Almost everyone who had
travelled to Barcelona had told us two things; firstly it was the best destination
they had ever travelled to, and secondly to watch out for the pick pocketing. In Barcelona we were excited to see La Sagrada
Familà which is the Bassilica of the Expiatory Church of the Holy Family, famously
started by Antonio Gaudi. It still remains under construction since 1882 (131 years), and is said to finish in 80 years time. One of the other big highlights is the Barcelona Olympic stadium from the '92 Games.
Our first
stop in Barcelona was the hill of Montjuic - which is the sight of the Olympic
stadium. After running a one hundred meter dash in Athens, I was hoping to run one
in Barcelona. Sadly, there was a crew filming an advert in the stadium, yet it was still very impressive! After the visit to the Olympic stadium, we were
taken on a coach tour which stopped off at the La Sagrada Familia. This is the Bassilica of the Expiatory Church of the Holy Family, famously started by Antonio Gaudi. It still remains under construction since 1882 (131 years ago), and is said to finish in 80 years time. We then moved on to the old town of Barcelona. Barcelona was our first stop in Spain so our
guide had arranged a few packets of Chupa Chups (suckers / lollies) for us which kept us going on
our walking tour of the old town. If you didnt know, Chups Chups are proudly Spanish.. Along with Zara and Mango!
After a few hours of exploration, we all met
up for dinner in an old Bull Ring that has been converted into a shopping center.
It was time for some Sangria and Tapas on the top floor to end off our first day in Spain, looking over the mighty Barcelona city view.
Our second day in Barcelona was given to us
as a free day to further explore and relax. Our accommodation was on the outskirts of
Barcelona so our coach made two stops in Barcelona; one in the center and the
other at the beach. The beaches in Barcelona have been man-made for tourists
with sand imported from Egypt! Ash and I decided to rather explore the city
center, as we have some beautiful real beaches back home and on our next stop in Malaga, South of Spain. Walking the streets in Spain
with Ash is definitely harder than any other country in Europe because every single (there are hundreds) shop is on sale! Barcelona also has an extremely unique shopping
mall which is built in the old harbor, out in the sea. We explored this by taking a mobile bridge to the mall, before I
told Ash it was time for a lunch break as I still can't understand the concept of window shopping for hours. We had been told that there was
delicious and reasonably priced "paella" in the old port area, so we decided to head
in that direction for lunch. The rumors were true, for 8 euros Ash and I ordered a massive seafood Paellla. Not having known anything
about Paella before arriving in Spain, I am definitely a massive fan. The story of Paella is that the man of the house cooks on a Sunday - and inserts all the ingredients left over from the week and weekend into a big pan with rice. After lunch we both were moving a bit slow because
our stomachs were so full. We managed to crawl back to the center of town to
catch the bus and get ready for dinner.
Our tour then offered an optional extra dinner with a Flamenco Show, but at 60 euros each we gave it a miss.
Besides the cost, Flamenco comes from the Andulucia region in Spain which is
where we were heading after Madrid. However, we still caught the coach into Barcelona
and then headed for a long city walk followed by a picnic in one of Barcelona's many great parks.
Next stop: Madrid (Last stop on the Med Highlights Contiki)
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