Barcelona: Day One &Two

I finally have interesting things to write about, but haven't had the time to sit down and type everything out. Mostly because I've been traveling for two weeks straight.

First stop: Barcelona! Words cannot describe how beautiful this city is. We first arrived in the worst conditions possible. Elisa had been stranded by the airline (Vueling), it was pouring rain when we walked around the city for 2 hours trying to find the hostel at 1 AM, and somehow we lost Neftalie on our way to the hostel.

The next morning David and I woke up early to walk around the city, while we waited for Elisa to fly in. Vueling, the amazing airline that it is, delayed her flight (again!) and she finally arrived around 13:30. She dropped off her bags, changed, and we were off to Park Güell. Park Güell was absolutely breathtaking. After a short metro ride and a hike up a hill that made me miss San Francisco, we were stopped dead in our tracks by the gorgeous view. Surrounded by rustic Spanish houses and cacti, we turned around and around looking at the Barcelona topography.


With every step Park Güell became more and more incredible.


After a few hours in the Spanish sun at Park Güell, we decided to head to the beach. There we discovered a mini fair, featuring a Titanic fun house and a kid's ride called "Euro Disney" in which "Mickey" greeted you and took your ticket. We walked along the midway until we reached the sandy beach. I ran to splash my feet in the Mediterranean Sea, which was surprisingly warm.


We finally got ahold of Neftalie, so we met at Tapa Tapa, a tapas bar near Rumbla de Catalunya. I didn't realize that the rest of Europe has delicious food at modest prices. After filling ourselves with paella and sangria, we headed towards Plaza Espanya to celebrate the festival Mercé.

As soon as we got on the metro, I was reminded of LoveFest. Hundreds of teenagers drinking and singing loudly, then packing into a square to listen and dance to techno music. The first five minutes were fun, until we realized we were the only ones over the age of 17. After a few minutes of dancing, we decided to head to the hostel to have enough energy for the next day.