Old Barcelona, 10/15

Bright and early we all met up and took the AVE which is the high speed train in Spain. From the inside it didn’t seem that much more phenomenal compared to other trains, but it was a lot smoother and quieter. They also had a sign at the front sating our speed and we got up to just under 300 km/hour.

Once we got there we hopped on a tour bus that first took us up to Monjuic which is a hill on one side of the city where we got a view of all of Barcelona from the ocean beaches and port to the dense city filled with buildings until it hit another large hill on the opposite side. Then we headed to the hotel where we dropped off our stuff and then walked to a restaurant near the hotel for lunch.

Our tour with our guides followed lunch where we walked around the old part of Barcelona. We saw the walls and part of the aqueduct from when the Romans originally occupied the area, and saw the outside of the cathedral and several major plazas from the time period. This was the Barrio Gothico, or gothic neighborhood. I really like the small pedestrian only streets that we got to walk around in along with the really old houses and buildings lining either side.

Then we walked a bit in the Ramblas to finish the tour. It is a large pedestrian only street that is extremely touristy leading from the central square down to the waterfront. There is a lot going on and street performers all along it. We were warned many times about pick pockets in Barcelona and especially in this section, and I found out later that one girl got her wallet stolen when she stopped for just a moment to take out her camera and take a picture.

There were some Spanish students with us, 2 guys from Madrid and 2 girls from Barcelona to be our guides in our free time, and we were going to see the good shopping area with them but got separated. We (6 of us) ended up just shopping a little bit in the stores nearby, I bought a black cardigan, and then headed back to the hotel. It took us at least an hour to try and find our way back compared to the 15 minutes for the groups who knew where they were going. We all had maps, could speak Spanish, and had cell phones so I was a lot less worried than everyone else with us.

After that we met up with the Spanish students and other students from our program at 9 to go out to tapas for dinner and then out for the night. After tapas we headed to a chupiteria, but they said we couldn’t go in because our group was too big. We went to the taverna next door, owned by the same people, and it was a lot more spacious and relaxed where we could share pitchers of drinks. I ended up with half a class of a tequila sunrise after sharing with a pitcher with 5 other people.

Then a bunch of us headed to a dance club with the girls from Barcelona. It cost 15 euros to get in, including a drink, but that is the usual here. There weren’t many people when we first got there because it was early (midnight?), but as the night progressed it got a lot more crowded and fun. I got back to the hotel at 4:30 am leaving in the first large group that headed back to the hotel.