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Published: February 26th 2008
City
Look at how pretty the buildings are!February 21st through February 24th
BARCELONA!!!!
Thursday morning we had class until 10:30, once we were done, Stacy, Ellie, and I all headed to the bus station. Once we got there we bought tickets for the train to Athens at 12:00. We loaded our stuff onto the bus and we were on our way! The bus was packed with people and we were told that it only took three and half hours, it ended up taking about 5 after all the stops. About half way through the trip we made a stop at a place to get some food. I wasn’t hungry and neither was Ellie so neither one of us got off the bus, but Stacy did. Once she got back she said I think I am going to get the chocolate bar from underneath the bus, and Ellie and I advised her to wait until the bus driver came back. She disappeared and came back with her chocolate bar, and Ellie and I just assumed that she had found the bus driver. When everyone started getting back on the bus the bus driver started yelling something in Greek, we all looked at each other like oh no, what is
happening. A girl that was sitting across from us realized that we didn’t understand him so she translated for us. She said he was saying “who opened the door under the bus” and Ellie and I shook our heads and we said we didn’t do it. We both looked at Stacy and said did you do it and she nods. So the girl looks back at the man and said she did and he screams at us and said “TI;” which means “WHY?” and Stacy says, I wanted my chocolate. So the girl tells him that and he screams some more and Greek and storms off, the girl said something back to him in the effect of, they didn’t know, and he finally walked away. She looked back at us and said its okay, but to Ellie and I it was NOT okay, we were for sure that we were going to get kicked off the bus; thank god we didn’t but what a way to start the trip.
When we finally got to the airport we flew to Rome and then to Barcelona, by the time we got to Barcelona and rode the bus to our Hostel it
was about 1:10 in the morning. We decided to get some sleep and rest up for the morning. Now I know you are probably thinking, “Cecily, in a hostel, seriously?” but to be honest, it wasn’t that bad. It was just like being in a dorm! We woke up at about 8 the next morning and we all showered, it was the best shower I have had since I have been here! It was six jets that went down your body and one that was over your head. All the showers in Greece you have to hold the shower head the whole time, so it was nice to have a little break from that. Finally we were all ready to go at 10 am. We began walking the streets of Barcelona and just being the streets alone was amazing. Our hostel was on La Rambla Catalunya Street which is just above La Rambla Street, we walked down to La Rambla Street and it was packed with people. Every where there were places to buy flowers or souvenir shops, there were even places where you could buy a bird if you wanted one! It was so much fun! We came up
Clock
This Clock rotated, it was so cool! on this market and we decided to go in and see what it was all about. It was the coolest place, it had fresh fruit where they were making fresh squeezed smoothies (we all got one), and there were places with chocolates, sugar covered candies, meat, there were even places where you could order coffees! It was so cool.
Once we were done in the market we continued down La Rambla street and ended up at the port. We walked up and down this really cool boardwalk for awhile and then we got on this boat that was called a “Las Gondalinas,” it toured the coast of Barcelona and showed us where the beaches were and all the cool restaurants, it was so completely beautiful and the weather couldn’t have been better. The boat ride was an hour and half long and it only cost 9 euros! On the way back it got a little bit chilly so Ellie and I went down stairs in the boat, we discovered another set of stairs that went down again so we decided to see what was down there. When we got down there we found that there were windows that were
under water, it was SO cool. So we hung out down there for a little bit and then the boat docked again. Once we got off we ate at this restaurant that was right on the corner of the boardwalk facing the water. We ordered Tapas and a pitcher of sangria. It was probably the best sangria I had ever had in my life! And the food was incredible too! When we were stuffed to the brim we walked around this mall that was right on the water for a few minutes and then we headed to the chocolate museum! We finally found the chocolate museum and we went in and explored it. First of all I must say it smelled absolutely wonderful in there! It talked a little bit about the history of chocolate and where it comes from, but was cooler were all the different things that they had made out of the chocolate!
After the Chocolate museum we walked back to the hostel and changed our clothes and headed out to go to dinner. We went to this place called Happy’s Bar and Grill, mainly because I had a 10% off coupon that I had found
Painted man
opps i wasnt supposed to take his picture without paying! when we were at the chocolate museum. We ordered our food at it was decent, but the service wasn’t so good, but where is it good in Europe. We laughed through almost the whole dinner and it was a lot of fun. After that we headed to a bar that was close to our hostel and we had a drink and went to bed.
Day Two
We woke up and showered again and headed out, we did have to check out in the morning so we stored our luggage and we were on our way. First we went to the Gaudi house that was down the street from our Hostel, it was really cool but it cost 13 euros to get in so we decided not to go in it. After we looked at the house for awhile we went to Segrada de Familia which is a cathedral that Gaudi also created. It was only five euros to get in here so we decided we would do it. But first we ate at McDonalds; I never thought I would be so excited to eat McDonalds. I don’t even usually eat it in the states, but it was just
nice to have a good ol’ American hamburger! After we ate we headed to the Cathedral. Once we got in it was so unbelievable. First of all the outside itself is impressive, but once you get inside you can’t believe the arches and how high the ceilings are. The pictures that I took don’t even begin to do the place justice! It was so cool. We wanted to go up into the bell tower but the wait was 90 minutes so that was not going to happen!
Next we went Park Guell, at first I was a little disappointed because it was just a tower but then once you start going down more, you discover this area where they are selling all this really cool jewelry and playing music and people are sitting on these really cool benchs. This park was also created by Gaudi. We hung out there for awhile and listen to the music and watched the people. We walked down some more and the architecture of the place is just so much different than anything else you have ever seen. It’s like being in a Dr. Seuss book!
After we went to the park we
walked over toward this light show that we were going to see and sat in this café. I order this drink that was pretty and I ended up getting a chili flavored drink - it was DISCUSTING! So the bartender came over and got me a new drink. We walked toward the light show and it was this fountain that was in front of the Fira Barcelona, this huge building that looked like a Capitol or something. It was really cool, the light show was in this fountain and it was choreographed to Disney music but it was in Spanish, it was so neat!
We walked to the Arch De Triumph after that and then we headed to dinner, I was starving at this point so we ate at the first restaurant we saw and it was Chinese! It was so good!
Last we headed back to the hostel and picked up our bags and headed to the airport. We slept in the airport till 4 am when we could check in and we were on our way back to Volos. Our flights ended up getting delayed because of fog and we flew to Milan and then Athens.
We decided to take the train this time to see if it was quicker than the bus, and more bearable but it ended up taking about 6 hours, and we had to change trains. We finally got home at 10:30 Sunday night to pack our stuff and head back out to Thessaloniki in the morning. I think my favorite part about Barcelona was the park and walking around the city. It is probably one of the most beautiful cities I have ever been in! Every building is pretty, the streets are clean, the people are nice - everything about it was incredible, I didn’t want to leave! I would love to live there! I am in Thessaloniki now and I love it here too. I will write more about that this weekend though when the trip is over! Hope you enjoyed!
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