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Published: August 25th 2008
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Hola!
We arrived back in Spain and found our hostel which was about half an hour out of town, but we were happy because it had free internet and a kitchen. We went to the supermarket and spent 13 euros for 3 nights worth of dinners and two lunches, the hostel had garlic, cooking oil and seasoning so we were sorted.
On the first day we went to Sagrada Familia it was the most craziest church I have ever seen, designed by Barcelonas famous artist, Gaudi. The church symbolised life on one side and death on the other, the life side was white and had mosaic with fruit on it and the death side was dark and gloomy. It was very interesting to see. Gaudi devoted his life to the church but died before it was finished, fortunately he had written down his plans and the community of Barcelona has taken over the project, it is said its going to take 30 years to finish.
After visiting Sagrada Familia we started to walk to La Rambla, one of the most famous streets in Barcelona. On the way we walked past the bull fighting arena and
Arc de Triomf (Barcelonas version)
What a spectacle La Ramblas is! It was a long road with a strip down the middle for pedestrians and some of the best street performers Ive ever seen. Also I noticed that you could also buy budgies, rabbits, turtles, lizards, fish, roosters and turkey all on the same street.
Half way down the street was a huge market called Mercat Boqueria, with fresh fruit and veges, nuts, sweets, drinks, fish, poultry and PIG HEADS! Yum!!! We got stuck into the fresh fruit and headed to the port to eat it.
We went for a walk around the port which was the Olympic Village for the 1992 Olympics.
The next day we made our way to Park Guell another master piece of Gaudi. This park was insane, Gaudi sure had some creative imagination and loved colourful things. The park had funky sculptures, mosaics, great views and cute little ginger bread like houses. It was fun wondering around. We then went back to the port for an ice cream and a walk to the beach.
One thing I learnt was that Barcelona imported sand from Egypt to create 7km
of beach for the 1992 Olympic Games. I was also surprised to see that the map for the beach also had pictures of crocodiles, flamgoes and sharks, I am pleased to report that the map was wrong!
The next day we had a nice time chilling out at the beach near our hostel, we were glad we went in the morning because in the afternoon it started clouding over. It wasn't untill I was tucked up warm in bed when I heard the thunder and lightning storm. We have been so lucky with the weather, with only one day of rain the whole time we have traveled.
On our last day in Barclelona we decided to go on a free gothic walking tour of the old city. We learnt some interesting things about the history of Barcelona. It was fun cruising in and out of the windy streets, we saw some cool lamps and buildings. There were small inscriptions on the stone of the walls from Roman times and a stone carving of St George fighting a dragon to save a princess. At the end of the tour we had to pay a tip and
PIg head
Only 1.40 euro we got to choose between a free beer or water at the end of it. We chose beer.
Valencia
We arrived in Spains 3rd largest city and found it to be quite hot, I was glad that there was a beach. We found out that Valencia was the birth place of Paella a traditional Spanish dish. It is also the home of the Holy Grail the only one in the world which is recognised by the Vatican and it was the host of the 2007 Americas Cup.
But the main reason we where here was for LA Tomitina 2008! (photos will be ready in 3 weeks).
We found our hotel for the first two nights was a million miles away, we had to get on the metro for 40 mins then there was a 40 min walk, lucky we found some girls who could speak English who told us to taxi for 8 euro. So we made it! It was Sunday so nothing was open for dinner only a service station so we got dinner for 9 euro between us. The next day we found a bus that took us to the centre in half an
hour and it was a lot cheaper. We had a nice wander around the city and had lunch in a huge park that ran through the whole city. The second night we went back to the hotel thinking that things would be open for dinner, but we were wrong at least the supermarket was open today. I related staying at this hotel to being in a desert and I was so suprised that they would even put a hotel in such a place.
I was stocked to see that the next hotel which we were staying in for the La Tomatina tour was close to town and close to the beach, which was much better. The first night of the tour we went out as a group to the beach to have a few drinks and eat dinner. Dale and I missed the last train back to the hotel and had to walk 40 mins.
The next morning we got up early to get on the bus for La Tomatina, unfortuantly the bus we got on broke down before we even left the hotel and we had to wait an hour for another one. We made it to
the festival and Dale and I ran though the windy, hilly, old streets to get into the center of town and get a good position for the fight. The gun went off and the people from on top of the balconys started to throw tomatoes down, thats when the fight began. I think we chose a good place to stand there were only a few times when I was crushed by the crowed. It was crazy when the big trucks come though the street with the tomatoes I dont know how they could fit. I was stocked to get my first tomato and biff it into the crowd. Man it stank! tomatoes flying every where. Some of the locals ripped of the tee shirts off girls and boys but I was prepared and wore two sports bars under my singlet. A big circle formed right infront of us and I saw the locals rip a tee shirt off someone tie it in a knot and started wacking people with it. I really didnt want to get hit so stood right back.
I got an unsquashed tomato thrown at my eye, Dale heard it hit me but I was lucky
to have my goggles on. Two seconds later I turned around and saw Dale get hit in his eye with a green tomarto it would have really hurt and now he has a slight black eye. OHHhh!
We got covered in tomatoes and was glad to get back to the hotel to wash our hair and clothes. We had a great time.
We almost died on the way back to Madrid the bus had no air conditioning so we were stuck on a stuffy bus for 6 and a half hours. After this uncomfortable trip we decided to fly from Madrid back to Paris missing another 22 hours on the bus.
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