Barcelona ... You beauty!
1st May is when we woke up refreshed in our final destination within Spain. That day we decided to check out Sagrada Familia, Park Guelle and La Rambla. The reason we wanted to fit everything into one day is because Nandhini needed to leave the next day (a day before the rest of us). This meant I needed to fly alone back to Bangalore :'(
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| Our hostel was on the road parallel to this one :) |
Anyway, we got ready by 9AM that day. Hipstel Hostel had a gujju lady at the front desk - who had been there for a year and had forgotten Hindi !! The hostel was meh - nothing great. Wish it had been cleaner. There were no common bathrooms within the rooms unlike the hostel at Seville (The Oasis Hostel); we did not bother going to the cafeteria - somehow... didn't like the feel of the place. It was clean - I'm not saying otherwise, but it was not as great at The Oasis one. We were unable to book Oasis in Barcelona as we did everything last minute and there were no rooms left. However this hostel has an amazing location ! We booked 4 beds in a 6 room dorm and surprisingly, there were just us 4 in the room for all 3 days that we were there :) *Score*
We walked to Sarada Familia; yes our hostel was that close. It took us around 20 min to get there; and what do you know. The place was booked out and there were no slots available for the tour. Like, what the hell... The only slots that were available were for the next day at 5PM - which meant that NanGan would not be able to join us. This was ok, tbh, 'coz she had been there before and had seen the stuff already. So right then and there Madhuri (using her awesome T Mobile internet) booked off 3 tickets for us for the next day. We checked online if Park Guell had slots, and nope - that also was sold out.
Life Pro Tip : for any tourist spot you want to visit, check beforehand if tickets are needed and book them off.
Having nothing else to do, we decided to do tourist-y stuff and take the Bus Touristica across the city and see everything that Barcelona had to offer. This bus allows one to get on and get off anywhere in its routes - and it covers the entire city. Booked tickets from across the road (there is a stall), and then got on the next bus that came along :) You get ear phones and discount coupons that you can use across the city for the rest of the year along with the bus pass (which you must keep safely as that is what you show to enter the bus). All along the bus ride, there is an information guide that plays along giving you gyaan about the city and what special monument you are passing - and it is available in around 20 languages :)
We got off at Mt. Tibidabo stop - YES, the one from F.R.I.E.N.D.S. :) :)
Tibidabo is an awesome place. You need to take a tram to get to the top, and on top of it there is a ferris wheel, games for kids to play, a cathedral and some things to see.
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| RBF mode demanded brain numb-ers |
After seeing everything and eating some food, we decided to go back down and proceed with the tour. What do you know, the tram ONLY accepts cash and we had run out of money. We assumed that Spain being a part of Europe will accept card everywhere; but sadly that was not the case. So we wasted time on the top of the mountain eating/drinking - until my patience wore off :| RBF mode was on.
Life Pro Tip : carry cash on you at all times. Do not swipe your card at all - use it only to withdraw money.
Luckily the girls got the hint and we took a cab and went back to the bus stop and headed to the beach.
Man, it was freezing ! thankfully it was not raining, but it was so damn cold !! I didn't want to eat any food and wanted to explore the beach. So I went - jacket, sweater, shoes, muffler, socks, jeans and a top; while there were women running in skimpy bikinis ...
After eating, we got back on the bus and went back to the hostel. En route we noticed where La Rambla street was and decided to head there tomorrow morning. The plan for that evening was to get NanGan sloshed given it was her last day with us on her bachelorette *evil smile*
Nothing of that sort happened. Like good girls we went to 4 different restaurants, ate and drank a bit in each before heading back to the hostel :D
Crashed peacefully and next day, along with NanGan's luggage we headed to Park Guelle. Frankly, there is nothing much to see. Brindavan gardens in Mysore is nicer. It's unnecessarily hyped up because a famous architect Gaudi designed it. Nothing great. After we finished seeing some bits of his garden, we headed to La Rambla - by this time Nandhini had left for the airport.
La Rambla is one place you definitely have to visit. There are all types of stores, all kinds of cuisines, all sorts of places to eat ... wow. Within La Rambla there is La Bouqueria - a market of sorts where you can buy all kinds of food and ingredients. It is a food lover's paradise. All raw material is priced at a max of 3 euros, and the for is prepared live in front of you.
Life Pro Tip : Keep cash on hand while going to this place as you will need it.
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| The morning side of SF |
After we got done with this place, we headed back to the hostel to dump our shopping as we needed to go to Sarada Familia for the tour! I was super excited having heard so much about it during the bus tour and from Nandhini who had been there before.
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| The evening side of SF |
Be prepared to be disappointed. I'm not saying it is ugly or not grand, but it is not worth the hype. yes, the building is beautiful, but so are others (Which are not so hyped).Don't get me wrong, it is beautiful - with coloured glass and columns built to look like trees ... But ... :|
Here again we head head phones and need to go to different points within the structure where we get to know what Gaudi was thinking / feeling / imagining while designing the place.
The tourism part of the tour blew me away. The way they make tourists feel for the structure and give money to help with its construction is brilliant. Yes, you read me right. The money tourists give is what is used to continue with the construction of this place.
After we finished with the tour, we took a cab to La Rambla where we had dinner. Headed back to the hostel afterwards and I started getting a panic attack as I had a flight in 6 hours and was flying alone back to India....
Flights were fine - I ate a couple of pills Mad gave me for a fever (which would make me sleepy); and the flight passed by reasonably well :)
Did some shopping at Frankfurt sad-duty-free-terminal C and then got on the flight back to Bangalore.
Barcelona is a beautiful city. I feel that in order to cover it and do justice you need a max of 4 days.
Life Pro Tip : Carry cash with you because every time you swipe, you get charged that extra international handling fee, but later on a bomb is dropped into your bank statement
LPT2 : La Rambla has FCB and RM stores where you can buy original merchandise. In case you are planning, be prepared to shell out at least 100 euros for the jersey
LPT3 : take a lot of pics and be prepared to see people eating loads of weird stuff (like live lobsters)
LPT4 : carry some medicines on you just in case you get a cold. Meds there are super expensive
LPT5 : Have a small sling back that has a zip. A backpack makes no sense coz you have no control over it when it is hung on your back
LPT6 : Keep your belongings close to you. We managed the entire trip without an incident, but I have heard stories from friends who have been robbed in broad daylight
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| The roof of SF |
The tourism part of the tour blew me away. The way they make tourists feel for the structure and give money to help with its construction is brilliant. Yes, you read me right. The money tourists give is what is used to continue with the construction of this place.After we finished with the tour, we took a cab to La Rambla where we had dinner. Headed back to the hostel afterwards and I started getting a panic attack as I had a flight in 6 hours and was flying alone back to India....
Flights were fine - I ate a couple of pills Mad gave me for a fever (which would make me sleepy); and the flight passed by reasonably well :)
Did some shopping at Frankfurt sad-duty-free-terminal C and then got on the flight back to Bangalore.
Barcelona is a beautiful city. I feel that in order to cover it and do justice you need a max of 4 days.
Life Pro Tip : Carry cash with you because every time you swipe, you get charged that extra international handling fee, but later on a bomb is dropped into your bank statement
LPT2 : La Rambla has FCB and RM stores where you can buy original merchandise. In case you are planning, be prepared to shell out at least 100 euros for the jersey
LPT3 : take a lot of pics and be prepared to see people eating loads of weird stuff (like live lobsters)
LPT4 : carry some medicines on you just in case you get a cold. Meds there are super expensive
LPT5 : Have a small sling back that has a zip. A backpack makes no sense coz you have no control over it when it is hung on your back
LPT6 : Keep your belongings close to you. We managed the entire trip without an incident, but I have heard stories from friends who have been robbed in broad daylight
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