The Spanish seem to love having bank holidays. Recently this meant I had a four day weekend, and I wanted to travel somewhere pretty special. I’ve never been to Barcelona before, so with a couple of friends I planned a trip (at the last minute of course).
We travelled using BlaBla car – it worked out to be a little cheaper than by coach. It was quite good and the drivers were very reliable. We stayed at a hostel called Pars Tailors Hostel – great location for walking and using the underground to places. The Hostel was nicely decorated with a vintage theme, and was clean and cheap! Only slight complaint was that some of the staff seemed to only be there for the ‘travellers vibe’. Some didn’t speak Spanish – which you’d think would come in useful! We asked one guy who was clearly stoned out of his mind where the nearest BBVA bank was (a bank very common around Spain). His response: “Is…that…a bank?” Anyways there are plenty of BBVAs all over Barcelona.
We spent our days being ultimate tourists and visited so many places – by the evenings we were dropping off to sleep! As a result I took A LOT of photos. So many I feel the need to divide them into posts to create a mini Barcelona blog series – and a city worth doing so for!
So this post is just a general rambling of “oh I did this and this and this”, but coming up I will ramble about La Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, Casa Battlo, La Boqueria Market, Palau de la Musica Catalana, the Magic Fountain of Montjuic, the old Gothic cathedral and a basilica, and of course my Polaroids. Oh you lucky things!
In most of Spain it is the Three Wise Men who delivery Christmas presents to children. However in the unique region of Catalonia, they have a log which they feed during the build up to Christmas, then hit it with sticks singing a song, and the log shits out the presents. Yes really.
This guy…an “arsehole detector” apparently. He would randomly start making beeping noises as he sensed with his stick…
Street art by Picasso!
It was too cold to go sunbathing by the sea, but our walking tour finished by the port which was beautiful to wander around.
A statue commemorating Picasso, Gaudi and Miro – leading artists with ties to Barcelona!
Advertised via the Couchsurfers website, we were told of a flamenco show in a bar the Sunday night. It was a small Latin American bar with cheap beer and expensive wine. The flamenco show was impressive – I think the style of dancing represents the Spanish well: passionate and intense to say the least! I also love the emotional singing filled with heartache that flamenco music provides. Afterwards there was also salsa music, and lots of people got up to dance – I do love Latino culture!
Recent election results in Venezuela had Venezuelans in the city take to a square, waving their flag proudly, and singing and celebrating.
I had a squid ink paella that wasn’t the prettiest looking thing but still good! We also went to a street in which the bars sell one euro tapas – and good tapas! Generally ate and drank very well, which you can always expect from Spain.
I loved Barcelona – it is definitely a city I would love to return to. I feel it helped visiting during off peak tourist season – less people, not too hot, and I didn’t experience any problems with the notorious pickpockets. But after living in a small city again it felt good to soak up the cosmopolitan vibe that I miss!
Stay tuned for more of the best attractions Barcelona offers!
Inside a Mind 