Barcelona, Spain

As we arrived to Barcelona after our 6am train ready to conquer another city, we quickly realized two mistakes. If forgetting to look up where our hostel was located and having to ask several people for (contradicting) directions was bad enough, Dustin Dolby, another world traveler on the trip, realized that we had actually arrived to Barcelona a day before our hostel reservation. The team was rattled to say the least. We eventually found our way to the hostel and were relieved to hear that they had a room for us, despite being a day early. We then decided to find out all that Barcelona had to offer by taking a (much needed) six-hour siesta. Since we were there for five days and managed to do about two weeks worth of activities, it is hard for me to recall everything to write about. I will just share some of the highlights of the trip.

            One of our afternoons was spent touring the FC Barcelona stadium. Although soccer ranks on the lower end of my favorite sports, it was still an extremely worthwhile experience. We were able to view the hundreds of trophies won by the team, learn the club’s history, enter the away team’s locker loom, walk through the tunnel that leads the players onto the field, enter the press conference room, and be as close as possible to the actual field. It is amazing how much the people of Barcelona care about their team and how much they idolize the players. Even though I’m not a big fan, I will admit it was a surreal feeling to know I walked the same steps that players such as Lionel Messi and other soccer legends have stepped.

FC Barcelona

Camp Nou

During one of our aimless walks around the city, we stumbled into a park that contained the Barcelona Zoo. Seeing as we didn’t have anything to do that day, we decided that sightseeing was overrated and looking at animals that we could see at any zoo in America was a better idea. While we did get to see some big animals such as giraffes, elephants, and hippopotamuses, many exhibits were closed and the tigers and lions were asleep. Strangely, they let the peacocks wander freely throughout the zoo, which seemed to me like a lawsuit waiting to happen. After the zoo we suited up and went to the beach. The water was a nice break from the 90 degree weather.

This was drawn by a gorilla, and is better than my art abilities.

Park Guell was another tourist attraction that called our names. It is located on the top of an extremely high hill that requires hiking up several flights of stairs at basically a 45 degree angle. They even had escalators built into the streets to accommodate tourists (like us, considering we used them). My words won’t do the park justice, so below are some pictures.

View from the top of Park Guell

On our last full day in Barcelona, we decided to walk to one of Barcelona’s most popular points of interest, La Sagrada Familia. La Sagrada Familia is an enormous church designed by Antoni Gaudi, a famous Spanish architect. The church began construction in 1882, and over 100 years later, is still in construction. Standing in front of the church is truly an amazing experience in itself. Besides being in awe of the pure size, it took several minutes of scanning the building to realize and appreciate the intense details in the architecture. We toured around the interior of the church, still in awe of our surroundings. Below are some pictures of La Sagrada Familia.

A few thoughts about Barcelona:

1.) People do not shy away from public display of affection.

2.) If the heat doesn’t get you, the humidity will.

3.) Parks and fountains are scattered throughout the city.

4.) French fries are served with pretty much every single dish.

6.) Restaurants aren’t very happy with splitting the check, which is what we try to do at every meal.

7.) Nude beaches are a strange thing to see for the first time.
8.) Some public restrooms cost money.
9.) Buy a fresh jug of water every morning for the day because its hot outside and water costs money at restaurants.

                                                  -Kevin Loquaci