Hola España!

After 2 quick weeks and 2 countries later I have managed to arrive back to England where Internet access is available through other means than sitting at the far end of a stone Turkish garden on a chilly morning hacking into the neighbouring café’s Wi-Fi internet. Also time. That is more available too. So now I have to try and cram my last 2 weeks into the next few weeks. ENJOY!

The 8 hour drive went fairly quick in between Cenac et Saint Julien and Barcelona, with the beautiful mountainous terrain, waterfalls and snowy peeks providing breathtaking panoramic pictures for our minds to consume.

Stopping every now and again was a pleasure with the stop at the border of France and Spain providing my first experience of eating a kinder surprise. My surprise was certainly super, as it was a little figurine of Millhouse (from the Simpsons) playing ice hockey. 

Soon enough, we arrived to amazing situated apartment in Barcelona. After settling in, we headed for the shops to buy some tucker and decide on what we were to do that night. Alice and I had made our decision of tackling the streets of Barcelona. The task proved more difficult than first imagined, having no clue of where to go, what to do, how the metro worked or how to speak a word of Spanish. Nevertheless, our fortunes did us well and lead us to a little alleyway of La Ramblas (probably the most popular and well-known street in Barcelona) and into a cute little bar with a great vibe that played rockin’ records non-stop.
Our feet took us further still that night, to a club called Jamboree (coincidently we had looked at reviews of the club earlier, but had no idea of its location). There, we drank gin and tonics, met people of many origins (English, French, Spanish, American, more English) and danced until the club kicked us out at 6am. Basically the club had two floors. The bottom floor (where we started) that provided music of the 2011 rappin’, poppin’ and hoppin’ generation (I managed to know none of the music) before heading upstairs to the true musical brilliance and ‘golden oldies’. There is something of a Ferris Bueller dance that takes over you when ‘twist and shout’ comes on. 

We tackled more of the Barcelona streets the next day. Being the daytime, a different Barcelona comes out to play, one where stalls, markets and a cloudless sunny sky makes one want to walk everywhere and discover every little knick and knack. After walking down La Ramblas and seeing the great number of stalls, human ‘performances’ and my very first look at a hamster, we arrived at the end of the vivacious street to find what was my favourite group of stalls for the day. There, in front of the harbour, was a group of stalls consisting mostly of old magnets, badges, coins, records, jewellery, magazines, newspaper clippings, black and white photographs and books. Tempted by several badges of musical geniuses, I opted for two Spanish badges one with Spanish writing and another, with the Spanish flag. 

Walking an unknown path that seemed to be the Barcelona Boulevard, Alice and I eventually decided on trying to find our way to the Picasso museum. However, when we got to the museum the line was unbearably long. But, fear not, the journey was not completely pointless. These were some of the sights we were lucky enough to see when becoming lost on the way:

I must admit, at first I was very disappointed in the general architecture and grid formation of Barcelona (a similar annoyance that brought upon me by the structure and grids of Canberra). All streets visually seem the same and you find yourself getting stuck in a sort of blurring unknown universe. It is not until you really stop and take a long look that you are able to see the small detail that is the true beauty of the city, Barcelona.

After a traditional dinner of Tapas, Paella and a big jug of Sangria, I took another chance to just stop and look. This is what I saw:

In terms of visually pleasurable sights, our full day 3 in Barcelona was the most excellent. Just simply by walking you see things on the side of vents or walls that make you wonder whether they have been created by the next Peter Booth or Pablo Picasso.

 I also quite liked how graffiti can make a boring grey 4 story building look individual. 

Guadi’s architecture was our next pleasure and artistic inspiration.

Yet, pleasurable sights do not purely belong in architecture or paintings. The St Josep La Boqueria market displayed how food is also an art. Especially FUDGE. We also tried another traditional Spanish dish earlier in the day called ‘Churros’ or ‘Xurros’ (that’s the correct Spanish spelling).

But I am not sure that anything was as rewarding as seeing the array of colour hanging from the Spanish balconies and the posters that sat on the street walls, as we were searching hopelessly for some Barcelona Opportunity shops. 

Later that night, struggling to decide what to do, we got a message from a fellow couch surfer (a sight we had joined before leaving Australia) who was from Germany travelling in Barcelona. Planning an early night didn’t go well, for we ended up meeting up with Timur the couch surfer, getting free entrance into a club, free drinks for an hour and meeting some rather lovely Swiss men, as well as some very beautiful south African men who worked at the club. A 30-minute sleep was all we got before getting up, driving to the airport and flying to our next destination, Turkey, Istanbul.