Oct 11th – 19th

Oct 11th - 19th

Barcelona!!!! Finally back to warm weather! Our first day in Barcelona was actually an epic travel day. Even thought it started at the crack of dawn in London we didn’t make it to our hostel until about 8pm. Adam and I were so tired we literally went straight into the shower then into bed. But day two we dove right in and started exploring the city. Our hostel was called the Melon District and was really nice but a little outside the downtown core. The walk in was easy though and the weather was gorgeous. We literally just spent the entire day walking around. Barcelona is so beautiful. There is art everywhere you look. I feel like if they need to do anything within the city, like plant a tree of putting a new buoy in the water, they hire an artist to design it. So day one we took it all in and ended our night on a park bench drinking wine.
The following day however we decided we needed to understand and learn about all the things we were looking at, so we took another free walking tour. I highly recommend doing these types of tours, it was fantastic. Our guide, Kate, walked us through the Gothic area of the city teaching us about the Catalan history and culture, Picasso, Gaudi and the long history of the region. One thing I would have never noticed if she hadn’t pointed it out to us was random engravings on the sides of certain structures. Apparently Barcelona also has a dark history of anti-Semitism and at the height of it the rulers built their new buildings on top of Jewish semitaries and used the headstones as brick.
Another interesting fact she taught us was that Catalan people don’t like Tapas and Papayas, they don’t flamenco dance or bull fight like the rest of Spain. In fact they don’t consider themselves Spanish so much as they consider themselves Catalonian. One thing they do do however is build human towers. Some as high as 10 stories. Youtube it :)

The next day, October 14th, we decided to leave the comforts of our cushy, private room, laundry facilities and free wifi and moved to a new hostel just off Las Ramblas. It was called Ideal Youth Hostel and it was 75% cheaper. We figured saving money was worth sharing a room and a bathroom. It actually wasn’t too bad. We ended up hanging out that night with the two British dudes we bunked with. We went to a pub quiz, think drunk Trivial Pursuit, where the prize was a E150 bar tab. We lost horribly.

October 15th was a fun day. We went to the Picasso museum. Actually the first and largest gallery of his work that he saw open in his lifetime. He had an interesting life Pablo Picasso, and watching the progressions of his work was fascinating. There were paintings and sketches from as early as him being 15 years old, and as much as I’m sure he loved art at this young age, his family really pushed him. His father actually quit his job to train Pablo full time. His early work is perfect and beautiful and safe but then during the “belle epoch” he moves to Paris and you see him venture out and try new things. I absolutely loved some of these pieces. There was undoubtedly a large amount of Absinth consumed during this time as well I’m sure. He also used to have a good time with the ladies of the night and actually suffered from syphilis. (sick) Some people say that was the reason for his blue era, where he literally did every painting in blue. It was only in his later years where he started painting in the childlike manner that we all know him for. I don’t know why but this guy fascinates me.
That night we took what we thought was a Sangria, Tapas and Papayas cooking class, but it turned out we just watched a British guy while he talked us through the steps. Haha. It was alright though, we got to eat, drink and we met some cool people. When I get home I’ll have a Tapas party and teach you all the proper way to do it. That’s pretty much all the knowledge I retained that night. The sangria was flowing :)
Day five in Barcelona was Bike Tour Day!! So much fun!! I hadn’t ridden a bike since I was a kid and had forgotten what I was missing. We rode all over and learned tons more about Barcelona. A lot of the beautiful areas were actually created in preparations for the 1992 Olympics. Before that the city would have looked substantially different then it does now. Even the massive beaches within the city are completely manmade. They brought the sand over from Egypt.
One really interesting place we visited on our bike tour was the Bull Fighting Stadium. Like I said Catalonians do not like Bull Fighting and every time there is a fight there are protests. In fact the only reason Barcelona continues to hold these events is because the King of Spain deeply loves to come and watch them. Mitch, our guide, gave us a very detailed explanation into Bull Fighting and why the people protest it.
So they take a bull, seclude him in a pitch black room for 4 days, feed him nothing but lacsitives and beat him with sand bags. Depending on the level of the Matador they may also shave down his horns. Horns for a bull are not only for defense but like whiskers on a cat they bull uses his horns for orientation. Now if that weren’t enough they cut the neck tendons so the bull literally can’t raise his head. This is the point where they shoo him into an open air arena making sure the sun is in his eyes, like someone’s boyfriend’s dad (who shall not be named….Roman…) flashing on the lights to wake you up…bright lights after so much darkness make it hard to see. The Matador taunts him for awhile then takes his sword and stabs him though the heart….if he doesn’t miss. The most reported stabbings before the bull died was 14 I think. Nice hey? No. Not at all.
The rest of our time in the city was just spent enjoying all the new areas we had found on our tours and one afternoon at Gaudi’s Park Guell.
Here’s a crazy Barcelona story though…So you know how everyone says Barcelona is notorious for pick pocketers? Well, on our last day Adam and I were sitting around a fountain in Cataluña Square writing post cards and we witnessed a full on attempted robbery two feet from us! There was a lady reading, sitting directly to my left and she had her purse in between us. There was enough room for one person to sit between us and a strange little man took this spot and used his city map and a decoy to riffle through her purse! Thankfully she noticed him and smacked him while telling him to “Get Outta here!!!” He walked away like nothing, I’m sure on to go try it on someone else. Crazy!
Despite the sketchy people though I loved Barcelona. If you go just watch your stuff like a hawk and avoid Las Ramblas. Off to Paris!!!!

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