I sit there. Amazed
This woman was amazing.
She was a native French speaker with a French boyfriend and a Spanish best friend. Boyfriend and I are two Americans
And she is the single reason the five of us could communicate.
It’s 1:30 am, boyfriend and I are sitting in one of the best dance clubs in Barcelona. It’s surprising to think that at this hour, the club was still empty. It wasn’t till maybe 2:30-3ish that the club actually got crowded. And oh, did it get crowded
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Barcelona was amazing. It is amazing. It’s always been amazing.
Boyfriend and I started our journey across the Iberian Peninsula in the city of Barcelona. It was a great city to begin our travel and a great city for us to reunite and explore after one month of long distance
We had an excellent room with a great view. Our room overlooked the Placa de Reiel and we had a private balcony we would sit and eat/ drink from. We spent a couple nights sitting there, enjoying, and sometimes enjoying a late night snack.
We wandered the streets and ate many tapas. Boyfriend was introduced to the ham croquette and continued to eat one from every restaurant we went to. I may have had over 20 different croquettes de jamon in Barcelona alone.
We didn’t do that many tourist things. It not like we didn’t try. Just everything was sold out. We hiked to Parc Guell and saw La Sagrada Familia. We hiked up to Montijuic and alongside Barceloneta. Learning lesson of the trip: Tickets to tourist destinations/exhibits in Barcelona should be purchased in advance, online, and before you go to Barcelona.
We did happen to be in Barcelona during La Merce, a huge festival in Barcelona for its patron saint. What this also meant that day and night, there were large outdoor music for free. Boyfriend and I stumbled into rap shows, spanish screamo, pop, electro, and more. We also got to eat from a paella cooking competition.
Boyfriend and I try to blend in with the Spainards as much as possible. Our first 24 hours in Espana included a trip to Zara to buy completely new wardrobes. It took a little for speaking spanish to kick back in from a memory perspective, but after a day or so, we were managing speaking and understanding everyone in Spanish. I would say Boyfriend has better comprehension and I have better speaking abilities. Also helps that I’ve only learned España Spanish so I have the lisp down. Boyfriend learned Puerto Rican spanish which is a bit different.
Recommended places to go to in Barcelona:
- Gothic Quarter – great area to wander around
- La Sagrada Familia – obvi
- Carrer de Blai – walking street in El poble-sec district that is lined with tapas bars
Recommended Places to Avoid:
- Restaurants along the main drag in Barceloneta. They are tourists traps
Alisha Explores 