Blog

19 - 20 June : Cruisin' Catalunya

Last Train to Paris

Trippin'.
Barcelona is Spain's 2nd largest city with a fascinating culture and history, and undoubtedly, a city of remarkable architecture; a city of all cities. And the food, well that's just icing on the cake.
Our hostel was conveniently located a few blocks from La Rambla just behind Gaudi's museum. We both couldn't wait to check in and have our first authentic Spanish tapas meal. Barcelona is known for its vast assortment of tapas and we practically ate it for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Go for a ride
After lunch, we decided the best way to see the city was through a tour. Since we've already done tours by foot and boat.. why not by bike. Fat Tire Bike Tours is popular throughout Europe and people recommend it as a great way to get a work out while seeing the best of the city. Our tour guide was a young and hippie- ish Los Angeles native. An American! He was great-- chilled and laid back with a wealth of Barcelona knowledge. Had we not chosen the bike tour, we would have never been able to find the exact steps where Christopher Columbus stood as he announced to the King and Queen that he'd found America! We biked all over the city for half the day and capped it off with dinner at Les Quinze Nitz, conveniently located right around the corner from the bike tour's meeting and drop off point. So maybe word had spread, courtesy of Mr. Rick Steves, that they have the best paella and sangria in town because the restaurant was not even opened yet and there were already 50+ people in line.
Fat Tire Bike Tours - Barcelona, C. Sant Honorat, 7, tel: 34 933 013 612

Breakfast in La Rambla-- churros con chocolate. SoOo good! Time for some sun sun. The beach was overcrowded with people and it's hard to get some peace when you're woken by Malaysian ladies walking up and down the beach trying to offer you a "massaje".

Biggest lesson learned..
The train station you arrived in may not always be the station you depart. We found this out the hard way when we were sitting at the wrong station awaiting our overnight train to Paris. With only 15 minutes left, we rushed to grab a cab and with G screaming "Rapido rapido!" to the driver, we literally Amazing Race'd it across the city to the other station. When we arrived, we chased the train down as it was leaving the platform, and hopped on while it was still moving. Crazy! Funny part was, G was screaming "Help!" in Spanish instead of "Stop!" as we were running.

Sleeping: Sant Jordi Arago Hostel
Attraction & Destination Checklist:
Gaudi's museum
La Sagrada Familia
La Rambla

More Photos.