As one of my high school Spanish teachers would singsong say, “¡Hola Hola Pepsi Cola!“
Hands down, this past weekend was the best weekend I’ve had so far in Barcelona. Between the weather in the mid 60’s, the sun, and the beautiful views I’ve seen, I could not be happier with where I am and what I am doing. It is such an exciting time in my life and I wish it would slow down. I’ve been a Barca babe for over a month already! I haven’t even started traveling yet, which I know will make time go even quicker.
Travel Plans: Feb 20-23 Sevilla and Granada
Feb 28th or 29th Sitges for Carnaval!
March 7-9 Valencia
March 20-22 Madrid
(Planning a trip to Galicia sometime in March or April)
April Break plans: Rome, Florence, Venice and hopefully Croatia!
There are so many things to do and places to see in Barcelona I don’t even feel the desire to leave this magical city, but I do want to explore Spain!
Anyways, my Valentines weekend was probably my favorite Valentines ever (sorry boys you can’t compete with Barcelona). Friday the temperature was a solid 65 degrees and sunny… maybe 3 clouds in the sky with a light breeze. Avery and I decided to take the metro to Parc del Laberint d’Horta. This park has fountains, statues, historical buildings, flowers, and a labyrinth! Even though the only other people in the park were couples holding hands, kissing (making out), having picnics, or taking cute selfies, Ave and I had an awesome time. We walked through the whole park, which probably took about 3 hours. We even did the labyrinth, which I wasn’t the most enthusiastic about, but it was very satisfying when I picked the right path. Everything smelled like flowers and happiness. There were ducks that we hung out with for quite a while. The ducks were letting us up close and personal so I didn’t want to leave, much to Avery’s dismay. After finishing at Parc del Laberint, we decided to take the metro a la playa (to the beach) for the sunset! We got there with about an hour to go till the sun went to bed so we walked down the street and Avery got some really messy French fries “Las Fritas”. It got pretty brisk, but the gorgeous sunset made the goosebumps worth it. It really was a great day.
I honestly thought I had seen the best nature could produce, but boy was I wrong. Saturday morning, Avery and I met up with Erica, Tanner and Tanner’s two friends, Nate and James. Erica is my friend from one of my Spanish classes and Tanner is her friend from home, who actually lives in Ridgewood (small world!!). Nate and James live in the same dorm as Tanner. Erica invited us to go to Montserrat, which is a mountain top monastery. Sadly, we did not see any monks… To get to Montserrat was quite the adventure both ways. The order of transportation to get to Montserrat…
1. Metro (10 minutes)
2. Train (1 hour)
3. Train to cable car (10 minutes)
4. Cable car to mountain/monastery (5 minutes)
5. Tram from monastery to top of mountain (5 minutes)
Needless to say, naps were taken. Thankfully, we decided to eat before we went up the mountain. It was a buffet style cafeteria with chicken that still had the full ribcage and possibly tail, strawberries in whipped cream that was missing a slightly important ingredient, sugar, French fries, pasta and chocolate milk. We were so hungry we ate it all and even broke a few utensils in the process. After a bathroom break we took the tram up to the top of the mountain. We walked one of the many trails and ended up hiking off the trail and climbing up mountains. (Totally safe…)
After taking in the gorgeous view, we decided we wanted to climb to the highest mountain. We discussed this for like 20 minutes before we decided we were going to do the hour hike up. If y’all know me, you know a hike is never anything I would voluntarily do, so that should prove just how pretty it was. I don’t hike so I don’t really know if this was normal, but we were basically rock climbing it was the biggest workout since 120’s. (WSOD) We got to the top and it was breathtaking. We just sat there in silence taking in the view and also trying to catch our breath. It was incredible to see the sunset over the farms of Spain.
The sun obviously took the warmth with it so we hurried down the mountain. Because we stayed so late the tram to take us back down to the monastery wasn’t running anymore. A picture can’t do it justice, but the tram was basically a vertical ride up. So the hike back down was very long but thankfully not as steep. By the time we got back down the mountain to the monastery it was about 7:15pm and pitch black. Thankfully we were with boys who could possibly protect us from a mountain lion (if they have mountain lions). We came down so late that the cable car was no longer running (just like the tram) so we had to take a funicular, which is basically just a train. We took the last funicular to some station that we had never seen because we had taken the cable car up. While we were on the funicular to go home, the lady who was driving it told us that the train to take us from the funicular to the train to Barcelona is no longer running. (cool) We were all freaking out thinking we’d have to sleep in a train station or find a local hotel, but turns out it was just a “quick” 20 minute walk through some random town to the nearest train station. We speed walked through a ghost town. There were maybe 5 people out otherwise it was dim and everything was closed up. Once again, thank god we were with such manly men. We finally made it to the train station and took the 8:41 train home to Barcelona. Famished and tired, we needed to eat so we took a quick metro ride to Walk to Wok, had some Chinese and Dunkin Donuts for dessert. By the time Avery and I sat on our couch it was 11. We left the apartment at 11:45 that morning.
Between the hike, travel time, and extra adventures we were wiped. I slept like a baby.
Hopefully these pictures can do Montserrat justice, but most likely y’all will just have to make your way to Barcelona. Can’t wait to bring my parents here and show them I am capable of exercise!
Sorry for such a long blog post hopefully y’all could make it through (Petro). I couldn’t sum my weekend up in less than two pages…
Besos
Hands down, this past weekend was the best weekend I’ve had so far in Barcelona. Between the weather in the mid 60’s, the sun, and the beautiful views I’ve seen, I could not be happier with where I am and what I am doing. It is such an exciting time in my life and I wish it would slow down. I’ve been a Barca babe for over a month already! I haven’t even started traveling yet, which I know will make time go even quicker.
Travel Plans: Feb 20-23 Sevilla and Granada
Feb 28th or 29th Sitges for Carnaval!
March 7-9 Valencia
March 20-22 Madrid
(Planning a trip to Galicia sometime in March or April)
April Break plans: Rome, Florence, Venice and hopefully Croatia!
There are so many things to do and places to see in Barcelona I don’t even feel the desire to leave this magical city, but I do want to explore Spain!
Anyways, my Valentines weekend was probably my favorite Valentines ever (sorry boys you can’t compete with Barcelona). Friday the temperature was a solid 65 degrees and sunny… maybe 3 clouds in the sky with a light breeze. Avery and I decided to take the metro to Parc del Laberint d’Horta. This park has fountains, statues, historical buildings, flowers, and a labyrinth! Even though the only other people in the park were couples holding hands, kissing (making out), having picnics, or taking cute selfies, Ave and I had an awesome time. We walked through the whole park, which probably took about 3 hours. We even did the labyrinth, which I wasn’t the most enthusiastic about, but it was very satisfying when I picked the right path. Everything smelled like flowers and happiness. There were ducks that we hung out with for quite a while. The ducks were letting us up close and personal so I didn’t want to leave, much to Avery’s dismay. After finishing at Parc del Laberint, we decided to take the metro a la playa (to the beach) for the sunset! We got there with about an hour to go till the sun went to bed so we walked down the street and Avery got some really messy French fries “Las Fritas”. It got pretty brisk, but the gorgeous sunset made the goosebumps worth it. It really was a great day.
I honestly thought I had seen the best nature could produce, but boy was I wrong. Saturday morning, Avery and I met up with Erica, Tanner and Tanner’s two friends, Nate and James. Erica is my friend from one of my Spanish classes and Tanner is her friend from home, who actually lives in Ridgewood (small world!!). Nate and James live in the same dorm as Tanner. Erica invited us to go to Montserrat, which is a mountain top monastery. Sadly, we did not see any monks… To get to Montserrat was quite the adventure both ways. The order of transportation to get to Montserrat…
1. Metro (10 minutes)
2. Train (1 hour)
3. Train to cable car (10 minutes)
4. Cable car to mountain/monastery (5 minutes)
5. Tram from monastery to top of mountain (5 minutes)
Needless to say, naps were taken. Thankfully, we decided to eat before we went up the mountain. It was a buffet style cafeteria with chicken that still had the full ribcage and possibly tail, strawberries in whipped cream that was missing a slightly important ingredient, sugar, French fries, pasta and chocolate milk. We were so hungry we ate it all and even broke a few utensils in the process. After a bathroom break we took the tram up to the top of the mountain. We walked one of the many trails and ended up hiking off the trail and climbing up mountains. (Totally safe…)
After taking in the gorgeous view, we decided we wanted to climb to the highest mountain. We discussed this for like 20 minutes before we decided we were going to do the hour hike up. If y’all know me, you know a hike is never anything I would voluntarily do, so that should prove just how pretty it was. I don’t hike so I don’t really know if this was normal, but we were basically rock climbing it was the biggest workout since 120’s. (WSOD) We got to the top and it was breathtaking. We just sat there in silence taking in the view and also trying to catch our breath. It was incredible to see the sunset over the farms of Spain.
The sun obviously took the warmth with it so we hurried down the mountain. Because we stayed so late the tram to take us back down to the monastery wasn’t running anymore. A picture can’t do it justice, but the tram was basically a vertical ride up. So the hike back down was very long but thankfully not as steep. By the time we got back down the mountain to the monastery it was about 7:15pm and pitch black. Thankfully we were with boys who could possibly protect us from a mountain lion (if they have mountain lions). We came down so late that the cable car was no longer running (just like the tram) so we had to take a funicular, which is basically just a train. We took the last funicular to some station that we had never seen because we had taken the cable car up. While we were on the funicular to go home, the lady who was driving it told us that the train to take us from the funicular to the train to Barcelona is no longer running. (cool) We were all freaking out thinking we’d have to sleep in a train station or find a local hotel, but turns out it was just a “quick” 20 minute walk through some random town to the nearest train station. We speed walked through a ghost town. There were maybe 5 people out otherwise it was dim and everything was closed up. Once again, thank god we were with such manly men. We finally made it to the train station and took the 8:41 train home to Barcelona. Famished and tired, we needed to eat so we took a quick metro ride to Walk to Wok, had some Chinese and Dunkin Donuts for dessert. By the time Avery and I sat on our couch it was 11. We left the apartment at 11:45 that morning.
Between the hike, travel time, and extra adventures we were wiped. I slept like a baby.
Hopefully these pictures can do Montserrat justice, but most likely y’all will just have to make your way to Barcelona. Can’t wait to bring my parents here and show them I am capable of exercise!
Sorry for such a long blog post hopefully y’all could make it through (Petro). I couldn’t sum my weekend up in less than two pages…
Besos