BARCELONA

I know I haven’t updated  the blog for a while. The internet in our Barcelona apartment sucked…as in 15 minutes to write\send an email so updating the blog was impossible!

LOVED BARCELONA. Our apartment was in the Poble Nou neighborhood and 3 minutes away from the beach. I was super excited to finally get a little bit of exercise in that I laced up my shoes int he first few hours of our arrival and went for a jog right by the sea. Most likely best run of my life. It must be the place to run in the city because tons of other people were getting their daily exercise in. Loved it so much I went three more times during the week.

Although I really enjoyed the cities we had visited before, I was quite happy to arrive in a big bustling major city. We were out for almost 12 hours on our second day in Barcelona, visiting Montjuic. This is where the Olympic Stadium is located, as well as the Olympic Sports Museum (which I totally adored). Only crappy thing was food was hard to find and anyone who knows me understands that food needs to be found quickly when my body decides it needs it (if you don’t know what happens when I go too long without food then consider yourself lucky). After visiting all the sights in Montjuic we made our way down to the MACBA Museum which is just gorgeous (from the outside, never ended up going back to look at the art) and sits atop a hill which provides a splendid view of the Plaza de Espana and the Magic Fountain. If you go to the fountain at night when it gets dark, the city puts on a show (lights up, music, water show) which I really enjoyed.

Other highlights of Barcelona? Well firstly, I had a beautiful bedroom all to myself AND my own bathroom!!! The Sagrada Familia was quite crazy, so big and so detailed but kind of a bummer that it has yet to be finished (and won’t be until 2040). The Guell Park was also really cool and provided some free entertainment in the form of illegal vendors. Let me explain. It is not unusual to see people selling sunglasses, magnets and other touristy things at the “must see” places. In this park however we noticed that the vendors would all of a sudden grab their stuff, start to yell and run as fast as they could for the woods. I was so intrigued by this that I began to investigate while we walked around and figured out that the vendors are considered illegal so can get busted and fined by the police and city. In order to avoid this, they set up “watchers” at all entrances and main areas to warn the sellers if police are around (all done by cellphone). I thought the whole process was kind of funny, seeing them run as if they were being chased by mad dogs was actually hilarious.

We kind of decided to explore one area of the city per day and oftentimes just let ourselves get lost in that area and discover it without a map. Personally, I prefer this method (unless you’re trying to see something specific) since it is way less complicated and you end up on the streets that are less visited yet have the cutest cafés, restaurants and sights.

Another absolute fave was La Bouqueria, a world famous produce and meat market. HOLY MOLY THE FRUIT AND VEGGIES!!!!! I was in absolute paradise and just kept imagining how I would come here every week if I lived in Barcelona and what I would buy and from who. I mean you could get 2 fruit juices (pure fruit just placed in a juicer, not added crap) for 2 euros and they were insanely good. Produce is so ridiculously cheap and was so fresh and beautiful, I already miss it.

Although I truly loved Barcelona, I also had a few crappy days. Woke up at 3am thursday morning with intense nausea which would not leave until more than 24hours later and left me drained and so sad. I think it may have been food poisoning which made me ever more sad since the last food I ate consisted of delicious veggie tapas. Anywho, I hadn’t ever experienced food poisoning and I don’t wish it upon anyone, especially while traveling. Had to stay inside the whole day and am still feeling exhausted from it.

We are now in Paris, took the overnight train from Barcelona (12 hours…sooo long. I was so tired from being sick though that I slept for most of the way). Our apartment is a few steps away from Les Champs Elysées and even closer to the big name designer boutiques (Chanel and co.) which made me feel like pure garbage when I arrived in sweats and a hoodie from the night train haha.

Sorry for the long essay! Will try and update more often this week so you guys don’t have to read for so long. Sorry for the lack of pictures, internet isn’t all that great here either and it would take hours to load them up!

Bonsoir,

SB xox