Alright. We've left the beautiful city of Barcelona and it's time to give y'all the update. I'm still in love with this city. I've decided that I'm moving there. After my day orienting myself to the city proper, my friends and I decided to go to the beach. They called and woke me up and said we were going to the beach. Our ship is all of 2 miles from the beach, so I packed accordingly. Light. When I got off the ship, they informed me that we were not going to the Barcelona beach, but to a beach in a suburb called Sitges. In order to get there, we had to get on the metro, catch a train, change stations, then catch a real, electric train 45 minutes south of the city proper. And boy was it worth it. The city was beautiful, exactly like a small mediterranean beach town should look like, small winding streets, cafes on the beach, sailboats in the water, church and cathedral in the background. It couldn't have been prettier. By the time we got to Sitges, we were starving, so we ate at local cafe. I got vegetable paella, and it was legitimately DELICIOUS. I ate way more than I should considering I was going to the beach right after. Oh well. After lunch, we went to the beach and sat in the sun and soaked it all in. The weather was great, 80 degrees, with a breeze. I didn't even break a sweat sitting in the sunlight for 3 hours (and that's saying something). After sun bathing, we had to get back to the ship to have time for dinner. We took a nap, and left for dinner around 9:30 pm. We wanted to go to a place called Champagnaria but it was closed. So instead, we went to a supermerket and bought food there. Still delicious. Another discoteca, then a pub called Dow Jones, where the drinks' prices change based on demand, like a stock market. It was really, really cool. On the way home from the pub, I convinced some American kids, also on Semester at Sea, that I was a foreign exchange student from the north of spain. I told them I was from a small town called O'vella (see earlier post) and they completely believed me. Gracias Senora Jabbour! It was hilarious. I had another great night!
The next morning, yesterday, I went on a FDP trip for one of my classes to a town in Spain about 2.5 hours away called Lleida. We went to a cathedral that from the outside look pretty boring. But the inside, the cloister, was fantastic. I've included some pictures. My friends and I split from the tour guide because he was boring and decided to explore. We found a door that was open and decided to climb the stairs inside. About 20 spiral steps in, we realized we were climbing the huge, beautiful bell tower. 238 steps later, we were on top of it, looking down at the town of Lleida and it's hilly, wheat farm land around it. Amazing. After the cathedral, we went to a Templar castle that was under renovation. Apparently the castle had been forgotten in the sands of time and teenagers had used it as a hang out, graffitying (sp?) all over. It was still visible while we were walking around. During our tour, we wore the same outfits that the knights templar did. It was really funny. I was a normal knight, but one of my friends, Brandon, was special and had to wear a suit of armor, all 25kg of it. He loved it though, he had a sword. After the tours, we drove back to Barcelona, I met up with my other friends and we decided to go to just sleep more and grab a quick bite to eat at the nearby McDonalds on La Rambla. Even the chicken nuggets taste better here, haha. After dinner, we went to a club called Opium. After that, we left and made it safely back to the ship!
This morning, I got another phone call that woke me telling me that we were going sightseeing and boy am I glad I went. We went to the Olympic park and it was fantastic (AND FREE)! After the park, we went to the Barri Gotic (Gothic Quarter) and went to the Picasso museum. SO COOL! They had easily 300 paintings by PIcasso, from age 8 to his death. It was crazy. He was a fantastic painter, he was great at cubism and modern art sure, but he was also incredible at realism and scenery. It was just unbelievable. After the museum, we went to the Plaza Catalun because there was a supermarket and I NEEDed to buy Diet Coke. There were people and protestors everywhere, which was cool. Don't worry Mom, we kept our distance. We walked the length of La Rambla, and took a taxi back to the ship. And so ended my Barcelona experience. AND I DIDN'T GET PICK-POCKETED!!!
All in all. I LOVE THIS PLACE. I hope you do too because I want you to enjoy your visits when you come see me.
Now we have one day of sea travel before we reach Italy and my crazy ride all over the Peninsula begins. I'm going to Venice, Verona, Pisa, Florence, and Rome. It's going to be crazy. I'm so excited. I hope y'all enjoyed the length of this blog post. I will do my best to keep this updated during Italy!
Robbie
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