The last leg of the 11 day extravaganza, and very bittersweet! We were beyond tired and worn out from the non-stop travelling, our feet were so swollen from wearing the same shoes everyday and walking EVERYWHERE that it was almost painful to just take a quick few steps. But at the same time, pain is beauty, and by beauty I mean the most incredible and beautiful sights I have ever seen in my life, and Janine and I were considering this an experience that we will most likely never get again.
We overnighted from Paris to Barthelona (I spell it like that because the Catalans all had a weird lisp with their C's and S's that it made it sound more of a TH sound than anything else, like 'grathias' instead of 'gracias' and 'buenoth diath' instead of 'buenos dias.' Legend says it's because an ancient Catalan ruler had the lisp and all the locals obtained the same lisp to make her feel better, and it has stuck ever since!) in about 13 hours and arrived to our hostel around 9am. Barcelona, to me, was in it's very own category of beautiful. It looked very much like a metropolitan city in the states, but with it's own Spanish, playful twist to it. We also notice that for the first time during our entire trip that we were ACTUALLY somewhat centrally located compared to Paris and Amsterdam, where we had to take public transportation for about a half hour just to get to the city center. Another plus side, the hostel was pretty decent, with spacious, clean rooms and private bathrooms. Even though Janine and I had had our own private bathroom in every hostel we stayed in, and even in Paris, where we also had our own private bedroom, whereas all the other rooms were jam-packed to capacity with people and their beds! We definitely lucked out.
Right upon arriving, we were escorted on....you guessed it! A walking tour of the city! Haha. And although they were getting pretty tedious, I was so glad we were offered these in each city. If it wasn't for these tours, I would have not been able to see all of the landmarks that we were taken to see: 1, because it would have taken forever to find, and 2, because I would have gotten bored and given up to go to the beach :) hahaha. Here are some pictchasss!
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| Our hostel! |
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| The name of the massive outdoor market right off Las Ramblas |
our musical serenaders!
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| Most beautiful view of the city!! |
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| 1992 Olympics hollaa |
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| 'Merica represent |
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| Park Guell by Antoni Gaudi! |
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| Another slight view of Barthhhelona |
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| Haha |
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| Sagrada Familia, also by Antoni Gaudi |
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| Still under construction, because he was never able to finish it. Could be a couple more years before it's done! |
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| Casa Batillo |
By the time that the longest tour imaginable was over, we were SPENT. All we wanted to do was sleep. It was around 3 when we were off on our own, and a group f us decided to get some gyros and Sangrias!! YUMMY!!! Then, me and my two friends Emily and Megumi did some souvenir shopping, and some regular shopping too, of course haha. Meanwhile, Janine ended up getting a hold of our two friends from Florence who also go to ISU with us, and we planned on getting dinner together.
On Saturday, we slept in til around 9:30 (that was a big deal for us haha) and had a wonderful beach day and some fun explorations. We started off on Las Ramblas, the busiest most central street of the city, and went again to the St. Josef La Boqueria, the street market, and picked up some fruit smoothies and snacks to eat on the beach, did some souvenir shopping with the street vendors, and continued our walk through the city for about another 30 minutes until we reached........THE BEACH!!! What a way to end an epic spring break but the beach?? Not a cloud in the sky, 65 degrees and absolutely beautiful, our toes being massaged in the sand as we watched indian vendors illegally selling scarves and mojitos while middle-aged asian ladies insisting on giving us back massages. Juuust as you inagined it, right? Hahaha. Other than the ridiculousness, it was so relaxing to be able to fall asleep to the sound of the waves washing in and then Catalan guitar players strumming tunes.
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| Best gyro I've ever had. Ever. |
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| Back again! |
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| Mine and Megumi's Kiwi and Raspberry smoothies! |
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| Some if this seafood was still squirming around..... |
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| These crabs were still alive too! |
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| Dried fruit and nuts yummmm :) |
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| So many smoothies!!! |
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| Em and I :) |
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| He made his own incense, so I bought some :) |
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| Porto Vell |
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| Janine and Justine <3 |
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| Pineapple Tree!!! |
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| Off to the beach! |
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| Helllloooo spaniards ;) |
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| Yummy fruits!! |
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| Bad pic, but there's the mojito-vendor, sellin away |
By the time it got to be around 5, we headed back and got ready for dinner at La Rosa Naval, a Mexican and Catalan mixed cuisine, which was really good!! I had potato and chorizo tacos, nummyyy. We then bought tickets to see a traditional Tarantos dance show, and even though it lasted for only 30 minutes, it was SOO cool to watch! I would compare it to salsa and tap dancing and interpretive dancing. After the show, at that point we were so tired that our beds were singing our names, so we turned in early.
By Sunday morning, we were all packed and ready to head out and back to Florence. Conveniently, there was a countrywide marathon being help on the street right outside our window. Pretty cool to see a marathon live, but it did prove as an obstacle, and delayed us a lot. After a 15 hour drive, we were back in Florence around 1:30am. THANK goodness!! Hahaha
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| Gettin' artsy |
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| I was in the marathon for half a second!! |
Finalmente finito!!
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