Spain: Sun, Tapas and Flamingo Dancing?

Let me just preface this blog about Spain by telling you that the flight attendants were selling lottery tickets on our flight from Pisa to Barcelona. That was my first impression of the country. Turns out first impressions sometime hold true.

Lori and I got off our plane around 9 p.m. The flight had been short but annoying due to a screaming Italian baby whose parents did nothing to shut her up. But we were in Spain! Yeah! Warm weather, hot beaches and cold drinks here we come! We followed the flow of people from our flight and ended up on a mysterious bus labeled "Barcelona". Apparently we weren´t the only ones unsure of our destination since two other girls backpacking and a couple sitting behind us were all questioning their decision to hop on the first bus we saw. Turns out it was the right bus but it took us 45 minutes to get into the city. Lori and I weren´t expecting this and weren´t exactly sure if our hostel had 24 hour reception. What if we get there and we are locked out? Sleeping on the street/beach didn´t seem like a probable option with all of our luggage. So once the bus dropped us off we frantically set off in search of the metro. Once we failed at that we decided to try a cab. Maybe the driver would know where we wanted to go. No such luck. He barely spoke English and neither Lori nor I are fluent at the whole Spanish thing. So with his little understanding of English and our little understanding of Spanish we met somewhere in the middle and managed to find our destination. The door was locked but luckily there was a night guard who let us in.

Our first day in Spain we walked around the city. Since we had four full days here there was no pressure to fit everything in or go at a fast pace. So we wandered around the city in search of the famous places. We found the pedestrian street La Rambla where you can buy anything from post cards to necklaces to live chickens. We fumbled into the Mercat Boqueria which sold fresh fruits, meats, chocolates, candies, etc. There were people sitting down for drinks while others were bargaining over prices. It was wonderful and exciting so Lori and I decided we would eventually make a quick trip back for some provisions. We then toured the gothic area where we saw churches, palaces and columns erected for some reason or other. They all start to run together eventually and most of them are usually under construction. Old stuff tends to fall down I guess.

Later that afternoon we decided to visit the Barcelona Zoo. It was something different and less stressful than fighting the tourists. So we followed the hoards of screaming school children and spent the afternoon staring at animals from all over the world. One of the highlights was the dolphin show. Standing in line for 30 minutes we had high hopes of watching these fun loving creatures jump and flip and do all sorts of tricks. We weren´t disappointed. Of course we couldn´t understand anything that was going on because the dolphin trainers were speaking Spanish but we enjoyed it well enough. After the zoo, we headed back to the hostel to attempt to do laundry. Getting down to your last pair of undies is a scary thing when you are travelling and all of the washer/dryer directions are in a foreign language. After three hours, we finally had fresh clothes and hit the sack.

The next day we planned on going to the beach but much to our dismay, it was cloudy. So museums were plan B. Our first stop was the Picasso museum. This was one of my favorite museums so far. Picasso´s work is revered yet it is so elementary. You look at it and think "Hey, I could probably paint that." That´s what I love about his work. It seems more relateable. After the Picasso museum we ventured over to the Temple of the Sagrada Family. We literally spent ten minutes here. Not that it wasn´t amazing architecture or anything. Don´t get me wrong, it was beautiful. It was just too expensive to go into and it was under construction. So we went on a search for Caso Batilo. I am not going to lie...I have no idea what this place even is. It is a pretty cool looking building but once again too expensive to go in to. I should probably google that. Next we stopped at a tapas bar for some tasty appetizers and traditional Spainish food.

That evening we saw a flamingo (flamenco? ha!) dancing show. It is amazing how fast the dancers could move their legs. I was sore after just watching it. They would bend and tap their feet to the music like it was no big thing. I would be on the floor crying after two minutes of movement like that and they did it for a solid fifteen minutes at least. Bravo crazy Spanish dancing people! More power to you. After the show of amazing calf muscles we went back to the Mercat Boqueria and spent a heinous amount of money. Everything just looked so good that we had to sample it all. We bought fruit (which was reasonably priced) and candy (which was ridiculously overpriced). Once the shock set in over how much money we had just spent on perishables, we needed a drink. Sangria it was! We were in Spain after all. So we sat down and enjoyed a nice pitcher (or what seemed like a pitcher it was so big) of Sangria. Later we strolled down to the beach to check it out. I seem to be spoiled by Florida beaches because the one we were on just didn´t measure up. But we headed to the hostel with thoughts of spending the next day lying on the sand and soaking up the sun...little did we know what we were getting into...