Monday morning Rachel and I decided to go to La Sagrada Familia, which is a basilica designed by GaudÃ. We figured that since this was one of the main tourist attractions in Barcelona it would be super duper busy most of the day. Keeping this in mind we decided to wake up super early in the morning and take the metro and try to beat the crowd. It opens at 9 am and we were in line at about 8! We were pleased to discover that our plan worked wonderfully, and we were some of the first people in line (6th to be exact!!). We had a good time standing in line and listening to other people talk about their vacations. We even worked out a system of acquiring food...Rachel held down our spots in line and I went and got us donuts and orange juice from Starbucks (pretty much the only place open at 8 am).
Our first glimpse of La Sagrada Familia!
This is a shot of the back of the church. There are lots of scenes depicting the life of Jesus.
Some of the spires atop La Sagrada Familia.
6th in line!! We are awesome!
Finally 9 o'clock rolled around and the gates opened!! Oh, I should also mention that by this time the line stretched very far behind us...around the corner and almost all the way down another side of the block! Seyb cousins for the win! Anyway, we get our tickets (student discount...we win again!) and make our way inside the church. The moment we stepped inside it was breathtaking! The inside is very open with giant stone pillars that resemble tree trunks and it makes you feel as if you are in a forest. The whole church is made out of light colored stone and there are windows all around, so there is a light airy feel with lots of natural light. It is simply amazing with the early morning sun beaming through the stained glass windows, casting brilliant colors across the floor of the basilica.
Inside of the church.
Looking up at the ceiling inside of La Sagrada Familia.
I think what made the experience that much more special was the fact that we were some of the first people inside. The lack of tourists made it feel more like a church and a place of worship than a tourist attraction for that brief moment before thousands of people started filling its walls. I really appreciated this and it made waking up super early well worth it!
The inside of the basilica sans tourists! So amazing!
After we got our fill of the church, Rachel and I tried to find a little supermarket were we could buy chips and salsa and other snack-type food. We finally found one and purchased a feast of oreos, sunny-D, chips, and in lieu of salsa, we settled for nutella! We found a bench in the park across from La Sagrada Familia and enjoyed our mid-morning snacks.
It was then time to hop back on the metro and make our way to meet Natalia, Mandy, and Chris for a day a the beach! For this adventure we went to a smaller town outside of Barcelona called Sitges. Mandy and Natalia often frequent this small town so they were able to show us around. After getting some sandwiches at a little shop we made our way to the beach! Sitting on a sheet I took from our hostel, we enjoyed our picnic lunch, great people, and soaking up the sun!
The beautiful town of Sitges.
Enjoying lunch on the beach!!
The beautiful beach!!
Rachel and I soaking up the sun!
The water was rather chilly, but Rachel was brave and went in up to her waist. My toes were the only part of me that came in contact with the Mediterranean Sea. Once we had our fill of the sun we went up to the church that looks out over the Sea. It was such a beautiful view!! We then walked by la Casa Bacardi, which is where they make Bacardi Rum. Sadly, since it was not the weekend it was not open for tours so we just had fun taking pictures by the sign instead of enjoying free samples.
Our lovely group on the the beach!
The beautiful church in Sitges.
There are these cool tiles all over the outside of buildings in Sitges.
Once we realized that it was getting toward late afternoon and all of us had significantly more color (mainly red) than before hitting the beach, we caught the train back to Barcelona. Rachel and I went back to our hostel to relax, eat dinner, and get ready for our evening adventure...going to IceBarcelona.
IceBarcelona is an Ice Bar, where everything is made of ice and you wear giant snowsuits while in the bar. It is super touristy but we thought it would be fun. So, after recovering from a day in the sun, Rachel and I met up with Natalia and tried to find the ice bar. After asking for directions and searching endlessly, we finally found our destination. However, much to our great disappointment, it was closed!! Nobody was there and the only remnants of it being an ice bar was a pile of ice on the beach. It was devastating! We came to the conclusion that they must have been experiencing technical difficulties that made them close early.
Rachel and I super sad in front of the Ice Bar. Oh well, I guess we will just have to go to Vegas where there are two Ice Bars!!
For an alternate evening activity, Natalia took us to a bar that was fairly close to our hostel. It was a really cool place. It reminded me of what bars would have looked like in medieval times, or how the bars in movies like Pirates of the Caribbean or Shrek are dark and kind of dingy and have exposed beams and stone floors. Anyway, we enjoyed some delicious sangria and shared some laughs as well.
Tuesday, Rachel and I decided to be awesome tourists once again. We got up early and walked to La Padrera, which is an apartment complex designed by GaudÃ. Again it didn't open until 9 am but Rachel and I were there waiting at about 8:30. This time we were the third and fourth people in line!! We worked our breakfast acquiring magic and enjoyed muffins and yogurt. Once the doors opened we darted in to get our tickets. We then rushed up the stairs and made our way to the roof of the building, which is where tourists flock.
Outside of La Padrera.
The vacant roof of La Padrera.
As we stepped out onto the roof, we discovered that we were THE first people on it! It was so cool to get neat pictures without tons of random tourists littering our snapshots. At this point, Rachel and I proclaimed that we pretty much had conquered this whole tourist thing. I think it is partly due to our parents taking us on loads of family vacations when we were little. Anyway, we frolicked about the roof, checked out the museum in the attic, and explored one of the apartments in the building.
Our "we are the best tourists ever" faces.
More roof.
Really cool gates at La Padrera. Notice all of the people waiting in line...suckers!! They wish they had our awesome tourist skills.
After La Padrera, we had a little time to kill so we went back down to the beach to see if the IceBarcelona was open, but sadly the IceBar part was still closed and we asked a worker and he said something was broken so it wouldn't be open at all. Sad. Day. After pouting on the beach for a while, Rachel and I sucked it up and went off to meet Natalia at the Barca Football Stadium since Rachel didn't get to see it before.
We explored the outside of the stadium and took a spin through the gift store. We then headed up to meet Mandy. We went to a little cafe near where Mandy lives and we enjoyed cups of spanish hot chocolate. Now, their version of hot chocolate is not so much of a drink as a cup of melted chocolate that you have to eat with a spoon. It was sooooo good! After enjoying our chocolate, we purchased things for our beach picnic planned for that evening.
Spanish hot chocolate...soooo good!
Rachel and I went back to our hostel for a while to relax and get stuff organized for leaving in the morning. We then met up with everyone else around 9 that evening and headed down to the beach for a lovely night picnic. I really enjoyed sitting on the beach in the moonlight, looking out over the dark water, seeing all the lights of the city and eating salami, baguettes, cheese, peeps, chips, and drinking wine with some really great people! We shared lots of laughs and had a great time. It was then time to hustle back to the metro before it stopped running.
Our lovely beach picnic!
Wednesday morning Rachel and I met Mandy and went and had a delicious breakfast of fresh croissants and fresh squeezed juice. Before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye to Barcelona and head for the airport. Rachel and I spent some quality time in the airport until her flight left, and then I hung around for several more hours until mine finally left. I made it safely back to Dundee and was exhausted and had a suitcase full of dirty laundry.
Rachel and I were pleasantly surprised at the airport by finding some money!
I had such an amazing adventure with both Carly (and other Guilford people) and Rachel (and her Knox friends). It was definitely a week well spent and I know I will always look back on it with a smile. I hope to go back to Spain one day and it really made me want to get better at my Spanish skills, which I plan on doing this summer!
I hope everyone gets to go on a wonderful adventure in the near future!
Cheers!
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