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Published: October 15th 2008
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Out for Dinner
L-R: Mel, Lucinda, Emma, Me, Kirsty, Team Korea (Emily and Jin) Sunday, 17 August
Today we were on to a new country. SPAIN! And Barcelona was our destination.
Nat broke her thongs at the start of the day. She bought a lovely bright orange pair at a servo during our drive, with the servo's name REPSOL written largely in the soles. The Repsols became very handy since, becoming a bit of a legend for us on the trip.
Upon arriving in Barcelona, we did a driving tour of the city. The city has a lot to owe to the World's Fair in the 1920s and the Olympic Games in 1992. Much of which were built for this occasion. We saw the main domed building, which is now a gallery. Also the Olympic stadium, which was a lot smaller then I was expecting. The MCG is massive in comparison. We then went to have a view over the city. Driving passed the beach, we then passed the city gardens and the zoo, which used to house Snowflake, the albino gorilla. He died in 2004. We then went to the pride of Barcelona, the Sagrada Familia. This church is Gaudi's biggest work, which started being built in 1882. It is predicted
that it will be finished in about 40 years time.
The hostel we had that night was pretty cool. We had to share with eight, but at least we had our own bathroom.
Before dinner we decided to go for a stroll around town. We got two blocks before we saw Q, Mel and Georgia, so Nat, Kirsty, Irene and I joined them for some Sangria. It was delicious, but went straight to our heads. Before long it was time to go back to the hostel and head out to dinner. At this point we had three more people join our group.
Dinner had massive steins of sangria, and after how yummy it was in the afternoon, we went with this option. It tasted like crap! We struggled to drink these and ended up leaving them. We then went to bar Seven, which had good cocktail specials. This was a lot of fun, and the clocked ticked over to Leticia's birthday while we were there. We then moved on to a club called Jamboree. This was also a lot of fun.
When it was time to leave, Kirsty and Mel got in a cab with Leticia,
but the driver wouldn't take 5, so Nat and I walked. Our directions weren't the best so we ended out walking for ages. Lucky we did, as we met up with the other Mel who had been walking around lost since we left the bar Seven! She was totally lost and very happy to see us. She had a map, so we were then able to get back. We were so happy to get off our feet by the time we were back at the hostel.
Monday, 18 August
It was our free day in Barcelona and our plan was to find some markets and go to the Sagrada Familia. After walking for a while we were no closer to finding markets. Upon finally finding one, we discovered that it was only a food market. No clothing, no jewellery.
Cutting our loses we started to walk to Sagrada Familia. For some reason, this started to take ages. Lesson is, don't take the road signs, follow your own path. Nat, Lucinda and I went inside. It was amazing. You can only imagine what it will be like when it is finished, but there is a certain charm
about being there while it is still being built.
Lucinda and I decided to face the big queue and go up into the tower. When up there, the views were great, but the best thing by far was viewing the church from different angles on the way down. It was time to then make our way back to the hostel to get ready and meet up with the rest of the group for the Flamenco night.
And what a night! We started at a tapas bar where the was pretty nice with, of course, sangria. An improvement on the night before, but still pretty wrong. The best we had was definitely the afternoon we arrived.
After about an hour, it was time to head to the show. It was amazing! Our guide, being Spanish, said that it is one of the better shows she has seen, and it made her cry the first time she saw it. It was fantastic! At the end some of the performers friends and family also got up. A boy of about 8, who was the singer's son, was crazy good! Everyone was totally amazed!
This bar also showed "free pour"
Me and Sagrada Familia
Could be anywhere really, for all there is to see at its best. I got a vodka and lemonade. The bottle of mixer was given separate, and the glass of vodka gave you about 5cm to add the mixer. Look out!
After the show it was back to Seven for the cocktail specials and a free shot. The party kept going at another bar that had the same deal, with the night finishing at Jamboree again.
Because this night was hosted by the hostel and not our tour (Leticia said the Topdeck flamenco night was rubbish) there were a few ring ins. One of which was Oliver form Neighbours. Pretty funny.
This was the night that didn't end, literally. Kirsty, Adam, Lucinda, Team Korea and I left when the club shut. We then went back to the hostel, had showers, packed our bags and got straight on the bus. For the first time, this meant sleep on the bus!
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