny because right before you step inside, the little voice says "when you are ready...enter." They have that warning for a reason. The second you step inside is like lighting your eyeballs on fire. They burn with sheer desire for what you are gazing at. We looked like we ran into an invisible glass wall; unable to move and our jaws practically dragging on the ground. It is one of the most spectacular things I have ever seen. (And it isn't even complete! Not for 30 more years!)
We then kept the day incredibly exciting by picking up out beloved Bailey and heading to where you may ask? A TATTOO SHOP! Take a wild guess what we did there! :) Our tattoo artist was named Sebastian, who was funny and provided us with rolls of toilet paper to use as pillows. Considerate lad. Us three girls had decided we were wanting to get inked together when in Rome, and Barcelona was the perfect place! Bailey got "Wanderlust" (which means; the desire to travel an understand ones own existence), I got "mad to live" and Bri got "burn, burn, burn" (both from a quote in the book On The Road by Jack Kerouac). So that was pretty exciting!
Bri's last night in Barcelona was spent snuggled up in beanbags and the company of Bailey, Tom and myself. We watched the movie that is so near and dear to all of our hearts; Into The Wild. Goodbyes really suck, but we just know we will see our fellow Canadian comrade sometime and somewhere in this big, beautiful world.
We shared another last day with our other companion, Tom. Except it was the LAST day of his entire EuroTrip, so we decided to make it the most lovely day possible for him. That meant popping the corks of wine bottles in the park facing Sagrada Familia, eating baguettes and sharing conversation completely from the heart. After the bottles were empty, the bread was gone, the words began to slow and the sun began to set, we headed home. Of course his last night had to an absolute blast though, so we put on our prettiest little outfits, met a fabulous couple that go by the names of Riki and Eric and all of us were off! We made our way to a shot bar, that well...nearly killed us. Not really, but close. The place had over 200 different shots, that were nothing of the ordinary! Some were on fire, one involved toasting a marshmallow, and one was so bitter and horrendous I actually contemplated spitting it at the bartender. Of course I didn't! It was definitely a fun experience, with extremely fun people! This is a bit embarrassing to admit, but we stayed three extra days in Barcelona because well, we can be really lazy bums in the morning. We would wake up, be either too hungover or just way too tired to pack, so we would simply book another night and go back to bed for a few hours, before seeing and exploring more of Barca during the day. But yea, it got into a bit of a routine where the front desk would know exactly what we were coming down for, and would just kindly say "Hi darling, go back to sleep." Barcelona was wonderful.
The day we did ACTUALLY-WE-ARE-FOR-REALS-LEAVING-NOW, was spent heading to Madrid. Funny thing about our hostel though. It was called Cat's Hostel. (Us being the huge cat freaks that we are, assumed this place was MEANT for us.) Hmm, not so much. It was our own fault though, our friends DID mention that "whatever you do, do not stay at Cat's!" Sorry, we will pay attention next time guys! Anyways, it was pretty nasty. The interior/chill space was incredibly decorated and very pretty. The rooms were pretty bad though. The mattresses were most likely constructed out of stone, and the pillows were wafer thin. Bailey was stuck on the top bunk, which was situated in the very middle of the room with no walls beside her, and no guard rail on her bed either. So she consistently was petrified she was going to fall out of bed. The bathrooms were a joke too! We each went into the showers, which are just push buttons and really annoying. Mine was absolutely ice cold, which is one of the most terrible things ever. Baileys was piercing her body so hard she could barely stand it. So a blonde and a ginger, one crying and one screaming. Good news about the place though is that we met some super awesome Aussie girls. They have the most cool names ever as well; Ailee and Prudie. Thanks to them, the place was much more bearable!
The thing about Madrid, is that all it is pretty much is tapas and museums, museums and tapas! Nothing wrong with that, it just gets a tad boring at times. So, as you imagine; we walked and ate, and looked and walked and looked some more. The city has beautiful architecture so the walks were lovely, other then the frigid coldness we weren't yet used too! We warmed our chilliness with fresh churro's and melted hot chocolate, right across from a teeny little Christmas Market. It was too die for. Something that good shouldn't even be legal! The next morning we woke up and checked our bank accounts, and well, pretty much realized we had 4 Euros. It was quite the low point, walking to the store and buying a baguette that was to be our breakfast AND lunch. Then, sweet salvation; bank-account-money-transfer-magic-stuff! We of course, went for Pad Thai. (Duh.) We then sauntered over to The Prado Museum, which we wish we had more time in. We were pretty rushed for time and didn't get to see all we would have liked, but what we did see we enjoyed! Especially the sculptures. Trust us, we have seen loads of sculptures on the trip and they still blow our minds every single time. Anyone can pick up a paintbrush and paint; no it might not be good, but anyone can still do it. How many people do you know that can take a huge slab of marble and carve a life size naked woman holding her child while stabbing a knife through her ribs...yea, me neither. Total respect and props to these peeps. In Spain of course you must, must, must have tapas. It would be a sin against the country, and your taste buds, if you left the country without partaking in this awesomeness. We basically just picked five different things off the menu that we had no idea what they would be like, but it paid off. All our little dishes were amazing! Like I said, Madrid is full of museums and The Reina Sofia is most definitely one that cannot be skipped! Me, B, Ailee and Prudie marched our way down to Centro de Arte Reina Sofia. It was really great! Some work from Picasso, Salvador Dali, vintage postcard collections, photographs and a room full of abstract paintings to turn and tilt your head at.
As our Madrid days started unraveling to its end, we couldn't help but keep repeating the phrase "We catch a flight to Paris tomorrow". Doesn't that just have the most lovely ring to it...
Till next time,
M & B
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