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Hola, Barcelona! My feet hurts.

Getting up at 4am on Wednesday was a struggle, especially if you kept waking up in the middle of then night thinking you missed the alarm. But I made it and had breakfast prepared by the late night desk host before the airport transport picked me up and dropped me off at the airport. I was feeling thankful that this time I had a direct flight, from Mykonos to Barcelona.

I got into Barcelona just before 9am. I took the airport bus to Plaça de Catalunya. I was debating if I wanted to get a taxi but worried I might not have enough remaining euros leftover from Mykonos. I wasn't sure about the metro system yet so I didn't want to risk it.

It was a nice day and I was getting excited to be back in a city! Baracelona was huge and diverse and crowded (but not so crowded that it was cramped) and noisy - it felt good. 

So I walked instead. It took me 35 minutes to get to the hostel - "Barcelona & You". At first, it felt far removed from anything but I come to later learn the use of metro and how close things can really be. Having the Sagrada Familia around the corner is awesome! The hostel manager was nice enough to let me check in, put my luggage in my room and use the locker, even though it was not yet 2pm for official check in time nor was my bed ready. It was only 11am! I was glad not to have to pull my luggage anymore.

Once I was armed with a map of the city and the metro, I went out to explore and get familiarized woth the area. I was exhausted so I wasn't anticipating doing a lot for my first day.

Aside from walking around aimlessly with my face stuck in the map, I also walked to the Arc de Triomf (the Spanish version, ha). I took a few breaks and hung  out at my hostel and read my book. Got to know aome British guy that was working remotely for his company (some UK tech company that does property listings but for offices instead of houses).

For lunch, I found 100 Montaditos - a tapas place recommended by my roommate. It was cheap and fast! I got two sandwiches and some fries for €5!






I took a quick peek at Sagrada Familia - hard not to since my hostel is nearby. I'll be doing a full experience on Saturday with a tower visit!


Dinner. Tapas was meant to be shared but yanno, I'll eat it aaaall myself! I finally reached page 300 in my book at this point. Just 500 more to go!

I turned in for bed early since I was exhausted. I woke up the next morning for breakfast at 8am. The breakfast spread was much better compared to the hostel in Dubrovnik.

Today was supposed to rain, particularly in the afternoon. So in order to make the most of it before it rains, I went out early. I got familiar with the metro and took a train and transferred to a stop that took me close to Bari Gotic / the Gothic Quarters.

Lots of cool street art in the old streets of the gothic quarter.

Sadly I forgot to take phone pictures here while wandering throgh the streets. Oops! Tons of camera photos though. Anyway, I ended up looking for, and finding, the Barcelona Cathedral after seeing it on a map and it was nearby. 

I lucked out and came during the time frame where there was free entrance. I got in and viewed the various auxiliary altars. The architecure was pretty and I enjoyed the lighting on the ceiling.


Crypt of the patron saint of Barcelona, Eulydia. She was apparently 13 when she died in matyrdom during the Roman era.

I ended up spontaneously finding the entrance to the top of the cathedral. Just had to pay €3 for entrance. I went up a really rickety elevator and found out the top of the cathedral meant literally the roof!




See the railings? Thats the walking area situated right on the roof of the cathedral!

There's not much area to walk around on, especially since they're doing renovations, but you can see a lot of Barcelona from here. 

I walked back down and toured the area inside the exterior walls of the cathedral before setting off to find lunch. I went to a cheap hole in the wall sandwich cafe and got an eggplant sandwich that was really good. When I sat down, I saw a poster signed by Guy Fieri from Diners Drive-Ins and Dives. Of all places I could have gone, I go to one that Guy Fieri went to. (Sidenote, I think I've now visted two or three restaraunts visited by Guy Fieri!) 





It was still sunny/cloudy at this point so I decided to walk around some more. I ended up finding La Rambla (a thruway in between streets for vendor shopping)! It was bustlying and you can find artists selling their work and creating art from abstract artto caricature portraits. 


I walked all the way down from La Rambla to the port so I could aee the water. Just before the port there was a huge monument. I wasn't sure who it was for besides "Monument a Colom", so I looked it up on Wikipedia. Then it made sense, especially with the plaque mentioning "the Americas" - it was dedicated to Christopher Columbus. 





It is so huge that I can't get a proper photo of it! Here is the base. 

Ugh, I'm gonna get real PC here - I actually really dislike that guy because he did more things wrong than right in history. That's putting it mildly.

Anyway, walking past the monument, I could see the port. I saw some tour boats launching off. In a spur of the moment, I decided to do a quick tour on a boat that was just launching off for €7,50 for 40 minutes. It wasn't a lot to see in my opinion since the port is heavily commercialiazed but it was interesting to see gigantic ships and teal blue waters and seeing Barcelona from a different point of view.





After 40 minutes or so, I was back on land. I lost my marked map I got from my hostel I had to get a new one. After adjusting the a new map with a different layout, I went to find the funiculare to go up Montjuïc, where there was a castle/fort.

Once you take the funiculare (part of the metro system on the L2/L3 line so you can transfer easily without paying again), you're up on the base of Montjuïc. From here, I took the cable car to the top of the hill, which you had to pay for. 





Barcelona has this weird thing where if you're under 29 years old, you're eligble for a discount for some places. I haven't yet found out why but I'm not complaining!

I got a ticket for the castle and set off exploring every corner and learning about the rich history of the fort. 








A feminist art display in the fort's central area. Really interesting!

I probably spent two hours in this fort. They had walls you can walk on, watch a public archery range from atop of one of the walls, rooms inside the fort you visit to learn about the politically charged history full of revolts and massacre. I'm glad the weather stayed good so I could go!

I headed back down both the cable car and funiculare, switched to L2 subway to the nearest stop near my hostel and walked back. I made good timing since the clouds darkened as I made it back. I was so sweaty because I was wearing pants and thought it would rain - and ready for a shower.

I watched an episode of Star Trek Voyager in the common area before I went back out for dinner, book in tow of course. The hotel manager recommended me finding a place to eat along the Avenue de Gaudí. Similar to La Rambla, you can eat in the middle of the thruway which is sandwiched between two streets. 



Got some yummy shrimp and potato tortilla (its different in spanish and not really a tortilla?) It did get a bit dark by the time I finished but luckily it was pretty straight forward getting back.

Thank gosh for Barcelona's grid-like buildings and streets, the latter which is divided by cars, buses/taxis/bikes/pedestrians. Like that. So organized!!! I wish every city did this. 

Writing this entry took longer than I hoped because I'm so tired! Making up for all that relaxing I did in Mykonos. Tomorrow will be even more walking. It is definitely supposed to rain (I guess? Weather can change after all) so I've decided to museum hop! I'm not sure yet what museums I'll visit but I will likely visit 3-4 depending on how much they are!

And Saturday I will be touring more areas of the city and then I will do a tour of the Sagrada Familia and one of its towers! :) I'm very excited. 

And then my trip will be over - I'll be on my way home Sunday! My roommate has offered to pick me up from the airport and I've accepted since I'll be so tired. I'm sad my vacation is coming to an end soon, but I'm so happy I was able to do this.

I promise to share more photos tomorrow! :)