Barcelona, Baby!

 

Hello Blog People,

    APOLOGIES: This is like a month late. I know I know I know. But it's here now...so that's good. 

    Anyway, we are here for the long awaited Barcelona entry. This trip was a lot: a lot of fun and a lot of learning. I will be honest; it was not the smoothest trip I've been on. However, it was a good time and I made a lot of memories. So let's get right to it. 

    Ainsley and I decided to go to Barcelona before we left for Nice. We both didn't have plans for Winter Break (which, yes, was in the beginning of March) and we both wanted to go to Barcelona. This was one of the most popular trip locations of the ACA students this year. I know of at least 4 other groups of people that went to Barcelona this year. So we had some good recommendations to go off of. Though we knew we were going to go, we didn't plan much before hand. Our tickets and accommodations were decided before we left, but other than that we had some ideas and a loose itinerary.     

    So we got on a bus early in the morning on the 6th of March, the day after we finished out Q2 finals, and made our way to the Bologna airport. We did indeed have to run to catch our bus, but we made it and we didn't have any issues in the airport. We flew straight from Bologna to Barcelona which was really nice, and we were sitting next to each other (not insured because we had a little trouble with my ticket purchasing). It was a little turbulent at times, but we made it to Barcelona safely in the middle of the day. 

    We couldn't check into our hostel until 3pm (yes, we chose to stay in a hostel), so we walked around a little bit and figured out how to use the public transportation. We made it closer to the city center and got some lunch. We went to a little brunch place and had bagels. They were pretty good, but didn't have much flavor. Then we walked around and tried to find a park to go to. We found that it was inside a zoo that we had to pay for (we think...), and so we just rested on a university bench instead. Then when it was time we made our way to the hostel. 

 

   We stayed at a place called Jacobs Inn and it was about a 15 minute walk to the beach which was lovely. I liked the location and the vibe of the hostel. There was a kitchen we could use, communal showers and bathrooms, and even a little cafe space that you could buy breakfast in the morning. However when checking in, we ran into our first problem: we didn't book our rooms together (IDK why) and we didn't leave them any sort of note, so they put us in separate rooms. We asked if we could switch if someone moved out of one of our rooms and just swap with someone, but they said all the rooms were booked so we could not do that. We thought when we booked that there was only one Girls Only Dorm, but there turned out to be multiple. It was our bad for not communicating in any way that we wanted to be put together because, well, how should they know we want to be together and that we even know each other unless we tell them. Thankfully our rooms were very close to each other. It was about 3 steps from my door to Ainsley's door. We got settled into our rooms and came to terms with the situation. That evening we went and got dinner at McDonalds (DON'T JUDGE! We needed comfort food), created a plan, and bought tickets for the different actives we wanted to do the next day. 

    I will say here that I think I was made for hostel life. I'm so serious. I love it! The evening of the first day I went downstairs to just an open area and called my mom for a little bit. As I was sitting there, a random guy came up to me and asked if I wanted to play Uno. I said when I was done I would think about it. After I finished up my call, I went over and joined this random group and played with them for a few round. Most spoke French, but they were from all over. There was a girl from Argentina, one guy from Portugal, one guy from the Netherlands (I think), and two from France. No one really knew each other when they got to the hostel, but they just bonded over playing Uno. After the game, I had some new friendly faces to see around the hostel, and I did see them around. I also talked with some of the girls from Denmark who were in my room who were traveling for about a week. I met two ladies who were going to a gynecology and oncology congress in Barcelona for about 5 days, and the last night I met a nice older woman who was coming back from volunteering in Tunisia. One of the congress ladies was actually from Tunisia, which was a fun little connection! It's just the extrovert and Mid-west Nice that come out when I stay with people in a hostel. Everyone is very friendly and respectful most of the time. You have you own little bit of space (more of you have a private room) and get to just exist in the same space as a bunch of interesting people. Personally, I like it a lot.  

      The next day was our big day in Barcelona. Our first stop was breakfast at the hostel and then we made our way to Park Güell. This was a place that a lot of people recommended seeing. I didn’t know a lot about it before we got there, but overall it was really cool. Park Güell is a big portion of land that has different buildings and mosaics all over. It’s famous for a mosaic lizard statue that was in the Cheetah girls movie and a famous balcony that has mosaics all over it. There are also big tall columns, a hill with three crosses and a great view of Barcelona, and a house on top of a hill. Ainsley and I walked around for a while taking pictures and looking at everything. It was a beautiful day to walk around the park. After we were done in the park, we started making our way to downtown Barcelona. Our next appointment was the Sagrada Familia, but we got lunch first. We ate at Oakberry Açaí which is one of my favorite places. It is so delicious! I had it for the first time in Nice, and then we knew there were quite a few in Barcelona, so we had to stop. 

    Once we were done at Oakberry, we walked to the Sagrada Familia. It was breathtaking. We bought our ticket with an audio guide, and I’m so glad we did. The tour waked us through the statues and engravings, starting on the side of the temple that depicts the birth of Jesus. The whole side was so ornate and full, you had to stare and look at it for a while. Then we were guided into the church, taken through all the different areas and details, and then out to the side depicting the crucifixion. 

     I learned so much through the tour. First, Sagrada Familia means “holy family”, and you can see that with  various depictions of the holy family. I also learned that so much of Sagrada Familia was intentional and inspired by nature. The columns and ceilings were made to look like looking up in a forrest surrounded by trees. Once this was said, it was so obvious. Even the measurements and dimensions of the different knaves or distance between columns was intentional. And the stained glass windows were simply iconic. We went in in the afternoon, so the red, orange, yellow side was glowing as we entered. The colors of the different windows actually coincide with the light of sunrise and sunset depending on the side. Ainsley and I spent about 2 hours inside, just observing and looking at everything. It was amazing to see it from all angles, and to remember that it’s not even done yet. It was started in 1882 and its still being built. I cannot wait to see it when it gets done. My only problem with it was that because it was such an attraction, it was not super quiet inside. I would love to just sit and observe it. But I stand by the fact that this is one of the most beautiful things I have seen in my entire life. 

  

     The outside is also very interesting. You can see the styles of the two main sides are very different. The first side, depicting the birth of Jesus, is very full and ornate as I said. You can see tons of animals and flowers and plants and characters. But the other side, the side depicting the crucifixion, is very sharp and rigid. The style is complete different. It is not elaborate, but simplistic. Part of the facade is supposed to look like muscles pulling and another part is supposed to look like ribs. Even the statues were very stylistic and modern. I appreciate both of the styles and it was interesting to see so much contrast on the same building. 

    I have noticed that every time I see something absolutely breathtaking, everything gets compared to it. I went to the Taylor Swift concert, and now every other concert is good, but not as great. It’s held to a very high standard. Same with churches in comparison to the Sagrada Familia; they just aren’t as amazing. I can still appreciate the beauty, but I will always think about the Sagrada Familia as the best church I’ve ever seen. 

    We/I was pretty hungry after walking through the temple, so we went and knocked led another thing off our Barcelona bucket list: eating churros and having a cortado. We went to a nearby shop and I got a chocolate churro. It was good, but I didn’t finish it. The actual churro part didn’t have a ton of flavor, and the inside of mine was very sweet. Ainsley got a dolce de leche which was also sweet, but just a different type of sweet. 

    One of the last things we did on our Barcelona day was go to Casa Battlò. By the time we got out of the Sagrada Familia, we were both Gaudi fans. He made a bunch of houses all over Barcelona, so we went to visit one of his most famous ones. It was not super far away, and it was crowded. We could have bought tickets for it earlier,but just seeing the outside was good enough for me. 

    We headed back to the hostel and rested for a little bit before going to dinner. We went to a local taco place which was really good. i wish I could say the rest of the night was uneventful, just a walk to the beach and then going to bed before our next day in Andorra. But that was not the case. 

When I bought the tickets from Florence to Bologna, I just bought a one way ticket. I assumed that there would be buses and trains back when we arrived back in Bologna on Saturday night and we wouldn’t have a problem. Well, I should not have assumed that. When I went online to look for tickets, there were not after 10pm, and we would be getting in at 22:15 (or 10:15 pm) at the earliest. That's when I knew we had a problem. 

    I am proud to say that I did not freak out when I figured this out. I just went into problem solving mode. I immediately texted our chaplain, Nicolò, who has a car, and asked him if he could pick us up. He said he could, and we thought all our problems were solved. But when I messaged him, I forgot to mention that we were flying into Bologna, not Florence. So he said let's see if there are other options and get back to him while he texted a few people. We looked at flights back, either changing our flight or flying from Bologna to Florence. We looked at staying in a hotel for the night. We looked at when the soonest train or bus would be there. We looked at taxi services and how far they would be. Each solution had their own problems that came with it. But eventually we heard back from Nicolò who suggested that we take back the earliest bus (12:35 am) to Florence, arrive around 2am, and then he would pick us up and take us to Villa because the trams would not be running. I could have cried I was SO grateful to him for being willing to come and pick us up. So with that problem taken care of, we walked to the beach for a little passeggiata and then ent back to the hostel and went to bed. 

    The next day was a dream come true. I have wanted to go to a really little country called Andorra for a long time. There isn't much there, but it is like a real life Genovia from The Princess Diaries movies. (Genovia is supposedly between France and Spain.) Ainsley was gracious enough to agree to go with me when we started discussing the trip, so on Friday we went to Andorra. 

  
     There isn't a super easy way to get up there because Andorra is in the Pyreneese mountains . I would have loved to take a train, but that line does not exist. So we rode a bus from three hours. We bought tickets for a pretty early time, walked to the station which was about 20 minutes away, and rode the bus three hours until we got to Andorra la Vella, the capital of Andorra. The drive up was beautiful. We got higher into the mountain as the sun was rising and it was so cool to see the geography change as we kept going. It even snowed a little bit on the trip. That was fun cause when I was home for Christmas there wasn't a lot of snow. We got there in the mid morning and started to walk around. 

    Like I said, there wasn't a lot to do in Andorra. We explored the city a little bit, taking in the surrounding mountains and cool temperatures. As we explored, we learned a few things.

        - There is an original statue called La Noblesse du Temps (The Nobility of Time) by Salvador Dali. It looks like a melting clock. I didn't realize it was famous until after, but I did get a picture with it. Pretty neat!

        - The city is home to Southern Europe's largest thermal spa called Caldea Spa. It was really really tall and looks pretty fancy inside. We walked around a little bit (not in the actual spa area), and we KNEW we weren't supposed to be there. We were decked out in hats and jackets and most people were either wearing uniforms because they were working or swimsuits because they were getting the spa experience. For a hot second we considered signing up for massages, but figured we would rather save our money. 

        - The city is more popular in the summer time for the hiking trails in the mountains or in the winter for skiing season. We were there in a weird middle period, so it wasn't super busy. But I could tell it got pretty busy during peak seasons. 

        - There were a lot of luxury stores, like you find in most big European cities. People come and visit and buy a bunch of expensive stuff. There was also a lot of sport/athletic equipment. It was kinda fun just to see what kinds of shops were there. 

     We wandered around the city for a while, just getting our bearings and seeing what there was to see. We stopped and got bagels for lunch, and then went on a little walk. I would like to say we went on a hike, but we walked along a gravel path for less than a mile with no incline other than to get to the trail, so it wasn't much of a hike. After we went and holed up in a REALLY cute coffee shop and read. The weather was rainy and cold the whole day, so it was nice to finally stop and rest and read for a little bit. It was so aesthetic and picturesque, I just love it. Anyway, we got some dinner and then made our way back to the bus station. We had no trouble getting back on the bus and we soon were on our way back to Barcelona. Overall it was a good day. I added another country to my list of places I've been, and can cross something off my bucket list. And I got my fix of the mountains for a little bit. It was a good day. 

    Our final day in Barcelona was part Barca, part travel. Our flight wasn't until the afternoon, so we got to hang out in the city for a little bit. We took our time getting ready in the morning and checked out around 10. Then we sat in the lobby of the hostel for, I kid you not, at least an hour. It was my choice, because it was rainy again and we didn't have much to do. Plus we had to carry our bags everywhere. After we finally got up the guts to leave, we walked to a nearby flea market and looked at the things they had for sale. I haven't been to a lot of flea markets in Europe, but this one was pretty cool. It was small and had everything for sale, from watches to old cameras to knock off rings to the most random crap you could think of. After taking my time in the market, we walked to a nearby mural. It's called "El món neix en cada beside" (The World Begins With A Kiss). It's a mosaic of pictures sent in by Barcelona residents in 2014 in honor of Carolina Day (Sept. 11, 1714), and it near the Cathedral of Barcelona. It is tucked away in a little corner and it was actually pretty cool. 

 

 After visiting the mosaic we made our way to a famous market called Mercado de la Boquería. It kinda resembels the Borough Market in London, just not as big. We walked around a bit but since it was a Saturday, it was REALLY crowded. We bought gifts for a few people and some food for lunch. I got a chicken and avocado empanada and a juice. It was so good! The whole vibe of a market is something that I kinda love. I adore the idea of having a recipe you want to try for dinner and going to the local market and getting fresh ingredients for it. Very idealistic, but I feel like that is an attainable goal. Anyway, after the market we still had some time before we had to get to the airport. By this time it was raining pretty heavily. I wanted to find a coffee shop to hunker down into, but a lot of the nearby ones were full. So we found one kinda off the beaten path, got some tea, and waited for the rain to stop and time to go by. It was kinda fun just to sit there for a little bit. And soon it was time to head to the airport. 

    When we bought our ticket on the first day to get to the city center from the airport, we got a return ticket too. This made getting back really easy, because I made sure there was a station close the coffee shop we were at. We hopped on the bus to take us to the airport and we were on our way. Our only little hiccup was we didn't know what terminal we had to get to. We took it to one of them, went inside, and checked the boards. But our flight information was not on them. We started to freak out a little bit, but it was no problem because there was a free transit between terminals at the airport. So we got on a transit and it took us to the right one. We still had plenty of time to go through security, get a coffee, and sit around for a little bit. We made it on the plane with no troubles and we soon landed in Bologna. 

    Once we got to the Bologna airport we sat around for a little bit. I called my mom and some of my friends. Ainsley talked to her family back home. Two hours goes fast when you're traveling. I don't know why, but it didn't seem very long at all. In no time it was 12:15 and we started to head to our bus. Then we came to our final problem. We got to the bus. It was there. No problems. But as we tried to get on the bus, the bus driver said our tickets wouldn't work because they were for the wrong day. Apparently if you have a 12:30 am ticket, you need to buy it for the day before??? It didn't make sense then and it doesn't make sense now. There was another couple there that had the same issue and were trying to communicate that it was a new day; it was after 12:00 so the day had changed. But the driver insisted that we had the wrong tickets. He didn't speak much English and we didn't speak enough Italian. He said we could get on if the bus wasn't full (It's freaking 12:30 am. The bus was not full!) but the couple still argued that we had the right tickets. We eventually wore him down and in frustration he said we could get on the bus. I still think we were right. I think he was trying to scam us. I didn't find any fine print on the ticket that said it was for a different day. But we got on the bus and headed back to Florence. 

    When we got back to the station, Nicolò was standing there waiting for us like the hero that he is. We got off the bus and headed back to Villa. Oh, it felt so good to be back safe in Florence. Once we got back to the dorm, we settled down and quickly went to bed. And you better believe we slept in for a long time the next morning.

Here are some other notes from Barcelona 

• I like riding the metro. I kinda wish they had one in Florence. It’s not fun when it’s super crowded, but having another made of transportation other than walking, trams, buses and trains is nice. It’s near tram and bus levels for ease of use and helpfulness. 
• For those who may not know the difference: Tram = above-ground transportation on wire and rails. Metro = underground, local to a city. Most of the time there's a couple different lines. Train = self explanatory. Bus = also self explanatory. 

• A lot of the food that we tried in Spain didn’t have a lot of flavor. I expected a little more. But at least it all wasn’t super spicy.

• All my Spanish seemed to disappear when we got to Spain. It always comes out when I don’t want it to and when I try to talk Italian, but it was not helpful and wouldn’t have been helpful because they mainly speak Catalan in Barcelona. It’s a common language/dialect on the east side of Spain and Andorra. 

    I am really glad we got to go on the trip. It was a great experience and I'm so blessed to travel around on these breaks. It was a good trip, even if it wasn't always smooth sailing. And I hope you enjoyed reading about it. Check out the next post for some pictures from the trip. 

Ciao, 

        Ellie