Barcelona Trip

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Hey everyone!

Sorry this blog is very late. It is just a quick entry about a trip I took with ADEIS (Asociación De Estudiantes Internacionales Salamanca) to Barcelona from the weekend of the 9th-12th of October.

Although the trip was brilliant, I would never recommend travelling from Salamanca to Barcelona by coach, no matter how much more affordable it seems. Honestly it's not worth it. As you can see from the map it is basically the other side of the country, and was a 10 hour coach journey. Since we left at midnight on the Friday, and it is damn near impossible to get a good night sleep when you keep jerking awake everytime your head slips to the side, we were knackered when we made it to the Hostel at around 10am. Some sensible people took a nap before our guided tour in the afternoon. Not us. We went to Park Guell. It was designed by the famous Antonio Gaudi. Now I don't consider myself very cultured and I didn't know who he was before I came to Barcelona, but he is amazing. The best way I can describe his work, especially in the park, is whimsical. There was a lot of work with mosaics and it seems very modern considering the fact he lived during the late 1800's / early 1900's. A couple of the houses in the park reminded me of something from Dr Seuss.

Later that day we went to see the Sagrada Familia, probably the most visited tourist attraction in Barcelona. It is a large Church started by Gaudi, however it is not yet complete and is not expected to be complete until 2026, if i remember the tour guide correctly. I didn't particularly like the building because of the blatant differences in materials and style of the older constructions and recent ones. It seemed a bit mismatched to me. From the top of the Sagrada Familia you are supposed to have a great view of Barcelona, although I didn't get to do this.

During my stay I also took a tour of a Cava factory, including a free sample at the end. It was called Freixenet, and while I am disappointed at not being able to see the vines themselves in the tour, I can thoroughly recommend the cava. I really liked the centre of town, the shopping was great and the street entertainment was brilliant. I wish i could have watched the street dancers longer and there was an amazing operatic singer down one of the side streets, as well as groups playing instruments i have never seen before. Outside of a Cathedral (i forget which one) we saw some traditional spontaneous spanish dancing. I got told off for not having covered my shoulders when about to enter the Cathedral, and was amazed that they let tourists in while a service was happening. Also, that at the back of the congregation you could see the Priest on a television screen.

Now, before we even got off the coach in Barcelona, we were warned that it was infamous for thieves. They particularly prey on tourists. Unfortunately during my stay I was robbed. It sucks, it could have been worse though and it was pretty much down to me not being careful enough. I'm too used to the laid-back salamanca way of living. This also means there are no pictures for this blog.

The Hostel San Jordi was really good. The staff were very friendly and organised nights out everynight. There is a very good atmosphere in the place as lots of backpackers hang out in the communal living area together. It was also clean. . .always a plus. Most of the people that worked there spoke English too, which was useful, even though I should be relying more on Spanish now. . .woops.

Look out for my next blog on Madrid!

Hasta luego 😊

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