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Published: October 22nd 2008
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Plaza Real
Looking out from the hostel doorway. I set off for my fall european adventure at 6 in the morning from the apartment, with a backpack crammed with clothes and a smile on my half-awake face. The train to Barcelona was fairly uneventful, although we did pass some gorgeous mountain and ocean scenery along the way. I would love one day to explore Spain with a car so I could get out and explore all of these out of the way, hidden places that aren't accessible by public transportation. The last 30 minutes or so of the train ride, I started talking (in Spanish por su puesto) to the woman sitting next to me. In her late twenties, she worked in a public relations type of job out of Valencia and was traveling to Barcelona for work. She was extremely friendly and it was a great opportunity to practice my spanish a bit. I got off the train, hopped on the metro and 3 stops later emerged into the refreshing Barcelona morning air of las Ramblas. Las Ramblas is the main tourist/most liveliest street in Barcelona. Filled with flower and fruit stands, souvenir shops, cafes, bird vendors, and many buskers, las Ramblas is a sensory overload that is
Las Ramblas
Full of all sorts of people. teeming with tourists and locals alike. Within the first five minutes of being in Barcelona, I noticed two very distinct things that I had not experienced in quite some time. First of all, everyone around me was speaking English. Although it was mainly British and Australian accents, it was weird to not hear spanish being spoken and understand all of the conversations around me. I was suprised by the large number of tourists around in october! Secondly, the weather in Barcelona was on the cool side (I hesitate to say crisp because it wasn't that cold but still a nice change from the constant warm weather in Alicante) with a strong breeze and yellowing leaves on the trees lining las Ramblas, giving the whole street the feeling of fall. Feeling rejuvinated by my first taste of fall, I headed out to find my hostel, which was located in a small plaza right off of Las Ramblas. The plaza was also a lively place filled with many bars and cafes, and the fountain in the middle seemed to be an important spot for people to meet up at all times of the day. Check in at the hostel was easy and
Market
fresh fish for sale, you could smell it before you saw the fish quick and entering into my room, I found 20 beds with lockers beside them, all made up and unused, meaning I was the first person to get into the room. I locked my bag in the locker, grabbed my purse and headed out to see some of the sights. By this time it was around 1 in the afternoon and all of the museums were closed for siesta so I had a couple of hours just to wander and explore. I walked up and down Las Ramblas, people watching and looking at the various things for sale. My favorite was the stands that sold bunnies, birds, and hamsters. I also wandered through a market where they sold fruit, veggies, cheese, as well as meat and fish. I saw entire pigs heads or pig legs for sale and the pungent odor of the fresh fish was almost unbearable. I then wandered through the Barrio Gótico which is a maze of narrow, winding streets filled with all sorts of bars, shops, and restaurants. It has some of the oldest buildings in the city and around every corner I would discover another quaint plaza or beautiful church. Curiously enough, in between two more
modern buildings, I found a small plot of land that contained a series of exposed roman tombs almost 2 thousand years old. However, my favorite discovery during my wanderings was a small bar next to the wax museum called "Bosc de los fades" or Forest of the Fairy. Inside it was a bar decorated like a fairy forest with fake trees and little caves with fairy figures. The dim lanterns lights and light hearted music made it feel as if I had stepped into a disney attraction instead of a bar. I got a coffee and sat for awhile on a wooden log chair enjoying the unique atmosphere. By this time, the siesta was over and I headed in search of the city museum. I am excellent with maps and directions but for the life of me I could not find this museum. I wandered for 30 minutes back and forth, searching for the museum with no luck. Of course, asking directions was not an option and I finally managed to stumble on the museum I was looking for. My map reading skills: 0 Barcelona:1. The museum was very interesting with an authentic excavated roman town in the lower level
complete with rooms and streets and even an ancient roman winery! I'm not normally a museum person but I found these ruins to be very intriguing and cool. Next I visited the cathedral of Barcelona (I waited until 5pm because after 5, admission is free instead of having to pay 5 euros) The cathedral was very large and very beautiful but I was not moved with any pious feelings because I was surrounded by hundreds of noisy tourists who had the same idea as me to wait until 5 pm to get in for free. The garden area was very beautiful though complete with ducks, palm trees, and fountains.
After this I had had enough of tourists and sightseeing for the day so I headed back to the hostel to rest a little bit. Walking into the room, I met a canadian guy who was very friendly and we went down to the hostel bar to eat dinner and have a beer. Everyone in the hostel was unbelievably friendly and before I knew it I had met Australians, South Africans, Brazilians, people from Finland, and more canadians. No Americans though. So I had a grand time, drinking inexpensive beer and
learning the stories of my new friends from all around the world. Later on in the night, I met up with my friend Ellen, from Deerfield, who is studying in the south of france this semester and was visiting Barcelona with her host family. We sat down at a tapas bar in Plaza Reales and ate tapas, sipped a glass of red wine, updated each other on our post-Deerfield lives, and people watched. I ate manchego cheese (my new favorite type of cheese), potatas bravas which are potatoes slices with a spicy sauce and croquetas which are fried balls of mashed potatoes mixed with cheese. Since I had to catch a fairly early flight the next morning, I went to bed early after the tapas. However, throughout the night more and more people came into what was an empty dorm when I went to bed. Most people were very respectful and tried to be as quite as possible, and not turn on the lights. However, I am a little bit ashamed to admit that the one noisy group that woke me up was a group of American students who came in, turning on all the lights, talking loudly and generally
creating a ruckus even though there were people trying to sleep. However, I didn't feel so bad when they came back later that night and after having been awoken once again picked up the bit of the conversation in which one of the girls was complaining how she had been slapped by a prostitute after trying to take her picture. Justice was served. I woke early, packed up my bags, and was the first person in line when breakfast opened(the dining room was completely empty at 8 in the morning because it was a sunday morning so I was the only person in line for breakfast as well) After a filling meal, I shouldered my pack and headed off to the airport.(where I was not asked to show ID until I had gone through security and was boarding the plane, the security here is so much more lax) Overall, I enjoyed Barcelona very much. It was not a very "Spanish" city but none the less I had a good time and am excited to return in November with the group. I plan on seeing more of Gaudi and the modern architecture my second time around. And now, on to prague
for the second half of my fall break adventure!
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