Vicki,Cristina,Barcelona

***** This is an old post from April that I never got around to posting.  As you can see my last post was in April and well we're now in August... Yeah I'm only 4 months late. But I've been so busy and as you can see when I write posts they're quite long so I never have time to write/finish them that same day. I know I said I was going to post everything that was going on with my life in Paris, but instead of writing I got a bit busy with enjoying my time in Paris and therefore never really had time to post all my stuff. However, I in the following days I will continue posting the other posts I never got around to doing so when they should've been posted lol. So I'm just letting you know so you don't feel confused****

I went to Barcelona!! My first trip outside of France and I am so happy I got to go see this beautiful city. It's crazy to think how after only four days I had gotten so used to being there and seeing the same people in the hostel, that when we had to leave it felt so weird. It felt as if we were leaving behind good old friends. I was so sad leaving specially because I just thought about how who know’s if I’ll ever get the chance to go back to this beautiful city. Just thinking about not ever being able to come back, how this might be the only time I visit Barcelona...well I felt very strange, I cant describe the feeling. Have you ever thought about how if you visit a place, for example Bali, or China, how you might never ever be back? How if you didn’t enjoy your trip to the fullest, you might never get a chance to do so again? I’ve been lucky enough to travel and I've never thought about this, and I don’t know what made me think this way on this trip, but its quite a sad thought realizing how that might be the first and last time you see a place (if you really like the city)...

My friend and I left on April 13th (yes, I took an airplane on a Friday 13th and survived!) morning and got to Barcelona around 10am. It took us like an hour to find our hostel but finally found it in the end after asking like 10 people for directions (thankfully I can speak Spanish, it made things so much easier). For our first day we took it quite easy, we didn't do any major sightseeing. One of the first things that surprised me though was how everything was written in Catalan (language spoken by all of Catalonia)  and not in Castellano (Spanish). I knew that people always told me that in Barcelona they spoke a different language and that it wasn't exactly part of Spain because it was a separate community, but since I never really understood this I never really paid much attention to it. In fact I had even forgotten about this, that on my way there I was so happy that I was going to be able to understand everything but to my surprise all the metro signs, names etc were in Catalan. It is very similiar to spanish but it is more like french, a mix of both. So in a way I was still able to understand since I speak both languages. So if you are planning a trip to Barcelona and you only speak spanish, don't worry everybody speaks spanish so if you need to ask questions don't be scared. In fact besides the fact that all the signs are in Catalan you would've thought that they didn't speak Catalan, all I hear was spanish.
Okay so moving on... The first place we went to go visit was a Mexican restaurant my dad had told me to go check out because it is owned by   a famous Mexican soccer player. I know, I was in Spain and I was going to going to eat Mexican food, you must be thinking what is wrong with me but hey, you have no idea how much I miss Mexican food! I just had to, I needed my dose of Mexican food and trust me those tacos were so good! We then headed to the beach but unfortunately it was too cold to go in the water or even to wear a bathing suit (there was of course some crazy people surfing! I don't know how they weren't freezing). Note to self, if I ever get the chance to go back I am definitely going to go during the summer.

However it was still nice to get to be at the beach and enjoy the sun.  Oh and I got to touch the mediterranean water! Well... it was a bit of a fail haha. I wanted to put my feet in but I was wearing boots and I didn't want to go through the hassle of taking them off and then having to take off all the sand off my feet and wait for them to dry so I can put my socks back, so I just touched the water with my hand which resulted in my boot getting wet. Smart one.

We then headed to Parc de la Ciutadella.  It's a very big park and it's quite nice. It has different buildings inside which didn't really make it feel as a "sports park"(it's full name is Centre Sportiu Municipal Parc de la Ciutadella, which translates to Municipal Sports park). One of my favorite parts of this park and I guess it was mostly because I've never seen this in a park, making it random but unique at the same time was that they had a giant mammoth. Yes, a giant mammoth statue!! As you can see quite random. I also enjoyed the big fountain they had next to the mammoth. It wasn't working but it is still pretty with all the different sculptures.

Me trying to climb the mammoth

We then walked to the Arc de Triumf, which I guess it's the equivalent of Paris' Arc du Triomphe, but of course Paris' is much prettier. 

The next day we  went to go see the Sagrada Familia and two more Gaudi buildings. I was surprised when I found out that   the whole church itself is not Gaudi's design and that only one side of the church is. I think this was due because the plans were either lost in a fire and then he died. I'll be honest I forgot the story behind this, so if you're really curious you might have to google this to verify my story haha. We wanted to go inside but it was quite pricey to go in (it was around 12-15 euros) and when you're a budgeted traveler like we were, you have to choose and pick what you get to see, unfortunately.  So we didn't get to go inside but we at least got to see the outside, which is one of the most impressing structures I've ever seen. I would say of architecture but that is more than architecture, that building is art.

The church is not finished yet

This is the side that Gaudi designed

We then went to see Casa Mila, otherwise known as La pedrera  and then to Casa Batllo. At the end of our trip we decided to go inside Casa Batllo, and the inside was insane. The walls were all full of curves and you thought that you were in a playhouse. I couldn't imagine an actual family living there, but yes people used to live there.

We then went to see Casa Mila, otherwise known as La pedrera  and then to Casa Batllo. At the end of our trip we decided to go inside Casa Batllo, and the inside was insane. The walls were all full of curves and you thought that you were in a playhouse. I couldn't imagine an actual family living there, but yes people used to live there.

After our Gaudi sightseeing, we headed to a free walking tour. I will recommend to anybody who is traveling around europe to look up free walking tours in the city you are visiting. Usually every city has one and they are great because they are tip based only, instead of paying the 15-20 euros tour agencies charge you and the tour quality is still pretty good. After our tour we signed up for a "cooking class". This cooking class was AMAZING and I recommend everybody who is going to Barcelona to take it (the bar that offers it is called "Travel Bar"). For those who don't really like cooking like myself, do not panic you are not actually going to cook. I gotta admit I was a bit disappointed when I found out that we are not actually cooking, but instead watching the chef cook, however the quality of the tour was so great that I didn't care. The cooking class was going to teach us about the tapas and how to prepare paella the famous spanish dish (if you don't know what Paella is, shame on you go right now to your nearest Spanish restaurant and order it! But beware, it is rare to get a good paella without it being expensive). The chef took the group to the Mercat La Boqueria which is Barcelona's very famous Market. This market is insane, it's so big and has everything you need. The chef gave us a tour, not only describing how the ingredients need to be but also a little bit of facts about the market. If you are in Barcelona, and you don't want to go to the cooking class, you must at least go to the market. It's pretty hectic there, but there's so much to see, and they sell fruit juices for 1 euro and they're delicious and refreshing. We then headed back to the bar/restaurant for the class. The chef started bringing out a bunch of tapas and explaining a little bit the history behind the tapas and how they're prepared etc. By the end of all the tapas I was quite full and we still hadn't gotten to the paella! Oh and did I mention we got served sangria?? yum yum yum.

That night we went out with a big group from the hostel to a club called "Catlwalk" right by the beach. I personally liked the club, it was pretty big and it had a terrace with an amazing view but my friends didn't like the music and they wanted to leave so we left after only being there for an hour I think. We headed to the beach and just hung out for a bit, we then headed home around 4:30 am because I was pretty cold. It's weird to think of yourself feeling cold in a place that has a beach but fun fact, Barcelona's beach is artificial and the sand is from Egypt! So yes, it's possible to feel cold.


 The next day we visited Parc Guell which was designed by Gaudi and it is so beautiful. The main entrance is the most beautiful part but there's also a part were you get to climb up a little hill and you get an amazing view of Barcelona.

On our last day in Barcelona we went to Mont Juic which was something one of my best friends recommended we went to go see because of the fountains but when we went the fountains were off. However the view from the top of the hill was beautiful, so I do suggest you go see it. One thing I suggest not going to is to Pueblo Espanyol. The concept of this place is to show different spanish regions and their different architecture, but if you are not in the guided tour you don't really understand and all you see are pretty buildings that are shops. So you basically pay to get in to shop.

So there we go that was my trip to Barcelona. It was an amazing experience and I hope I do get to come back in the future (and of course in the summer). I recommend to everybody to go see this city, it truly is beautiful and there's so much to see. One of the things that I didn't like about it was how a lot of the Gaudi buildings were so expensive to go in. They all cost at least 12 euros. Maybe it's because they're so famous, I don't know, but I think they shouldn't be so expensive so they can promote culture. At least have some student prices/ european union prices just like they do in Paris. I guess I got used to pretty much getting in for free to a lot of museums in Paris.  Another thing I do recommend to all of the fashionistas out there is to go shopping in Zara. Since it's a brand from Barcelona I found that everything was so much cheaper here than anywhere else! Another store that I liked their style and prices was Lefties. Oh one place I forgot to mention is the Ramblas. There's not much besides a bunch of people and little shops, but it's still nice to see and it's one of the most famous tourist places in Barcelona.