BARCELONA, ESPAÑA
- Hannah McDonald
- Jun 27, 2017
- 6 min read
It was an early morning, and my last morning in San Sebastian. Our flight to Barcelona left around 8:30. A driver picked us up at our apartment and drove us to the airport, which we now realize is really small. Everything is in our area, and there are only a few gates. After finding our seats, I immediately passed out. One hour later, I woke up in Barcelona.
Today’s task was to see as much of Barcelona as we could in one day. Basically, we had a long layover. Before we even left the airport, metro tickets had been purchased. Mom and Joey have this whole tourist thing mastered. Then, we headed outside to find the shuttle. It was hot. We used Joey’s postcards as a fan. Finally, the shuttle arrived and we were off to the hotel. Walking in, it felt like I had entered a planetarium. The ceiling was sprinkled with stars and the lobby was circular. Since it was still early, our room wasn’t ready. We headed into the restaurant, so Dad could work a little and Mom, Joey, and I could investigate different things to do. We had a map in front of us, but it was overwhelming. It was already noon, so there was only half a day left to see the whole city.
Having a vague idea of what we wanted to do, we headed out. First thing, food. Dad had pulled up a vegetarian restaurant on his phone, and we got in a cab to head that way. The Barcelona Airport Hotel is pretty far outside of the city. However, we arrived at the restaurant about thirty minutes before it opened. With a little time, we went to find the closest metro station, so we would know our stops.
Back at the restaurant, the menu turned out to be slightly more confusing than anticipated, a perfect time to practice Spanish. We figured it out but ended up with a ton of food. We simply couldn’t eat it all.
Stuffed, we headed to the metro station we found earlier and went to Olympic Park. The Olympics were held in Barcelona in 1992, and I was interested in seeing the stadiums. After the metro to that area, there was a tram that took you part way up the hill. We were short on time though, so we just poked our heads out. There appeared to be a really good view of the city, but it was blocked by a wall.
Back down the tram and through the metro, we headed to The Cathedral of Barcelona, where our bike tour began. It wouldn’t be possible to see the city in one day on foot, so we got a bike tour. Apparently, we chose an unusual tour, so we got a private one. No complaints there. We also booked extremely late, 6:30 last night.
Our guide, Alex, was super nice and knowledgable. We told him to show us as much of the city as he could, since we only had one afternoon. To begin, we navigated the busy city streets, which was a little terrifying considering all the people and cars there were to dodge. Luckily, we made it to the outskirts of town where we began to peddle up a hill. Thank goodness for the electrical assist on those bikes, which made it so much easier. Soon enough, we were overlooking the whole city. It was such a beautiful view, and, believe it or not, on the same hill as the olympic stadium. That is where we were headed earlier when we ran out of time, so we ended up getting to see it after all. We saw the main stadium, the torch, the outside of the basketball stadium, and the antenna that was built for the olympics. It was pretty amazing to see. The main stadium didn’t actually seem very big because they are getting bigger and bigger with each olympics.
Heading down the hill, we went through the Botanical Gardens, which were put in for the olympics. They were beautiful. There were lots of cactus and trees with a path weaving through and a great view down to the ocean. Back in the city and weaving through people, we rode along the port. Crossing over to what once was an island, before being filled in, we arrived at the Barcelona beach. It was once a stone beach, but they wanted a sand beach for the olympics. This meant bringing in ships full of sand from the Sahara Desert. Since then, the sand has been replenished a few times, but it remains sandy today. We biked over to a section of roadway that extended past the beach, toward the water. Workers were setting up bleachers and a court for beach volleyball, and one of the workers was annoyed that our guide had stopped there. He and our guide went back and forth at each other for a little bit in Spanish, including the worker mimicking our guide. It wasn’t so kind of the worker, but it was interesting to watch the two go back and forth. Moving on, we rode passed the twin towers of Barcelona, one of which athletes stayed in during the olympics. The flag poles that once held all the countries’ flags still remain as well.
We continued to pedal past the Barcelona zoo to Parc de la Ciutadella, which had a beautiful fountain. Next stop on the bike tour was city hall. There was a large square with a building on each side. Now heading back to the bike tour office, the streets were busy again and difficult to navigate. Safely arriving back at the bike shop, we successfully saw Barcelona in one afternoon, biking nine miles.
It was then time to find the metro station to La Sagrada Familia, which we had tickets to through the bike touring company. Alex brought us to the station and showed up which routes to take. Reemerging from underground, you immediately saw the enormous La Sagrada Familia. I got a small hint of the feeling I got when I saw The Eiffel Tower for the first time. You’re walking down the street and, suddenly, boom, it is there. It was absolutely gorgeous. However, there were several cranes surrounding it since it is still being built. We came up on the side that is built but still being worked on. We deduced that they still needed to carve into the churches surface to detail it. Walking around, we first saw the main entrance, which isn’t there because it still needs to be constructed. Then, we saw the side that was completed by Antoni Gaudí, which was the only side that he was able to completely finish before his death. This side was much different than the other, very intricately carved with lots of detail, and already weathered. Alex had informed us on the bike tour that there is a nature theme to the church. Sure enough, there were trees going up the church and bugs on the doors. Alex also told us that Gaudí wanted the entire church to be built with no straight lines. His section of the church is, but architects after him decided that was too hard of a task and used straight lines. Entering the church, I immediately noticed it was unlike any church I had ever been in before. It’s much more modern and has lots of color. The stain glass was beautiful and colored the church walls. Staircases spiraled up the church corners, but our tickets didn’t take us up there. It was incredible. Since we were there when the sun was beginning to set, we got to admire the sun shinning through the stain glass. Just before it closed, we also made it to the crypt where people were beautifully singing. To enter that section, you walked through a courtyard where you could look up and see just how tall the church pillars were.
La Sagrada Familia closed, Dad managed to find a Mexican restaurant with vegetarian options. I haven’t had Mexican food since my last night in Colorado, and we know how much I love Mexican food. It was amazing.
The subway ride back to our hotel was about forty minutes and had three transfers. It was a short walk to the hotel from there, but it had been a full day on our feet. We were excited for our rain shower and to put our feet up.
Tomorrow we head to Italy, so this will be my last post under Spain. Look under the Italy tab for my Italian adventures.
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