I met Kellie and her friend of a friend Jacqui in a different hostel in Barcelona that had come recommended by other travelers. I Immediately knew it was a better choice: comfortable, clean, friendly without obnoxious guests, a big kitchen, lots of computers – and my own single room for 32 euros in the adjoining apartments!
I went across to the supermarket to grab some groceries and had myself a wholesome dinner, which was an epic relief after the constant pizza and pasta of Italy. I then got ready and came back down to the common area, expecting to find Kellie and Jacqui. They weren’t there yet, however, so I socialised with some Canadians, and then some Americans and a Queenslander named Remy (Jeremy).
Eventually Kellie and Jacqui came down, and even later, Christian and his friends Emily and Rithy, who would be joining us in Ibiza. We all played a card game on the bean bags with Remy before heading out on the pub crawl that left at about 11.
The crawl went to two places (after an elaborate walk and metro route). The first gave us glow wrist bands when we got a drink, and had half a Volkswagon as its bathroom sink. The second happened to be right next to the hostel I had stayed at first the previous time! This place, Jamboree, had a couple of levels and was playing some good, retro music.
The next day Kellie and Jacqui were sleeping in so I went with Remy to grab some breakfast at a cafe: mine was extremely disappointing toursity Paella – should have known better than to picka place with pictures of the food. However, I was still happy to be back in Spain and presented with more options than pizza or paninis.
We then set off for Park Guell, the famous park on top of a hill and designed by Gaudi, that favourite of Barcelona. On the way we necessarily passed the Sagrada Familia – Gaudi’s unfinished church – at the aptly named Sagrada Familia metro stop. The line went around three sides of the block so we didn’t go in, but it was spectacular from the outside and ultimately my favourite church in Europe.
It took us a fair while to get to the park and we got a bit lost – my internet was still not working on my phone so we could not use Google Maps – but we eventually made it. Finally there, we admired a group of very good Spanish buskers, singing and playing instruments, and also enjoyed a pretty good view of Barcelona.
We then walked down to where all of Gaudi’s sculptures were and were amused by other people taking dramatic model-style photos of each other with the sculptures and mosaics. There were also many more quality buskers, but none as good as that original group up top. I was amused by a street performer dressed like the giant lizard/frog-like Gaudi sculpture.
Back at the hostel I hung out briefly with Jeremy and his hostel roomies before grabbing myself some food and then meeting Jacqui and Kellie to go and meet Christian and the others at their inner city hotel. We joined Rithy and Emily, who had been having a drink on top of their hotel: this terrace restaurant was quite fancy and beautiful, despite apparently being very reasonably priced.
Kellie, Christian, Jacqui and I then went to a nearby restaurant and Kellie and Jacqui devoured every last rice grain of a plate of paella, about which they raved. I was keen for bed and couldn’t wait to get back, knowing we had to be up at 7am to fly to Ibiza; but I had had a great night and day in Barcelona – especially due to being a lot more rested this time.
After Ibiza we flew back to Barcelona and I had a few hours before my overnight train to Paris. Kellie and Jacqui wanted to spend the afternoon and evening sightseeing – of which I had already done a fair bit – so I joined Jeremy and his hostel roomies at the beach.
We whiled away a few hours in the warm sunshine, which was much nicer than the last time I was there, people watching. The requisite guitar player was nearby, and the males particularly enjoyed the many topless beauties. Everyone then went to get a kebab with feta cheese from nearby before myself and another Australian, Hannah, had to head back to the hostel to collect our bags and continue our travels.
