"Too bad if you've been learning Spanish, because here we speak Catalan!" Greeted us in Barcelona. After having got by happily in France, suddenly every transaction was a challange (read: battle) and despite the ipod spanish lessons I could say and understand practically nothing!
We negotiated the metro and found our hostel in the Gothic Quarter- would recommend this hostel (Centric point) it was awesome! Our dorm had about 8 sets of bunks but it was in a massive room, and the top bunks were really like lofts up a 2 metre ladder. They felt like private cubbies or tree-houses; with room for our bags, a locker, reading light, power point and surrounded by walls and curtains. Mine was right on the end so I had a window overlooking the narrow cobbled street.
We loved the vibe of Barcelona and could have easily stayed here two weeks instead of 3 days! The beach was absolutely packed (and the number of full-frontals reminded us we were really in Europe) and along the beach were strips of tapas and sangria bars, ice cream, cafes and restaurants and nightclubs. We tended to spend the mornings walking around, (seeing Gaudi architecture, shops, gardens, La Ramblas, etc) then eating, then laying on the beach, then eating, then going out at night. Our wishlist for Spain mostly consisted of food and drink and we happily worked through it: nachos, churros, tapas, sangria, paella...
We were told by so many people, at so many different times, to watch out for theives and pickpockets and not to walk around with my camera around my neck because it would get ripped/slashed/ distracted off me, so I sadly locked it in my backpack until I really wanted a photo then had to unlock backpack, take it out, take photo, put it back in and lock again. So I couldnt take as many spontaneous street photos as I would have liked, but at least we survived without anything getting nicked.
The weather was gorgeous and hot, we watched the Spain vs Portugal soccer match at a beach bar (but it wasn't as crazy as we expected, someone explained it was because we aren't really in Spain!), we met some local Spanish people out one night, and tried not to oggle too much at the naked old leathery men who paraded around the beach every day!
Next for a bit of a change in scenery: Ireland!
We negotiated the metro and found our hostel in the Gothic Quarter- would recommend this hostel (Centric point) it was awesome! Our dorm had about 8 sets of bunks but it was in a massive room, and the top bunks were really like lofts up a 2 metre ladder. They felt like private cubbies or tree-houses; with room for our bags, a locker, reading light, power point and surrounded by walls and curtains. Mine was right on the end so I had a window overlooking the narrow cobbled street.
We loved the vibe of Barcelona and could have easily stayed here two weeks instead of 3 days! The beach was absolutely packed (and the number of full-frontals reminded us we were really in Europe) and along the beach were strips of tapas and sangria bars, ice cream, cafes and restaurants and nightclubs. We tended to spend the mornings walking around, (seeing Gaudi architecture, shops, gardens, La Ramblas, etc) then eating, then laying on the beach, then eating, then going out at night. Our wishlist for Spain mostly consisted of food and drink and we happily worked through it: nachos, churros, tapas, sangria, paella...
We were told by so many people, at so many different times, to watch out for theives and pickpockets and not to walk around with my camera around my neck because it would get ripped/slashed/ distracted off me, so I sadly locked it in my backpack until I really wanted a photo then had to unlock backpack, take it out, take photo, put it back in and lock again. So I couldnt take as many spontaneous street photos as I would have liked, but at least we survived without anything getting nicked.
The weather was gorgeous and hot, we watched the Spain vs Portugal soccer match at a beach bar (but it wasn't as crazy as we expected, someone explained it was because we aren't really in Spain!), we met some local Spanish people out one night, and tried not to oggle too much at the naked old leathery men who paraded around the beach every day!
Next for a bit of a change in scenery: Ireland!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment