travel: Barcelona, Spain

I was lucky enough to go away two days after getting back from Norway, this time to the capital of Spain - Barcelonaaaaa! I went with one of my old school friends for five days with the main priorities to relax, catch some sun and drink some cocktails. Nothing too taxing ;)

We stayed in Amistat Beach Hostel which had a lot of good reviews and seemed to be a party hostel in the area of Poblenou. We were in a six bed dorm that was a bit cramped, but did the job, although the shared showers were a bit rank. However, the location was great with the beach and a metro station less than ten minutes walk away, as well as loads of great local restaurants and cafes. The hostel also organised a different bar crawl each night - tick tick tick. All of our requirements fulfilled.

We went on two of the bar crawls as within a hostel they're great for friend-making - and we did carry on seeing the people we met on it, which was great. I have to say though, those clubs need more air con. The highlight was definitely a huge cheesy club called Razzmatazz, where I have a vivid memory of climbing onto a platform and performing my special dance routine to Barbie Girl to the crowd. Great.

Food is always a big factor when I go travelling - I needed tapas and paella in me, quick. On our first full day we found a great local place where we shared some calamari, patatas fritas, mixed seafood and crusty tomato bread. Yum. We also shared some great paella with huge prawns, as well as enjoying some fresh mussels on the seafront.

Full mouth shot

 

The Magic Fountain (Font Magica) during the day

Cocktails on the beach, yes!

One of my favourite parts of Barcelona was the Gothic Quarter - amazing architecture that provided shade from the strong sun, and two impressive cathedrals. We only went inside one (Santa Maria del Mar), because the very main one wouldn't let us in due to our shoulders showing. So we went and bought thin scarves for a couple of euros to wrap around our shoulders - still no entry, our knees were showing, heaven forbid! They wanted us to wear another scarf around our legs, at which point I called absolute bullshit, because men with shorts were waltzing in, but they wanted us to wrap up our ankles and waddle around in 28 degree celcius weather! No building is worth that level of the sweats. Unimpressed. Still, the surrounding area was very pretty.

One of the attractions we really wanted to see was the Magic Fountain. We went during the day on a Tuesday (pictured above), only to find out that the light shows they host are only after 9pm from Thursday-Sunday. So on our final night, we somehow rounded up 11 people form our hostel after a big family dinner, took the metro and caught the 11pm show, which was beautiful! Soft gentle music, pretty colours and impressive huge fountain jets (we sat pretty close and got a good spray every now and then, a blessing to the sweaty).

On our last day, we had hours to kill as we checked out at 11pm but our flight didn't leave til 8.30pm. So we spent the day with two lovely Aussie girls from our room, and visited the Mercat de la Boqueria, an amazing food market.

Mmmm seafood!

crazy chocolatiers

Barcelona is great for a mini break where you want a good dose of sun, culture, and partying. It's always alive and awake! The city was just buzzing and although we were told to beware of pickpockets everywhere, if you're sensible and aware then it's all good fun - we felt very safe the whole time that we were there, but other people in the hostel had experienced some petty theft. The beaches were beautiful, the weather was hot and the food was yummy and fresh. Perfect minibreak!