Part I: Barcelona

This last week, we had a week off from classes. I took the opportunity to do some traveling to Spain and Morocco. At the start, I was pretty burnt out and tired from school, wanting to stay home, sleep, and watch television shows, instead of traveling. But in the end, I think it was exactly what I needed - lots of SUN. Now I'm back in Paris where it's raining, grey, and cold. :(

Over my eight days of vacation, I traveled more than 3500 miles by air, train, bus, van, and ferry! So instead of compiling my whole trip and more than 1000 pictures into one post, I’m going to try and dedicate a few posts to the entire trip.

Part I - Barcelona

Early on the morning of February 24^th, I headed off to Paris Beauvais airport (not actually in Paris, but an HOUR and a HALF away…). And soon, I landed in sunny Barcelona!

  

After waking up to a cold and grey morning in Paris, it was nice landing in sunny Barcelona :)

After getting off the plane, I took the bus to Plaça de Catalunya, the city centre of Barcelona. Since I had a couple hours to kill before meeting up with the girl I was staying with, I explored a little bit on my own and just enjoyed the alone time, the city, and the sun :)

They have an Arc de Triomphe in Barcelona too! - Arc de Triomf

yumm

The view from the apartment of my host :)

After meeting up with my host, she took me on a walk to the water! It was the perfect tour. After having traveled so much, I'm not super interested in the sights unless they are must-sees. Instead, I love just walking the city and getting the feel of being there and not being super touristy. 

Another fact: I hate walking around with maps like a tourist, so I usually put them on my iPod before leaving for the city or fold up a super small section of the map. Getting lost is the best way to know a city. :)

dulce de leche gelato!

The W Hotel, shaped like a sail, in the background

I'm a huge fan of sunsets and beaches, so Barcelona was the perfect place for me! The two days that I was there were perfect, and I'm hoping to go back again in May :)

A ton of the bars and clubs are under this pier thingy, so the entrances look like this 

Look at that amazing sky!

A little bar with meat hanging from the ceilings - super busy, but no obvious sign of what it was on the outside! One of those places that you just have to know about it.

Some Roman walls

cute little wine bar

My couchsurfing host, Dayana :)

Little sandwiches of goat cheese (chevre) and jam - the only time I've ever liked chevre! 

Sobrasada and bread - so good!!

After taking me around Barcelona on a little food and sights tour, Dayana took me to her friends house where we proceeded to eat lots more food and play some Dance Central on the Wii. We ended up getting home around 3am! 

Her friend sells manga and stuff like that (I have no clue about this stuff), so he had a HUGE room of all this stuff!

I love how a lot of the alleys have trees - these ones are orange trees! :D

The second day (and last day in Barcelona), I was on my own because Dayana and her friends were going out of town. So, I proceeded to explore on my own! 

La Sagrada Familia - started in 1882, designed by Gaudí and still under construction! Anticipated to be completed in 2026.

There were so many people in line to get in that the line went all the way around the block! So I decided to just skip it and hopefully come back sometime in the future!

On this trip, I decided to get a ticket for the city tour bus. I've never done those tour things besides the Seine River cruise with my parents, but since I didn't have anything that I just HAD to see, I decided to just splurge and ride the bus. It turned out to be a great idea - very relaxing :)

Park Güell, designed by Gaudí - the most strangely incredible and beautiful park I've ever seen! 

Caixa Forum

The MNAC - Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (National Art Museum of Catalonia) 

Olympic Park

Olympic Stadium

World Trade Center Barcelona

Columbus Monument - located at the site where Columbus returned to Spain after his first voyage to the Americas.

After taking the tour bus one round, I stopped by the Olympic village near the water, where the restaurants and bars are located and took a lunch break. The paella and wine were delicious, though I can probably only stand to eat paella like once a month or so... Spanish food is not my favorite..or maybe I haven't found any to my liking, besides the sobrasada and simple bread and ham :P

Paella and wine by the beach - so nice :)

After my lunch break, I got back on the bus, hoping to catch the sunset from the top of Montjuïc, the hill where the Olympic Stadium is located. Unfortunately, because the bus driver took so many breaks (getting coffee, saying hi to friends, etc.....), I didn't get to see it from the top. But it was still nice to see the city in a different view than from the light of the late morning :)

The Columbus Monument by night 

After getting off the tour bus, I grabbed my stuff from Dayana's place and headed off to the train station where I waited a couple hours for my midnight train to Madrid!

Barcelona was amazing, and my trip there was too short! I miss it already! But just those two days were invigorating and worth leaving Paris for, especially seeing the sun and the Mediterranean! Next time I go to Barcelona, I hope the weather will be warm enough to go swimming! Hope you've enjoyed this first post of my trip :) Still plenty more to come! :D