Beach Babes and Architecture

David here

We have been in Barcelona for two days now, and I absolutely love it. More than Madrid. Our hostel is a 5 minute walk to the beach. Though it is cooler here than some of the other cities we have visited, its still very warm. Yesterday we went to the beach around noon, bringing with us baguettes and sandwich components.

The views on the beaches of Barcelona are very nice. The water looks pretty good too. Derek and I each made a gigantic baguette sandwich, which we followed up with small puddings. We lounged in the sand for a bit and swam in the surf, catching the waves to the shore. The Mediterranean was a little cold, but not nearly enough to keep us out. It was a little rough, and i was a little put off by the paper bags i saw floating in the water, but overall the water was fairly clear and relaxing.

We met a group of three American guys on the beach, whom we started talking to. It turned out they were studying in Toledo, just like our roommates from Madrid. I rattled off some of our roommates names, and was amused to find that they were indeed from the same school. Funny how things work out isnt it?

After a brief siesta, Derek and I set out for old town Catalunya. We took the Metro, which in Barcelona works extremely well. There is a countdown clock on every platform telling you how long, right down the second, until the next train arrives. We emerged from the metro to discover a parade. Im not sure what they were celebrating, but there was a huge croud. The parade was filled with instruments and tall representations (Im not sure exactly what to call them) of kings, queens, and other people whom I could not identify. The hieghts varied, but none were shorter than 8 feet or taller than 12. A person, concealed inside the costume (if thats what you want to call it) carried it through the parade, spinning as they went. The strangest costumes were a pair of pidgeon-type-things. Each had the head and wingds of a pidgeon, but one had the naked chest of a man, and the other the naked chest of a woman.

After watching a bit of the strange parade, Derek explored some of Barcelona and saw some Gaudi architecture. It looks like something out of whoville (if you dont get the reference, I suggest you pick up a copy of How the Grinch Stole Christmas immediately). His buildings are curved rather than angled, and stand out from the buldings around them. In general, the architecture in this area of Barcelona is more modern than what one would expect from a region know as Old Town. The wide sidewalks were largely occuppied by small bookstores, each consisting of little more than a canopy, several tables, and hundreds of books. The buildings are not the tall whitewashed stone buildings Ive seen in every other city in Spain, but more like something youd expect to see in an American city.

We went back to our hostel and hung out in the common room for a while. We chatted with a large group of very drunk guys from Austria. A word to the wise guys; never be the first person KOd by alcohol. You may wake up with strange things drawn on your face and other such unpleasentries. One of their number found this out the hard way.

So far today has been mostly a repeat of yesterday. We had sanwiches on the beach and went swimming. The water was calmer, cleaner, and clearer today. We swam out to a set of bouys that were floating about a quarter mile from shore. Even that far out we could still see the sand perhaps twenty feet below us. We relaxed on the beach for a while. Derek discovered it was unwise to doze off while his friend was bored, and soon found himself completely buried in sand.

On a random note, some of you may have noticed some poor grammar when it comes to apostrophes. That is because these keyboards do not have them, so Ive largely been omitting them. In case you were wondering.

Itll be back into Barcelona soon. Thats all ive got to report for today. Please comment! We love to hear from our readers!

David out

It's been a few days since I last posted, and we've had a great time since then.

Granada was less than it could've been but still fun. Tickets to La Alhambra apparently sell out way in advance, so we couldn't get into the Moorish palaces. It was a good walk up though - it was on top of a large hill, as fortresses usually are - and we were able to see Charles V's palace and the alcazaba, a fortified section of the wall.

The night train we wanted to take to Barcelona was sold out, so we found a place to crash that night and booked tickets for a train in the morning. The hostel, called the Makuto Guesthouse, was a nice place. It had a wonderful inner courtyard and they gave us a free drink and crepe each.

Our train ride was uneventful. Barcelona is all the way up the coast from Granada and it took almost 12 hours to get there. The scenery was fantastic, as we passed through both mountainous areas and plains (where the rain mainly falls in Spain). At one point, we thought we saw a field of pot plants, but we couldn't be sure as neither of us have seen them before.

Barcelona has been excellent. The metro system is easy and efficient, and makes travel less of a pain than it was in other places. Our hostel is a while away from the city center (15 minutes by metro) but it's worth it since we're only 5 minutes from the beach. Plus, we get free breakfast and it's just a generally nice hostel.

Yesterday we went for a swim in the Mediterranean. The waves were huge so we stayed pretty close to shore but it was a good time. One thing worth noting is that we observed, on more than one occasion, that groups of teens would spin around in circles for a few minutes before dashing into the water. We couldn't figure out what they were doing.

Also, we met some Americans at the beach who are studying abroad at a school in Toledo. The same school that we met people from in Madrid. What are the chances of that?! XD

The festival of La Merce is in full swing right now in Barcelona. It's a celebration of their patron saint, I believe. They have concerts and dancing and parades of huge paper mache people called gegants.

Gaudi's work is very evident in Barcelona. We've seen a few of his buildings already and today we hope to see his great unfinished work: la Sagrada Familia.

Next time I post, we'll be in France. Spain is coming to an end. D:

< Derek >