A beautiful city, both to live in and to visit, a city where you can decide whether to enjoy the nightlife or, on the contrary, play the tourist and discover all the wonders it hides; three days in which our feet literally burned from all the walking we did. A trip booked online with an easyJet flight (€110 each, me and my girlfriend) and a hostel I wouldn't recommend to anyone, Rambla y Catalunya (last time in a hostel for the rest of my life — better to spend €10 more each and go to a hotel), where we paid €80 a day for the double room!! A trip between the sea of Barcelona and Sitges, with so many places visited: the Sagrada Família, Park Güell, La Pedrera and Casa Batlló by Gaudí, Montjuïc Castle, the Parc de la Ciutadella, Plaça d'Espanya, the Arc de Triomf, the Ramblas. There was so much more to visit, but there was really very little time...
Day 117 Aug 2008
Just enough time to look around!!
Departure at 19:30 from Milan Malpensa, landing at 21:10 at the airport of Barcelona. Just the time to collect the hand luggage and we find ourselves outside the airport, we can decide whether to take a bus that would take us to Plaza de Catalunya at a cost of 5 euros each (more or less) and then manage on foot or by metro to our hostel or, as we did, to avoid problems with luggage, and to avoid moving around in a city still unknown, take a taxi at a cost of 30 euros to reach the central area of Barcelona Rambla y catalunya. Having arrived at the hostel (I'll spare you the description of this very ugly experience, completely different from how it appeared on the internet) we put down our luggage and, seeing that it was still 22:30, we decided to take a stroll.
As a first evening for our feet it didn't go too badly, we headed toward the area of Barceloneta (the beach area of Barcelona) without a map since by now, from how much I had studied at home, I knew the map of Barcelona by heart. I advise against, in the evening, once you've reached the area of the old port on the waterfront (more or less near the Columbus statue), venturing there either alone or in the company of your girlfriend, since it's full of illegal immigrants who, as soon as they saw us, started following us; at that point we immediately turned back, heading toward the beach of Barceloneta. Once there, we immediately got on the beach barefoot and went to wet our feet in the water. Not the best beach but you can make do considering you're in a big city "a stone's throw" from the center.
After stopping at one of the many kiosks in the area, we headed to the hostel to sleep thinking about the next day!! As a first evening we did 7/8 km on foot just as an appetizer:)
Park Güell
Day 218 Aug 2008
An eventful day
We get up in the morning around 8:30, just the time for a shower and breakfast, and at 10 we're back in the Barceloneta area, this time by metro (I recommend getting a book of 10-ride tickets at a cost of 7.20 euros, you save a bit), finally some sun so at least we won't go home white as milk!! The sea, also seen the evening before, doesn't look so bad, of course if you're used to Sardinia, don't come here on vacation to go to the beach. We stay at the beach until 16:00, then we go back to take a shower and by 17:00 we're already on our way to the Sagrada Familia, an imposing church, very showy for its exterior structure, but, on the advice of other people, we didn't go in to visit it; for those who want to, the ticket costs 10 euros.
From there we head, again by metro, to Park Guell, once out of the metro there's 1 and a half km on foot to get there, of which 500 m is a very steep climb, fortunately every now and then there are escalators that help you go up:) The park is beautiful, unmissable, both for the flora and for the structure created by Gaudi, the atmosphere is also very beautiful with street tenors singing and creating small gatherings and people amazed by the art of this great architect!!! After a couple of hours we decide to go back to the center of Barcelona to Plaza Catalunya but this time we take a taxi (cost 10 euros), our legs are starting to give out a little.
Once we reach our destination it's time to go on the Ramblas, a decidedly vacation atmosphere with people strolling in all directions, street artists who invent anything to entertain people and earn a little something and outdoor restaurants (here I recommend you keep your things close because with the coming and going of people there is, you wouldn't notice if someone stole something from you, especially if you sit down to eat in one of those restaurants, never leave bags and purses hanging on the chairs, you'd never find them again). After an entire evening spent here we decide around midnight to go back to sleep because the next day another nice slog awaits us!!!
Triumphal Arch
Day 319 Aug 2008
Day in Sitges
Waking up around 8, we come down from the room and go have breakfast at the bar next door, we've finally fueled up. Thinking there was only one train station, we walked about 3 km to get there (Barcelona Sants) whereas instead we had a station 200 m from our hostel, only we realized it much later... Arriving at the station we asked for a ticket to Sitges (round-trip cost of 8 euros). Once we reached our destination we wandered around the town a bit, very cute and a typical seaside resort, not too overrun by kids but more by families and couples.
The sea is certainly nicer than in Barcelona, and the environment is quiet, you can also relax on the beach without kids playing on the beaches; for lunch we decided to stop at the beach kiosk even though in town there's everything!! When 16:00 came we decided to head back, also because the sun is really beating down hard, we can't take it anymore, roasting without an umbrella:) we head into town and with all the little shops there are we can't help but stop to buy some souvenirs. We go back to the station and take the train, finally arrived at the hostel a nice shower to get the salt off our bodies!! Evening once again on the Ramblas, inevitable to leave Spain without having my girlfriend try the Paella that I had already eaten on other occasions.
We find a nice place right on the Ramblas, and with the Tapas (typical appetizers) a Paella for 2 that never ended, plus something to drink we spent a little less than 40 euros for two, a very fair price!!! Done eating, another little stroll and then to bed!!! Tomorrow we leave, but late in the evening, so there will still be the whole day to walk!!!
La Pedrera
Day 420 Aug 2008
Last day - What a Walk!!!!
Having left the hostel, after leaving our luggage in the service room, the first stop is the triumphal arch, imposing like the Parisian one although less fascinating. After taking a few photos, we head, crossing the pedestrian area, toward the tree-lined avenue that takes us to the Citadel park!! A fairly big park that also includes a zoo, which we decide not to visit because time is short, so we dedicate ourselves only to a walk admiring the various artificial ponds and the marvelous flora. After about an hour we exit from the other side of the park and head toward the nearest metro, which is the Barceloneta one; our new goal is the Montjuic park.
Having reached the right stop, we read that the other metro that was supposed to take us to the top of the hill was not in service (which wasn't true) and so, legs at the ready, off we go climbing; after a couple of km we spot the funicular that takes us to the castle (8 euros round trip). We take it to avoid walking another hour uphill. The castle is cute, nothing special, but it's worth getting up there to see the view, in fact from the hill you can see all of Barcelona. After having lunch with the usual sandwich from a kiosk, we decide to go back down and go visit Plaza de Espana. The square is cute, but you just have to turn the corner and you notice a beautiful architectural figure, the Museo Nacional de Arte de Cataluna, beautiful from the outside, with the fountains that in the evening put on spectacular light shows.
I recommend to those who can to go there from Thursday to Saturday evening!! Time is running out, but we still have time to go see at least from the outside two fabulous houses built by Gaudi, both on the same avenue, Passeig de Gracia, they are La Pedrera or Casa Mila and Casa Battlo. We only had time left to go to the airport and leave by now. We walked about 50 km in 3 days, but it was worth it. Until the next trip. Bye. Fabrizio
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