My last day in Barcelona was so climactic - so culminating. I'm searching for words to describe it and at the same time my brain is on vacation. I am burnt out, but not in a bad way; somewhere in Barcelona a switch clicked and I knew I was done "traveling." I'm not sure if it has to do with me meeting all my plans or if I am just burnt out - either way everything fell in place so well and I am so thankful.
I will start where I left off, last I wrote was Sunday - I had a great day of site seeing and we were headed to the really nice club everyone talked about. I had to borrow shoes from a friend I made at the hostel from Egypt (which was very nice of him) in order to get into the club because I couldn't wear running shoes (the hostel said they were big on shoes). It was a really nice night club and I really had a nice evening, the club opened up to the beach in the back - it was a technically underground type place and really seemed good quality / classy especially with the glass wall in the back and the beautiful man made beach / outdoor area on the beach, viewable from anywhere you were standing when inside.
The next morning I had planned a guided tour for 19euro (normal entry I think is around 18 euro) at sagrada familia @ 11 am, this guided tour was something I didn't want to miss. The tour enabled me to skip the long lines (called queues here in Europe) and enter via prepaid / online section (this is a must). I took a taxi (taxis were very affordable in Barcelona and I didn't have time to waste with public metro/bus) to the sagrada familia and arrived a little early. I had to find my entrance (which was in the back of the bascillica) and was able to walk right in with no line. It worked out well! The bascillica / church was amazing... Words don't describe gaudi very well and it's something you just have to see- its relatively new (some people said they couldn't go inside a few years ago but I'm not sure how new or old the inside is) and just stunning. I'm very glad I went inside and even more glad I had no idea what I was going in to... I hope you go , and if you do, forget everything you know and just think a normal cathedral - you will be amazed. The visit was really pleasant and I was able to buy a cool a bottle opener souvenir for my cousin Sophie (my favorite bottle opener was a Barcelona one she had but we don't know where it went) to take the spot of an old Barcelona bottle opener - this one has a magnet on it so we won't lose it (I hope).
After around two hours I was ready to leave - heading to my big journey out to the country side : Montserrat monastery. I found a website (I do not have it off hand) that explained every detail and option of how to get there from Barcelona - I pulled it up on my iPhone and left it up for offline reading on safari. The trip went super easy - especially for my first time on the metro- and only cost around 5-7 euro each way complete fair (it's about 1 hour if train/metro but I don't know the distance off the top of my head. Maybe 60 kilometers ? (A rough guess I think Daniela told me (my host)).
The monastery was awesome... Perfect little getaway and I want to post a picture of it to commemorate my last planned site (for the most part). Really nice photos there- if you go to Barcelona and enjoy countryside definitely go out to Montserrat - it's such an easy journey and so nice / peaceful / romantic. The weather couldn't have been better - even though I was alone it had its benefits, walking through that city and registering the views inspired a different kind of thought and offered an escape from the city - also a perfect peaceful finale to my jam packed schedule of sites over the last month. I had an amazing little sandwich which was pretty much hand cooked and very cheap (7 euro with normal nice fresh thick bacon) as a snack before I hopped back on the ski lift and headed down to aeri Montserrat (the train stops name you want to get off at for the ski lift (which cost 10 euro round trip)).
I wanted to meet up with some friends and try to convince them to go to the boqueria with me for dinner (A lot of recommendations for this including Anj's which I really respect). I went to my room and I had new roomates, two women from Toronto (who would turn out to be super fun and instant friends). We decided to head to dinner together but when we arrived to the market we found out he boqueria closed at 8pm and it was 820pm ;(. No worries - we headed back to the tourist trap of las ramblas and hit our hostel courtyard - plaza de real - with Gaudi's first work (2 lamps in the courtyard) in the backdrop. I had told them I didn't think that was the best place to eat but they convinced me and we ate there - it was the best dinner I've had in Barcelona (like a 7-8 on a 10 scale) and I was so happy when I left I just wanted to sleep. We ended up playing some drinking games with the friends that were still left and we just had a really fun night, the Canadian girls were awesome and extremely fun. We ended up going out to my final night club of Barcelona, another beach club right next door to the other nice club we had gone to the night prior. It was another great evening, I guess traveling brings out the optimism and fun in a person, everything is new and kind of romantic.
My memories from Barcelona didnt want to end... I wanted the night to last forever, what a beautiful beautiful day, and way to end my crazy site seeing if Europe. The whole time I felt like I made the best of the days - waking up early and exercising - site seeing - laundry - friends - especially food - I ate amazing this whole time considering I am traveling (I think this helped me stay alive and healthy through the stress of no sleep and new exposure to germs) - and going out at night and taking in the scene and feel of the city as the sun sets. Barcelona had some of the best sites and night life.
I went to bed late, we had a lot of fun and wandered around Barcelona - again I didn't want my night to end!! But when we finally got back I fell asleep super fast, in what seemed like an instant I was being woke up by my friend. Everyone knew I was leaving... I had told them I was going to stay but they urged me to keep going... Not to let a city stop me from my original course, I had to collect my stuff, drop off some things I borrowed like shoes, and ran into a lot of people, said my good byes (not really sure why I was leaving and only half awake.
On the way to the taxi I stopped by a sandwich shop and asked for eggs - I didn't expect much but for the first time - magically - I got the best sandwich I have had in Europe!! Warm and delicious I wish I knew about this place earlier - I can't even remember the name because I paid cash and didnt expect it to be so good... I never asked or looked at the name of it.
I had booked priority and front row seating on a cheap airline again and had a really nice flight back - I had a run in with the check in but that was my fault and I can't blame anyone else so not really worth writing about , I lost my ticket and it cost 100$ to reprint it (flying Ryan air - it's known not to lose your ticket ... Owch...). I had to pay it or lose my 130$ flight leaving in 45 minutes. I wrote it off as a learning lesson - but I thought I would be able to get out of paying. I was wrong.
Landing in Venice I made friends with two girls traveling from America. One was from walnut creek not 45 minutes away from me, we became instant friends and walked around Venice together, we helped each other out and used as little brain power as possible , both coming from jammed schedules in Barcelona with so much to do and we were all ready for a break - a vacation. I helped them with a few things they helped me book my room, in fact they basically booked my room for me (all my travel was pre booked until now - freedom is nice but can propose difficulties on last minute rooms and accommodation.
When we parted ways for some reason I felt like I was already connected with them (cell phone or Facebook or email) but I wasn't and they stopped me, I thought for a second - yeah you're right wow ok what's your email. They awkwardly asked me what my name was and we all realized we hadn't even asked each others names. Our brains were truly on relaxation mode. I ran into another American (older male) on vacation with his wife, and he asked me what day it was. A few minutes later one of the girls asked me what day it was. And I didn't realize it was Tuesday, the point being: everyone was truly on vacation here. There's not a lot to see or do, my first relaxation.
Regarding Barcelona: read the outdoor menus and get a feel for local prices. They range a lot and can either be very expensive or cheap. Most places are outdoors so check the food as you walk by and compare with prices, don't be in too much of a hurry unless you're sure it's a good place or willing to risk it. There was not a lot of "great" food in Barcelona that my friends or I found, and there are a lot of pricy places. If you search or get lucky like we did , you CAN find a good and fair priced meal, that best dinner I had was around 12 euro for main plate of lamb (big portions) 2 euro for wine and 4 euro for an appetizer - Pretty cheap, and right on tourist row.
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