Barcelona and Ibiza

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Our flight from Pisa to Barcelona was delayed so we didn’t end up getting in until really late. We had planned ahead and booked a hotel near the airport for one night, or so we thought. Because it was so late, there was reduced train/tram service which left us waiting up to 40 minutes just to get to the next mode of transportation. We took a train from the airport to the metro to a tram to realize that our hotel was nowhere close to the airport. We did come in on a Saturday night though and there were tons of people out, our tram was packed and people were singing and taking pictures. As we walked to the hotel, we dodged our old friends – the cockroach – scurrying across the sidewalks as the girls behind us, also walking to our hotel, screamed and jumped and ran, it was pretty funny. We finally got to the hotel around 2 am and the lady checked us in to our room.

We checked out the next morning and found our new hotel in the Gracia district. After getting settled we decided to head down to La Rambla, a pedestrian street with tons of action all the time. There was a free museum of the history of Barcelona in an old castle type building that we went to, as well as the Cathedral of Barcelona in the Gothic district. I really wanted to head to the beach so we took off towards the beach and walked down the entire length before stopping to take some pictures. On the way back, we took our shoes off and walked the beach with our feet in the water heading towards a big mall at the end.

The next day we headed back to the big mall, Maremagnum, for a buffet lunch before heading to La Sagrada Familia. This church was amazing, very creative architecture and colorful stained glass windows that brighten it up. The outside looks like it is carved into the side of a mountain, the entire church is enormous. This is where our Antoni Gaudi education began. We went to Park Guell up by our hotel afterwards, another Gaudi creation to go check out a nice view of Barcelona and walk around the Dr. Seuss/Gingerbread house type structures.

Many people listed other structures of Gaudi as the top sites to see in Barcelona and these came with heavy entrance fees. We were so impressed the day before however that we booked tickets and decided to make a day of it. We started out at Le Pedrera (Casa Mila) and then went to Casa Batllo. These buildings were both designed by Gaudi and his signature style is obvious throughout but I’m not exactly sure it was worth the entrance fees. We walked back to the Catalunya and eventually ended up on La Rambla again heading to the La Boqueria outdoor market. There is so much to do in Barcelona that it has made our list of places that we will have to come back to as we just didn’t have enough time!

We had an early morning flight to Ibiza the next day. Ibiza is an island that is known for its ability to draw huge crowds and huge DJs. The place is definitely well set up, we were whisked away to San Antoni from the airport by bus almost immediately and sun tanning on our balcony above the pool shortly after. Binnson has been loving the beaches in Spain as there have been many topless sunbathers.... and one old naked man playing soccer in Barcelona, which he loved less. We opened our balcony to see probably a group of at least 7-9 girls topless sunbathing. Later we went for a walk to the Sunset strip to see the beaches and grab some food from the supermarket.

We went to bed early that night preparing ourselves for the next day. The clubs really don’t start until 12am so after a day of relaxing by the beach and pool (yes, a vacation from our vacation), we headed back to bed at 10pm to nap before heading out. We had tickets to Amnesia so around 12:30am we left the hotel to head to the discobus which buses tons of party goers out to all of the main clubs all night. We bought VIP tickets for a bit extra and flew through the lines into the club in no time. It was packed, loud, and crazy, lots of fun. There were tons of good DJ’s playing and we didn’t end up leaving until around 6am. Even the bus back at 6 am was pumping loud music the whole ride to San Antoni. Party at the biggest/best/whatever other proclamations club in the world- check. After a good 4 hours of sleep we were headed back to the airport to fly to Toulouse, France.

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Photos

Le Pedrera
Entrance

Le Pedrera
Playing on the rooftop terrace