Day One
We found ourselves to be lazy travellers after the first, action-packed day of exploring. It's also worth noting that the rest of our tour group consisted of a smattering of middle-aged women who travel the world together periodically, and a couple sets of older persons who put us recent college graduates to shame. With the 7 hour jet lag in full force, we woke up on that first morning with the following agenda ahead of us:
- Early breakfast in the hotel
- A tourbus survey of the city of Barcelona
- Lunch at some exotic restaurant, just Sloane and I
- Checking out the area around the hotel for shops
- Calling back home to update our families on our journy
- Dinner somewhere?
- Pass out early and sleep for 14 hours
We ended up accomplishing maybe three of those objectives. The tour was gorgeous, and we saw some of the buildings used in the Barcelona Olympics, shown below, as well as a palace and a cliff-side view of the Mediterranean. What sucked, is that we both felt our body's screaming at us since back home in the States it was the middle of the night, yet the sun was shining harsh and bright into our faces.
The Rest
After that first day, the rest our of four days and nights took a similar form. We would sleep until 9 or 10 am, take the little elevator downstairs for a bite to eat and a few cortados, before heading outside to walk around until lunchtime. Once we committed to a lunch location, we'd be at that location for no less than 2 hours, usually closer to 4. Lunch is a big deal here—everyone eats a huge meal with lots of friends and coworkers for the entire afternoon, along with wine or beer and dessert or coffee. Our bodies, as with the jet lag, were not used to this kind of living. The pace is also very relaxed at this time of the day. Servers do not pressure you to leave, and take their time in bringing you the check after your meal, as they expect you to sit and gab a while.
Our favorite restaurant was a Mediterranean restaurant that served all vegetarian options. Despite our best intentions to try lots of different stuff while abroad, we ended up eating at Humus Barcelona three different times
The real highlight of the trip, and one of the most impressive sights I've ever seen, was La Sagrada Familia, the famous cathedral built by architect Antoni Gaudí. Gaudí built many famous buildings in Barcelona, but La Sagrada is his masterpiece. He spent a large chunk of his work on the design and construction, and due to several historical mishaps (the Civil War, the World Wars, etc), as well as the complexity of the design, La Sagrada is still being constructed. Our guide told us that it is slated to be finished in 2026, which would mark 100 years after the death of its architect. I'll let my photos show what I cannot even describe.
I'd like to leave one last oddity spotted at one of the gift shops near La Sagrada Familia. Inexplicably, we found a not-for-sale plaque on the wall of a souvenir store with a terribly inaccurate map of the St. Louis and Missouri region, showcasing a fake pistol. I'm still wondering to myself, "Why?" But here it is.
Much love to GoAhead Tours for the incredible experience, to my partner for being a champion, and to the city of Barcelona for just being beautiful and cool.