Our days have been so busy that I haven't had time to journal until today's plane ride to Barcelona.
Sunday, August 12
For our last full day in Madrid, I started by visiting the El Rastro. It's a giant flea market that sells new and used leather, clothing, and a ridiculous amount of miscellaneous goods from foam, to nails, to ugly vases, and antiques no one wants. Then, I met up with Sara and we headed to the Royal Palace of Madrid. It's a huge palace with over 2,000 rooms ornately decorated with frescoes and velvet, also including my personal favorite room, a Japanese smoking room. From there, we visited the cathedral. After a rest break, we went to a flamenco show to round out our Madrid experience.
Monday, August 13
After a brief Uber ride this morning, we took a bus to Granada. The bus was nicer than I was expecting, it included WiFi and TV screens. Once we arrived, we got some tapas and explored Granada, heading to the sacromonte region where we visited an Abbey and saw where a large population of Roma live.
Tuesday, August 14
We got up early today for the Alhambra. It's the largest tourist attraction in Granada. It consists of an old Moorish fort, palace, gardens, and more. The entire place was decorated in beautiful patterns. After spending over 5 hours at the Alhambra I took a nap to escape the heat. I spent the evening visiting the Royal cathedral and chapel, going on a tourist train of the city, and eating a delicious meal at a moraccan restaurant. I even got henna done which was very fun.
Wednesday,August 15
We got up super early today to take a plane to Barcelona. Currently, we are circling the Barcelona airport as we had to abort on our first landing. Hopefully we land soon.
Update: 45 minutes later we eventually landed. They said we had to abort the landing because there was a plane on the tarmac in front of us.
Once we landed, we took a bus ride to our Airbnb. We soon discovered that our Airbnb was on the fifth floor. Thus, 105 stairs stood between us and the apartment. After quickly dropping our bags off, we headed out to visit our first Gaudi attraction, La Pedrera. His vision focuses on nature, incorporating curves, arches, and lots of natural light.
We then went to the Sagrada familia. I thought I was tired of churches, however, I really enjoyed the Sagrada familia, mostly because it didn't feel like a church. Tons of natural light floods the space through beautiful stained glass. The church has been under construction for decades and is still under construction, with only 8 of the 18 towers currently built.
To finish the evening, we headed to montjuic. It took a while to get there, our original metro train didn’t go to it's final two stops, and as a result we ended up taking the train backwards a stop. Then, we transferred to a different metro line. Following that, we got on a cable car, and lastly a funicular. We had beautiful views of Barcelona and the sea. We had a bit of time to explore the castle, the world Fair grounds, the 1992 Olympic stadium, ending at the magic fountain. It's a large fountain that has a show that includes lights and music. It was touristy, hilarious, and a nice way to end the day.
Thursday, August 16
This morning I got to sleep in until 9! It was amazing and much needed. We got on a train to Tarragona and fifty minutes later arrived. We explored lots of Roman ruins including an ampitheter, forum, theater, wall, and circus. Sara has an endless store of Roman knowledge so she served as our personal tour guide. For the first time this entire trip, the heat got to me. Even though it was cooler than Madrid, it felt unbearably hot, despite fans, misters, and shade. We tried to take a few breaks, but due to differing traveling preferences, we went to the beach at the end of the day instead of going during the hottest parts of the day. As a result, Sara and I were a bit too hot in the afternoon sun.
Friday, August 17
This morning we got up and took the train to girona. Unlike our train to taragonna where we had to sit on the floor, this time we got seats! We had a nice morning in Girona, walked the Roman walls, and saw some places where they filmed game of thrones. We knew there was a chance of rain when we sat down to eat. However, what we didn't realize was that five minutes later it would get gray and start to rain. The drizzle quickly turned to pouring rain. As we began to hear thunder, we picked up our first course and made our way to the covered arch way. We got comfortable sitting on the floor and watched as the winds picked up, rain flying everywhere. Soon after it began hailing. Luckily for us, one of the covered tables opened up so we got to eat our main course at a table. We took a brief walk in the rain to get to a taxi and then headed back to Barcelona. While Sara and Lorena visited a cathedral, I sat down at a little cafe and had a delicious eclair type dessert with my latte. I enjoyed the wifi and my food, as I watched tourists attempt and fail to order in Spainish (the story is funnier in person, I promise).
Lorena and I proceeded to the Picasso museum. It was interesting to see all of the mediums he worked with in his lifetime and see a variety of styles of art. We finished the evening wandering around LaRamblas, a super touristy street market.
Saturday, August 18
Because we had a plethora of day trips, we decided to cancel our plans to go to Montserrat. To start the morning, we went on a walking tour of Barcelona. Then, we explored, had a nice lunch, shopped for souvenirs, and had more ice cream. To finish the day, we went to park guell, another Gaudi creation. We ended with tapas and sangria, as Lorena and Sara prepared to leave.
Sunday, August 19
Early this morning, Lorena and Sara left for the airport. Once I checked out of my Airbnb, I (stupidly) decided to walk the two miles, uphill, on cobblestone streets, in 85’ with my luggage. An hour later I arrived. I sacrificed a room with a view for a room that was ready right away. Our suite is really nice, has a living room and bedroom, fridge, and large bathroom. After a few hours of relaxing, I walked to a metro station, unsure of where I would go. I ended up on settling on Barceloneta, the beach area of Barcelona. Once I was tired of the heat, I found a place with AC-which ended up being a super busy McDonald's. I'm heading back to my hotel soon so I can finally update this blog and call my parents. James is currently flying from Nashville (where he officiated a wedding) to San Francisco to Iceland to Barcelona (unclear why this was the cheapest flight). He arrives tomorrow evening and I'm super excited for him to arrive.