Barcelona/Sitges 2/22

Our trip to Spain was incredible. I wasn't planning on going to Spain while in Europe but I am glad I did. We left Thursday afternoon and had a direct flight to Barcelona (well sort of). We flew into a town called Girona which is an hour and a half outside Barcelona. We were unaware of this of course, but we were able to take a bus into the city. Lindsay, Emily and I went ahead of Yasemin, Kate and Zoe who came on a later flight. I thought we would be ok finding our hostel because I am getting better at Italian....but then I realized we were in Spain, and they speak spanish. In Italy, most people speak a little English but in Spain, no one speaks English. We decided this was because so many countries speak spanish that they don't need to learn another language. I used my newly developed hand gesture language (Thanks to the Italians) and got directions to our hostel. It was much warmer in Barcelona than in Rome. Barcelona is north of Rome, but as Yaz explained to me,(and to my disappointment) the currents of the ocean make up the temperature difference, not the latitude. We decided to walk and find our hostel. While we were looking online to find a hostel for Barcelona, we picked the cheapest one, but it ended up being in the best spot. We only paid 12 euro a night, and the hostel was on the main street in Barcelona! Our room the first night was really big and it had a bay window over looking the street!

After we got settled in, we went and had dinner at a place that made tapas. These are little dishes, almost like appetizers, that you pick a few different ones for your meal. Everyone chooses a few and then you all share to get a taste of many things. I unfortuantely burned the roof of my mouth on a type of potato and couldn't eat anymore. After dinner, Emily's friend who is studying in Barcelona, brought us to a Sangria bar. Sangria is a specialty of Spain. It is wine mixed with fruit juices and is very good. The place we went to was in the basement of a building and looked like a rustic cove. There were big wooden barrells as cocktail tables, and many other picnic tables around. It was very loud and packed but it is said to have the best Sangria in Barcelona. The Sangria is drank so much there, that it is on tap. We didn't stay out too late because we wanted to get a good start the next morning at the city.



Barcelona is known for many of Gaudi's works. He has many houses around the city. We visited the Sagrada Family Temple, which is the temple that has been being built for over 200 years. It is not even close to being done either. Gaudi started this temple and drew out the blueprints for the entire builidng. He knew he would die before it was finished so he made sure to leave very detailed instructions. Today the construction is founded entirely by private donors (and our entrance fees). We were able to take an elevator to the top, and see the enire city around us! Barcelona is right on the water and it was beautiful out, so we were glad we waited the hour and a half to get to the top.



After the Gaudi temple, we walked around the city for a while. There is a big market in the center of Barcelona. I have to admit, I was a little intimidated by it. Everything was so fresh that most of it was still alive!! The colors were amazing. There were all sorts of candies, fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, and wines. Each type had a different stand. The place smelled rather bad but it was a great thing to see. They had stands in the back of the market for authentic Spanish meals. We got to taste spicy paella which is like risotto, and also potato tortillas which were very thick.

Kate's friend from home was also studying in Barcelona and she told us about a fountain light show on Friday nights. We made our way over to the fountain which was huge and had many different jet streams on it. They play loud music and have many different lights going all at once. We sat for about an hour, not even saying a word. Something about it was very soothing.

Later that night Kate's friend took us to a club that allowed over 10,000 people in. There are 5 different rooms/clubs all in one and each one plays its own type of music. Most of the music was techno or spanish. It was a lot of fun but we are thankful for our small clubs in Rome!

Saturday morning was very warm. It almost hit 70 degrees! We walked over to Gaudi's park on top of a large hill looking over the city. We were walking around for a while and realized that one of the tunnels he created, was the spot where America's Next Top Model filmed a show. We pretended to be models for a little while and got some great looks. The park and the weather were so nice that we layed our coats down on the grass and took a nap. After about an hour or so of relaxing, we decided we were hungry and walked down the hill. We went to check out of our hostel and grab our bags so that we could head off to the next stop....Sitges for Carnevale. On the way to the station, we got lunch at Dunnkin Coffee, yes Dunnkin Coffee, not Doughnuts. It is the same logo and everything, but they call it something different.

We took a half hour train ride to Sitges and another 2 hour walk to find our hostel. When we walked up to the hostel, we realized that it was actually a resort! We had once again searched for the cheapest place, and came up with a great room. There were 6 of us but 3 in each room. The rooms were very large and each had their own bathroom, balcony, kitchen, and two bedrooms. Mind you, we have been roughing it lately in our hostels. We weren't even afraid to sleep on the sheets lol. Sitges is right on the water and it is a very little town. It is known for its Carnevale festival and reminds me of pictures I have seen of Greece. The buildings were all white with some blue accents and the streets all seemed to wind together and lead to the ocean. We were going to try and take a nap, but we were so excited that we rushed back to the hotel and started to get ready. During Carnevale, people dress up in masks and other costumes. In Venice, most of the costumes are very 18th century and elaborate. Sitges was a little different story. We had boughten masks and wigs to wear for the festivals, thinking that we would fit right in. We headed out of the hotel and into town. We found a restaurant right on the water and treated ourselves to some Sangria and dinner. We all decided to get paella since it is their specialty. I really wanted seafood since I knew it would be fresh, but I also wanted to taste the paella, so naturally I got paella with seafood in it. I was a little skeptical about my decision because I really wanted to try some fresh fish, but after seeing the waiter bring out the whole fish to the customer and cut off the head right in front of them, I knew i made the right decision. When the waiter brought out our dishes, our eyes all got really big. The platters were HUGE!! We probably could have split two between the 6 of us! My seafood platter was a little surprising. I thought that they would cut up all of the different types of seafood and mix it in, but the chef must have known how much I love to cut up my own fish (NOT) and put it all on my platter. There were whole crayfish, eyes and all, on the dish. The squid was looking at me while I was trying to cut it up and the muscles were hidden throughout the dish. Don't worry Mom and Dad, I didn't gag. I actually did a really good job of cutting everything up and eating it. The crayfish were a little hard because they didn't have much meat on them and they have so many little legs, but I managed. After our great meal, we decided to go experience the festivities.

The streets were all blocked off, and there were police everywhere. It turns out, that our costumes were made for the wrong country. In Spain, everyone dressed up in costumes like we do for Halloween. The difference though is that they dress up in groups. They get 5 to 10 people together and dress in themes or all the same. We saw groups like the Simpsons, Adams Family, Bumble Bees, Geishas, Cave men, mop heads, Sangria bottles, and many more. Also their costumes were very intricate. Nothing was cheaply made and they all stuck together the whole night. I loved this concept. It made everything so much more fun. The streets were so packed that you could barely get through, but the beach was very open. They had a DJ playing on a stage, and the beach was the dance floor. We had no clue what any of the songs were or what they were saying, but they were all great to dance to. The water kept creeping up as the night went along, so we always made sure we weren't getting close getting wet. Barcelona is the pickpocketing capital of Europe, and of course Sitges was a prime target since people from the city go there for Carnevale. Unfortunately, Emily got her camera, money, and credit card stolen from her wristlet. She had her wristlet on her the whole time, and didn't feel that someone was taking it from her!

The next day we headed back to Barcelona and explored some more. We went to the Port and sat on the docks for a few hours. People watching is very calming. We were very content watching people, birds, and fish, until some guys came and sat right next to us with bags of bread. They started feeding the birds and they swarmed around us. The birds are so used to people that they were actually flying right up to the guys and grabbing the bread as soon as they let it go from their hands. We were all a little uncomfortable by this because our peaceful moment was interrupted. Of course my bag was the only one that didn't escape the bird poop. I had a big spot right in the center of my bag. We were resting our heads on our bag, so the poop missed my head by an inch! The girls made fun of me the rest of the day. We had a late flight out of Barcelona and didn't get back to Rome until after midnight, but overall the trip was the best weekend we have had yet!