Our flight to Barcelona was easy and the bus from the airport to the main city was even easier. After an exhausting 45 minute walk from the bus station to our hostel in the sun, we found our hostel and were pleasantly surprised at our living arrangements. The hostel is only a couple of years old and very clean, with a nice kitchen and fully-equipped lounge in the basement and a terrace on the top. We shared a 6-person room with 4 other American girls, and the beds were comfy and even came with clean blankets. This turned out to be more important that I’d thought…but I’ll go on with my story.
After freshening up at the hostel, we ate a relaxing “menu del día” at a Spanish restaurant, walked around the city to orientate ourselves, poked in some shops and then ended at the grocery store to grab things to make dinner in the hostel. Turns out we weren’t the only ones with that idea: a group of ten Italians were flooding the kitchen cooking up a pasta dish to feed armies. We squeezed in to cut up our tomatoes and avocados to make ourselves some tapas with bread and cheese. It was a perfect little dinner after a long day of travel and let us rest our feet for a while. When we decided it was time to go out again, we headed back to some bars we’d seen while walking earlier. Unfortunately, none of the bars we passed sold beer for less than 5 euro and Claire and I were not willing to throw down that much for one beer. Finally we found a cervecería that sold all types of beer and some for only 3 euro (still steep) and spent a couple of hours just hanging out and chatting. Turns out we had picked the right bar because the 2nd beer was on the house! Another benefit of traveling as just us girls. We ended the night at this random hole-in-the-wall where we watched some musicians perform and a bunch of locals were just hanging out, listening to the music and jamming.
The next day we dedicated to finding all the Gaudi buildings in Barcelona, so we ate our free continental breakfast at the hostel, put on our walking shoes (well not really, I wore boots) and headed out the door. The first building we stopped at was the Casa Milá which took up a corner and both sides of a main street. Everthing about the building is made of curves, even the balconies and roof. Floral decorations made out of iron weave through the balcony decks and it’s amazing how closely they resemble actual plants. The next building we saw was my favorite, the Casa Battló. Unfortunately, part of it was under construction and covered by an enormous advertisement for Guess with a half naked model the height of an apartment building. However, the actual Gaudi building was incredible. All of it looks like something out of a dream, the balconies look like ghost masks watching you and the roof is a giant dragon fin. There are so many colors and angles and giant windows (or faces rather) that contrast with the rest of the standard city buildings. Lastly, we saw the Sagrada Familia, but opted not to go in because we heard it was a lot of money and not a lot to see. However, the building was magnificent and I think I took photos from every angle and zoom possible. It is still under construction because they are trying to continue Gaudi’s masterpiece after his sudden death, but I almost wish they would just leave it as the part that he created, because no one can recreate his style or creativity in the architecture.
By the time we finished seeing the three main Gaudi buildings, it was past lunchtime and we were ready for food and a long sit. But we were also picky and wanted to enjoy lunch at Port Olimpic, a marina on the beach, so we walked for another 30 minutes until we found just what we were looking for: a restaurant outside, with a view of the ocean and Italian food. We ordered a nice cold beer, delicious spaghetti and roasted vegetables and sat back and relaxed for a very long time. The beach was gorgeous, the sun was out, and beautiful people were strolling past us. The good life.
After our long lunch we headed back to the hostel for a siesta before trying to accomplish anything else. I also wasn’t feeling very well, but didn’t think too much of it and figured a good nap would make me feel better. The nap did help, but I still felt a little off the rest of the evening. Probably should have taken that as a warning sign…but I didn’t want to put a dent in my big adventures! That night, we met up with two of our friends from our group, Cullen and Raman, who were also staying in Barcelona. It was Raman’s birthday week and his parents were in Barcelona too, so they were living high class in a swanky downtown hotel on the main street, Las Ramblas. We had a fun night with them, hanging out in their fancy hotel and then went to check out the bar scene by the beach.
From the next morning on, everything went downhill. I woke up feeling very, very ill, and not in a hangover kind of way. I tried eating breakfast, but the 2 pieces of toast made me feel worse. I had to tell Claire to do her own thing that day because I was not leaving the hostel. My stomach hurt so bad that even shifting positions in my bed was too much effort. Until Claire got back with some Aquarius (equivalent of Gatorade) and some crackers at 3pm, I only left my bed to go to the bathroom. How I wished I were not in a hostel…. After Claire got back, I tried to eat some crackers, but I couldn’t even eat that, so I gave up and went back to sleep. Claire had tried to find a pharmacy to buy some medicine, but since it was Sunday, she couldn’t find any open. Luckily my friend Cullen said he’d seen one open near his house so we made the trek together later that evening and bought something that I hoped would help. It did help some of my symptoms, but my stomach pains were as bad as ever.
After a restless sleep, I woke up feeling just as bad as I had the night before. After talking briefly online with my mom and Jack, I decided I should probably just go to the doctor and see what was going on because things were not getting better, maybe worse. So Claire and I took a cab and did our best to navigate through the Spanish hospital. After a lot of rude doctors telling us to go various places, we found wehre we were supposed to be and a very nice doctor spoke English to us, which at the time I was very grateful for. I explained my symtoms, and he got me in fairly quickly to see the doctor. Claire came in the room with me, holding my hand just like a mom would. We explained together, in Spanish, what was wrong (which took various hand motions and pointing) and the Spanish doctor only had to feel my stomach to diagnose me with a stomach infection and prescribe me antibiotics and 2 other medicines to take for a week. I still felt awful, but better mentally just knowing that I was on the uphill.
Since I took the meds and felt a little better, I decided I was going to see Park Guell no matter what. So Claire and I rested for a bit at the hostel and then took the Metro to Park Guell, which turned out to be the most beautiful part of the whole trip. The whole park was created by Gaudi, and I can’t even really describe it, you’ll just have to look at the pictures. The longest bench in the world looks out over the whole city and ocean and is made entirely of mosaics in every color and pattern. The whole park is covered in mosaics and stone in the shape of trees and nature. You can hardly tell the difference between the real trees and the trees Gaudi created. Even though I wasn’t feeling great, I was so happy that I had at least seen the Park that had been at the top of my list. From then on, I just rested until our travel back home the next day. Although the trip was not what I expected, and I may not have been able to see all that I wanted to see of Barcelona, Claire and I had quite an adventure together and she was an amazing friend to have with me. We like to title our story “Theresa Claire Barcelona”. I think I might publish it.
Great entry Theresa - you're such a great storyteller! You should make a little book with your stories from Espana and then publish it with photos . . . love you! xoxo ruthie
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