Day 59 – 3/3/2019
28 hours in Barcelona, Spain. That’s what we did with this past weekend. The impulse decision to book a cheap bus turned out to be a great weekend. Weather was superb with temps in the 50-60 but feeling much warmer. Our pasty white skin got enough sun as we spent almost all our time outside. I our short time there we accomplished much as the 22 miles walking we logged can speak to. We were able to spend a morning hanging out at the beach, we stood out a little, mostly because we were the only ones in t-shirts as locals walked around dressed as if a blizzard were coming. After baking for awhile we ventured to the La Sagrada Familia, a magnificent church that has been being built for almost 200 years. My bet is that in never gets finished. The church really was incredible, with massive towers that shoot into the sky and an entrance that makes in look like you are entering a giant cave. Park Guell was our next spot, a great space to look into the smog and pick out all the beautiful buildings we had seen wandering the streets. From there you truly get to see just how expansive the city of Barcelona is. The park was just down the hill from the bunkers, basically an old military bunker that is now crawling with teenagers drinking wine and smoking some funny smelling tobacco. Wasn’t quite our scene so we didn’t stay long, instead choosing to descend the mountain we had climbed to get there. At this point our swollen feet needed a rest and we took the metro to the Arc and hung out in the park surrounding it as the sun set. Finally, it was time for us to catch our bus back and we made our way to the bus station to wait for our departure. This is were we experience maybe the most cliché scene I was warned about before coming. We were lying like bums on the floor when we hear a man yelling for the police as he had another man trapped in a headlock. They wrestled a little and the trapped man freed himself and bolted for the door, cased by a pack of other men they vanished into the city. I figured there were enough people going after him and decided to look after my own interest and closely guard our bags. I must have looked intimidating enough to keep away prospective thieves as no one came near! No more incidents occurred as we boarded our 11:30 pm bus back to Montpellier. We got back here around 4:30 and decide to forgo the hour and half wait for the trams to start running, instead opting for the 9-Euro Uber ride. Finally home we charged in, ripped our shoes of and slept until noon today. Overall great weekend, not quite the typical college weekend in Barcelona but a great one at that. Cheers!
Rue 16 