We flew into Barcelona late Thursday night. To get to our hostel, we had to take the Metro. We were all so excited that we talked the whole time. After a while, we noticed that we were in the middle of nowhere... We missed our stop! So we hopped off at the next stop and got on the train going the other way. After much excitement, we made it to our hostel. It was a cool looking building with a very modern design. We ended up stay in the same type of room as before - 3 bunk beds with places to put our things underneath. We were very tired but we needed to go out for food. We started following Google Maps to our decided restaurant. Along the way, we got lost and ended up at a Mexican restaurant... Yes in Spain... We were craving it!! It was actually very good!
Lost in Barcelona Enchiladas Verdes y Margaritas
On Friday, we went to some of the most exciting places in Barcelona. In the morning, we went to La Sagrada Familia! Wow, it was absolutely beautiful. We were all brought to tears by the beauty and the feelings we got inside the Basilica. Words cannot describe how this place made me felt. And the pictures definitely do not do it justice. It is way more immaculate in person. Also, it was amazing to finally see Gaudi's creation that I had been learning about in all my high school Spanish classes.
After lunch, we went to Park Guell, another well known spot in Barcelona, and another Gaudi creation. This park was magnificent! Every section had its own beauty. Each view was absolutely amazing! It was also pretty cool because two other groups from TCU were traveling in Barcelona as well. We all decided to meet up at Park Guell and catch up on our trips so far. It was interesting to hear about other's experiences in their placements in Norway and Denmark!
Frogs meet up in Spain!
After Park Guell, we went to a restaurant recommended to us by the front desk at our hostel. It was another taco place (lol) called Pikio Taco. They had really interesting and fancy tacos, but they had the best nachos I have ever had in my life (LOOK AT THESE NACHOS!!!!)! After dinner, we went back to our hostel for a good night's sleep.
On Saturday, we walked around a majority of Barcelona; we walked over 11 miles! We made our way to the Gothic Quarter and saw the Cathedral of Barcelona. It was very beautiful and had a beautiful courtyard in the middle. On the way out, we found ourselves in Pla de la Seu. We walked around the area and did some shopping.
For lunch, we had a special invitation to eat at a restaurant owned and operated by Andrea's aunt! She was very kind and treated us to some authentic Spanish cuisine. We had sangria, toast with tomato, paella with seafood, and a platter of desserts! We were stuffed but it was delicious!
After lunch, we made our way to the beach to see the Mediterranean Sea. Of course, I got in despite the cold water, but for the experience of going in the Mediterranean!! It was amazing and I enjoyed taking silly pictures even though the other people on the beach were giving me strange looks.
This is my Ariel pose! (aka why people were giving me weird looks)
Shortly after, it got darker and colder. We made our way to Ciutadella Park - a large park in the heart of Barcelona. Here we saw the Arc de Triomphe! It was so beautiful! The details were magnificent!
Later that night, we went to IceBarcelona - a bar on the beach that's basically an igloo bar! They give you a big jacket and gloves as you enter the bar at -11 degrees. The whole bar is built of ice and it was Star Wars themed! We also got a drink that was served to us in a cup made of ice. Jillian and Andrea left quickly because the gloves were very thin and their hands lost feeling! Camila and I wanted to stay a bit longer and we danced around the bar to keep warm. It was such a cool experience! On our way back to the hostel, we stopped for bagels (can you tell we miss American food??)!
In the morning, we ate at a very popular restaurant in Barcelona called Travel and Cake (an extension of Brunch and Cake) because we were told we had to try the cake in Barcelona... OMG this cake was magnificent! The brunch food was very unique with many different ingredients but still very good! This place was very popular as we saw from the growing line outside as we ate our brunch.
Chocolate cake with berries!
We still had time after brunch before our flight so we decided to head to the Picasso Museum! Wow it was incredible! We got to see a lot of the works he did while he was studying as a young man. There were also a lot of his practice works when he first started his cubism works. We were not allowed to take pictures unfortunately :(
By the end of the museum, it was time for us to head back to Arrasate. We had spent a lot of time exploring in the morning, so we had to rush to the airport. We made it just in time to get food before our plane. Our boarding was delayed, and once we got on the plane, it was delayed another hour. We ended up getting back to Arrasate pretty late. Victor, Jillian, and I went out to one of the bars for pintxos. While we were sitting there, we noticed people with menus and real plates of food - something we have yet to see in Arrasate! We were super excited and ordered more food even after we had the pintxos! It was awesome! After dinner, we went back to the dorms to finally relax after a long and busy weekend.
We are entering our last week of teaching and we have some special visits planned to other schools in the area this week. Can't wait to see what's in store!
Agur, Ms. Peachy
