Barça: part 2

Saturday: We woke up, expecting to have to find something to eat for breakfast, but Alessia and Mirko had already bought some bread and jam for us. It was really nice of them. Then, we sat down with Alessia and she went through an hour presentation of ''What To Do in Barcelona.'' After, we were off to explore. We started with Place de Catalunya and Las Ramblas. Place de Catalunya is a nice square with fountains and statues. There are a lot of pigeons though, which was quite frightening with them flying around/at you. Las Ramblas is a big tourist street, but it was nice. There's a merçat (market) right off Las Ramblas and it was AMAZING. They sold fruit, meat, seafood, and they even had restaurants in there. They had tons of fruit and vegetables for dirt cheap, like 1 kilo of oranges, apples, or bananas for 1 euro. There was also a lot of stands where they sold Spanish hams. DELICIOUS. We found a nice little restaurant there and ate lunch. I had some rice, sausage, and potatoes. It was a lot for only paying 5 euros. We finished Las Ramblas and then, we walked around the port. Real pretty. After, we decided to explore some of the smaller streets of the old city. We went back to the hostel for a break and then, we went to a Flamenco show. We met up with 2 other Americans there, Katie and Devon. They are both studying in Antibes, France and they go to UofFlorida in the US. The show was nothing less than amazing. The music, the dancing. It was all so intense. I really enjoyed it. I was surprised that it was so good, because we only paid about 7 euros, with some of the better shows being 40+ euros. Then, we all went out for some tapas. Anna and I were wanting to eat quite a bit, but the other two didn't seem up for it. So, we really didn't get to experience a true tapas meal and didn't end up eating a lot. We also had sangria, which was decent. The other two Americans seem to be very tight with their money. I mean, I understand why they were, but Anna and I are fine with spending money on a good meal. Dinner was a bit of a bummer, but all in all, it was a great day. Weather was got worse as the day passed, as it did rain quite a bit.

Sunday: Weather was a lot better. It started off pretty murky, but it got nicer as the day passed. Mirko drove Anna, Devon, Katie, and I to a bunch of different places. First, we went to Montjuïc. We visited the castle there. It had nice gardens and some cannons from the Spanish Civil War. It was cool. It had some really nice views of Barça. After, we went to Tebidabo next. It took about 45 minutes to get from Monjuïc to Tebidabo. Quite a drive. Katie didn't look so good after going up the mountain to Tebidabo. Apparently, she gets car-sick easily. Up there, once again, there were amazing views of Barça. There was also, a church on top of another church. Interesting. After, we went to Park Güell. So cool. Gaudi designed the entire park: the buildings and the vegetation. It was so cool. Definitely one of my favorite part's of Barcelona. We walked around. I really enjoy Gaudi's architecture. It's really something different from anything I've seen. We had ''lunch'' there, which consisted of a 5 euro piece of bread with some chorizo. Booooo. After Park Güell, we went back to the hostel. Anna and I went out for a petit apéro, which was a delicious 5 euro, 3 pieces of tapas and sangria. DELICIOUS. Alessia and Mirko actually made spaghetti for us that night. Really delicious, as Mirko use to be one of the top chefs in New York. Crazy. After dinner, Anna and I decided to search for some gelato, but was unsuccessful. However, it was about 11:30pm when we decided to go searching.