Bar"th"elona

I was so excited about Spain I could hardly stand it, and it has turned out to be worth waiting for!  We arrived in Barcelona around 4 in the afternoon, but unfortunately when we got our "Please Take a Number" ticket to order our other train passes (here we go again), there was up to a 3-hour wait!  Plus, we were hungry.  Plus, we didn't have a hotel yet.  So, we decide we're going to get back on a train and go to a different station to buy tickets.  Brilliant!  Only not so much, because we got to the first staion we were told to go to, then directed to a different one, where we could only buy local tickets and not long-distance ones.  Good. Grief.  So back to the original station we went.  Thankfully, by the time we got there, over 150 numbers had gone by and we wouldn't have too long to wait.  We grabbed some McDonald's quickly, and by the time they called our number, we were sure that our "plan" wouldn't work out because it hadn't so many times in the past.  If I heard "it's not possible" from one more person that worked at a train station I probably would have gone beserk.  But God knows how much we can handle, and thank goodness the man who worked at the counter was able to get us every single train we needed. At this point I didn't even mind as much that it cost us over $100 dollars extra (on top of what we'd already paid for our train passes).  We ran back to McDonald's for free WI-FI, found a hotel, and headed on our way.

We were lucky to get an inexpensive hotel very close to all the action in Barcelona.  The main street there is called "La Rambla."  It is a pedestrianized area full of shops, restaurants, street performers, and great people watching.  We wandered a bit, found some good live music, and ate some tapas at a local restaurant.  We were excited to find that Spain was actually less expensive than the other places we've been. A can of Coca-cola for only 65 cents? I'll take 14! The next day, we had to check out as we were taking a night train to Granada that evening.  Our hotel was nice enough to let us keep our bags there during the day, and there was even a laundromat down the street that did our washing, drying, and folding for us while we were out and about.  It did cost $12 (OMG), but we decided our clothes really needed a good washing, and it was worth it for the time it saved us.  We went out to explore this beautiful city, starting with an inexpensive
breakfast and a free city walk.  We have found free city walks in many of the cities we've gone to, and have found them to be our best experiences.  The one city walk we paid for in Prague wasn't so great, but when people work for tips they seem to work that much harder to give you a good experience.  We really liked our tour guide in Barcelona.  He was quite knowledgable and told lots of great stories.  We were able to see Roman ruins, the original city cathedral, even the square where "the old world met the new world."  This was where Christopher Columbus brought all the "goods" he'd found in the new world to present them to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.  We learned about why Barcelona and the region of Catalan have their own language and culture, and why approximately 1/4 of the population here wants independence from Spain altogether. We were able to see the Plaza de George Orwell, who fought for Spain in the Spanish Civil War.  We saw the art school that Pablo Picasso went to, which unfortunately is now condemned and graffitied.  Our tour ended down at the port.  The water in the Mediterranean was so blue and lovely!  We finished the tour with a couple drinks, then headed out on our own to see the Sagrada Familia, Antoni Gaudi's masterpiece. 

Roman aqueduct ruins

This church was begun in the late 1800's and they've been working on it ever since!  They are expecting to finish it sometime in the middle of this century.  It was absoulutely stunning, and so different than any of the churches we'd seen so far.  We decided to pay the small fortune to see the inside and were so glad that we did.  Gaudi's work was so organic and fluid and detailed.  The light inside the cathedral was amazing, the pillars resembling a forest and the stained glass casting light that could have been pure sunshine breaking through the forest canopy.  The stained glass panels were begun in the 1990s and only about 1/3 are complete so far.  I think the neatest thing about this church is that if we return in 10 or 15 years, it will be so different from now because it is constantly changing. 







After the church, we headed back to the main part of town.  We found the "Boqueria," or the market.  Just as with all the other markets, this one was stunning.  The colors, smells, crowds of people, are so invigorating!  We got some fresh fruit to share, and also tried the delicious fresh fruit juices that almost all the stands offered (so delicious). Then we shared some seafood paella, one of Spain's most famous dishes.  It was about time to head out, so we collected our clothes from the laundromat, packed out bags in the hotel lobby, and headed for the train station. 

At the market

Barcelona was a beautiful city.  I hope that one day we'll be able to return there and spend more than a day!

At the Barcelona port

 That night, we had a night train called the "Trenhotel."  It was so interesting to actually have a room with beds in a train! They had a bar and nice restaurant.  Jon and I had to stay in separate boy/girl rooms, and we both ended up with interesting roomies (Jon's were old and stinky, mine were loud and chatty... I got lots of practice with my Spanish).  After not so much sleep, we arrived in Granada around 8 in the morning, and were ready for another LONG day!