Days 13 & 14: The End

The next day we arose to grab an early flight from Rome to Barcelona. We walked to the Termini station, then embarked on the most uncomfortable bus ride of all time. The bus was packed, there were no windows, and and the driver seemed to be rationing the AC so that it went off in 10-second bursts every 5 or so minutes. By the end of the ride, each breath was approximately 95% recycled air from other peoples' previous breaths. To avoid either passing out or getting sick, I tried to sleep for as much of it as possible.

We got to the airport, then hopped our flight to Barcelona. When we arrived, as usual, we had no idea where our next place to stay was, so we figured it out at a sketchy internet cafe and then metroed in. Another thing we hadn't really planned for was that the standard language in Barcelona is Catalan, not Spanish. But since everybody knew Spanish (and usually at least a little English) it still ended up being one of the easiest places to communicate.

The first day we arrived we had grand ambitions. We were thinking about going to a famous park, a famous church, and possibly even a chocolate museum. But after a long morning of travel, the hostel we were staying at started to seem really comfortable, and the presence of a communal nylon-string guitar closed the deal - it was going to be impossible to get anything done. We relaxed at our place for a while, then got ready to go to the beach with some people there for the evening.

We made the 20-minute stroll down to the beach in some amazing evening weather amongst fellow walkers, roller bladers, street performers, vendors, overt lovers, and naked people. Even though it was already 7 pm there were still hours of sun left. We pretty much just continued the day's trend of lounging around - just at a better location. This confirmed our suspicions: the beach was money. We just might have to return.

That night we took it easy for the most part since traveling had been exhausting. We walked over a few blocks to Las Ramblas, which is the main street in Barcelona, to look for some food. We ended up stopping in some Falafel place that was pretty good on a sketchy looking side street. We walked up and down Las Ramblas and watched the days wholesome commotion fade into nightly vice. I thought I saw a few people reach for my pockets (apparently Barcelona is the worst place for thieves in all of Europe) but I turned before they could finish the trick. Anyway, it wouldn't have mattered if they had because I was completely broke. Joke's on you, suckers... kind of...

We walked back through alleys with one person after the next approaching us and whispering to ask if we wanted some 'stuff'. Although I appreciated their professionalism and charity, we had to decline and eventually found our way back to our humble, temporary abode.

The next morning we had more energy to address our ambitions. We actually did end up doing a few of the things we had considered the day before. First we took the metro up to Parc Guell, which was designed by the famous Barcelonian architect Gaudi. The park was pretty cool, offered some great views of Barcelona all the way to the ocean, and featured some of Gaudi's zany work. For example, the park contains the world's longest park bench, which is a long, curving sculpture decorated completely in a mosaic of tile pieces.

The park was a good introduction to the world of Gaudi, because it seems that pretty much every cool place in Barclona was designed by him. For instance, the next place we went was an in-progress church called the Sagrada Familia, which was designed by Gaudi sometime in the 1800s. Of all of the churches we've seen on this trip, the Sagrada Familia was probably one of the coolest sights of all - and will be absolutely incredible when it's finally finished sometime around 2030. It has been being built since 1880, and construction is still going on every day. The thing about the Sagrada Familia is how different it is from other, more traditional churches. It's still a Roman Catholic church, but its design is so much more modern, colorful and unique than what one might expect when they think of classics like Notre Dame or Saint Peter's. Gaudi was really into nature, so he made the church look like a forest, with supports like trees, a ceiling like a canopy, and elaborate stained glass windows that splash sunlight into the church in every color of the spectrum. It was already an impressive site to see now, so it will definitely give me a reason to return in 20 years. Not that Barcelona makes you search very hard.


Gotta go but ill finish later!