What did I do this past weekend? Oh nothing just took a little trip to Barcelona!!!! It was such a great trip and I think that Barcelona has been my favorite city in Europe so far.

We arrived in Barcelona Friday afternoon. I was staying with some family friends in a town called Girona, about and hour and a half outside of Barcelona. When we arrived, the family I was staying with was waiting for me at the airport. My friends had a hostel in Barcelona so I left them at the airport and left for Girona. Before leaving Barcelona, we stopped at one of Barcelona's most famous tourist spots: The Sagrada Familia. This cathedral was built by Antoni Gaudi, a famous architect who built a lot of places in Barcelona. Gaudi worked on this building until his death, and it is not yet finished. It is said that the building will finally be completed in 2026, on the 100 year anniversary of Gaudi's death. The architecture on this building is incredible. You can definitely see all the work that was put into it. We didn't go inside because we weren't sure if it would be worth it to pay the 13 euro entrance fee.

 

After taking pictures of the Sagrada Familia, we went to look for a place to have a snack. We actually found a Colombian restaurant about 5 minutes away from the church. We each ordered a salpicon (fruit salad) as our snack. When our order came, I saw the biggest salpicon that I have ever seen in my life. It was super delicious and made my tummy very happy. It was so big that I was only able to eat half of it though. After we were done eating, we made our long journey to Girona.

Let me take this opportunity to say that drivers in Europe are crazy!!! They are super aggressive and drive like maniacs. I have definitely thought I was going to get run over many times here in Belgium. Spain was the first time I've been in a car since I got here, but let's just say I'm glad I don't get into cars often here. The whole ride home all I could think about was how my mom would have been if she was in the car. The thought of her reaction made the trip home seem short.

During my two days in Girona, I didn't do much except eat and window shop. Girona is a small city where all there is to do is go to the mall or to the city center and do more shopping. The only touristy thing I did there was go to the "castle" and a cathedral. The castle wasn't very interesting but the cathedral was really nice. There was a tourist group of older people at the church in French, so I decided to follow them and learn about Girona's history while practicing my french. I don't think they appreciated it too much though.

I finally arrived in Barcelona for real on Sunday afternoon. We took one of those hop-on hop-off buses and were able to see a lot in a relatively short amount of time. It was my first time on those buses but I think they are definitely worth it. We got to see Las Ramblas (Barcelona's famous street full of vendors), the port, MNAC (a museum with a beautiful fountain outside and great architecture), Camp Nou (where Barca plays),  and other famous Gaudi building like La Pedrera and Casa Batllo. I really enjoyed this tour.

After the tour, I met up with my friends at our hostel. We decided to go for a walk at the beach at night. It was really nice until some drug dealers came to offer us their merchandise. They wouldn't leave us alone until I started talking to them in Spanish and told them to back off because we didn't want anything. After the beach, we went back to the hostel and chilled in the game room. We met some other Americans who were playing the guitar. We started singing with them and it was really fun. On Monday, we decided to go to a famous market in Barcelona. All the food looked so delicious and fresh! Too bad we had to take a plane that afternoon because otherwise I would have bought some good things. 

Of all the cities that I have been to since I came to Europe (which is only like 3), I think Barcelona is my favorite. I like it better than Paris, which is saying a lot.

We have our spring break in April so we are trying to figure out where to go. Let's see where our next adventure takes us!