I arrived in Barcelona a week ago and met up with Stacey. It was fantastic meeting up with her, chatting about the good old days growing up and hanging out together. We spent the first couple of days in Barcelona itself, doing all the site seeing touristy things that you have to do.
I pretty much liked Barcelona straight away. It has alot going for it, amazing old buildings and some crazy architecture (namely by Gaudi), bustling shopping streets, incredible nightlife, and long sandy beaches, all in rather short walk or metro ride apart. We found alot of places on Sunday to get some awesome views of the city which was great, then did the cathedrals and other famous landmarks.
On Monday we had a hectic few hours trying to get some transport to Valencia. I knew it was 5hrs away, though i didn´t count on the vast number of people also wanting public transport that day. I should have done some research into it, though (1) it had been a while since id done this type of travellng and (2) i haven´t travelled much in peak season before....its madness. So we spent a few hours running around the metro and trains station and then the bus station before finally just making an afternoon bus to Valencia.
So after all that we arrive to a pretty crappy hostel in Valencia and spent the next 2 days site seeing, spending most of one day in the newly constructed row of space-age type buildings (below) consisting of a science museum (Museo de las Ciencias Principe Felipe), IMAX theatre and aquarium (L' Oceanografic). It was all quite fasinating, and i felt like a big kid again visiting the aquarium
Leaving Valencia on the Thursday morning, we caught the bus back up the coast to Tarragona, one hour South of Barcelona. Tarragona is an old Roman city that used to be very strategic and important for trade hundreds of years ago because of its ideal harbour. At one point it was completely surrounded by a city wall, part of which still exists. So we arrived and went to the hotel to check in and leave our bags (yes....HOTEL!!! LOL we went all out and i got us a cheap hotel for just one night). It was fantastic value, lovely hotel, right in the middle of town...it was definitely a treat.
We ventured the Roman wall and Museum and i then spent the rest of the night in front of the TV! I couldn´t understand one word but it was nice just to relax in the room, which over looked the main beach....very nice. The next day we had our buffet breakfast in the hotel, then made our way back to Barcelona. We did a bit more site seeing, then decided to have dinner again at a restaurant just off the main drag that we discovered (thanks to Lonely Planet!) the weekend prior. It has lovely lovely local food (including amazing Paella) at very reasonable prices.
So after 2L of Sangria between us (refreshing drink made with red wine, juice and fruit), we drunkingly made our way to Plaza Espanya for the famous ´Magic Fountain´. The fountain is pretty amazing, its massive and they put on an awesome display of lights and music with dancing jets of water coming from every direction. Even more amazing when your a bit drunk....!
Barcelona is always alive in Summer with fiestas and festivals etc etc, and this week they have the ´Gracia Fiesta´with street bands with different themes and parades and stalls and all of that. So last night (Friday) we ventured to that part of town, soaked up some atmosphere and crashed not long after in a deep Sangria induced sleep.
Today (Saturday) almost exactly one week after meeting up with Stace, she had to get her flight to Paris to fly back to OZ tomorrow. It was quite sad to see her off, and i used today to catch up on some sleep and souvenir shopping. Tonight was good, i returned to the Fiesta and meet up with a chica and i met in Madrid doing Vaughan Town like 15 months ago.
So tomorrow i fly back to London and stay in Brighton for a couple of nights with Jacqui before flying to Scotland (Inverness) to work for a couple of months. I found a hotel job (bless Gumtree) in the middle of the highlands, precisely in the middle of no where....a world away from manic Barcelona and Eastern Spain. I am actually looking forward to it though, the people i have been in contact with sound really friendly, and it sounds like they are a close knit team. The addy for the hotel is www.tomdoun.com
So there are a few photos up on Flickr, though there will probably be more on Facebook instead. Id say ill have internet at the hotel and ill do my best to keep this updated these last few months (gasp)...almost time to head home! I have to admit though, im starting to look forward to the thought of returning to OZ, and certainly by December ill be more than ready.
Well i hope everyone is well...i shall write later from not so sunny Scotland! =D
Take care all oxox
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