Deniz’s Blog

Here is the long-awaited post about my travels last weekend to Barcelona, Spain!

Who: Me, Cydnee, Joyce, Hessa, Miel, Simmy, and Mikaila

What: Long weekend in Barcelona, Spain

When: Thursday February 15th - Sunday February 18th

Where: BARCELONA

Why: We had a 3-day weekend for Carneval/Mardi Gras. It’s a big thing here, what with everyone being Roman Catholic and such.

How: Made possible by RyanAir and funded by my parents

Though we went in a big group, Cydnee, Joyce and I stuck together the whole time. We stayed in the same hostel, and except for Joyce not being a hostel-staying kinda person, we had an amazing time. Our hostel was off of La Rambla, which is the main touristic street in Barcelona. This is where all the souvenir kiosks, shops, and crazies are. At night there are creepy men who walk around trying to sell cans of beer. Random. Many locals hang around La Rambla as well because there are several bars, clubs, etc, and it has a lively nightlife! Anyhoo, before going to Barcelona, we were told to watch our things VERY carefully, especially when walking along La Rambla. We came back with everything we went with, but La Rambla, like any ther touristic place, is definitely a place to watch out for pickpockets.

As in any other big city, the metro is a cheap way to get virtually anywhere. Placa de Catalunya is the main stop on La Rambla (kind of like the MetroCenter stop in D.C.). Once you learn how to use the metro in one city, every other city is easy to figure out. You just need to know which direction you are going! Here we found out that people are extremely helpful. Most people in the La Rambla area speak English… actually, many people in Barcelona speak English. Everyone we talked to was very willing and able to help us when we needed it!

We visited the Sagrada Familia (Sacred Family) church, which is a must-see. It was designed by Antoni Gaudi in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I won’t get into history right now, but basically half of the church is designed in Gothic-style architecture and the other half is completely different and modern. It really is amazing. The construction of the church is still not finished, so don’t be surprised to see cranes and such!

We also visited the F.C. Barcelona soccer stadium. Tours/to get in is about 8 euros I believe, but Cydnee and I hung out outside while Joyce went in. Joyce lost track of time and had Cydnee and myself waiting for almost 3 hours… yeah. lol

As for food, Barcelona has everything. Kebab houses, pita places, Indian restaurants, STARBUCKSSSSSS, Tapas places… it was awesome eating REAL food and having Starbucks sometimes twice a day. We really loved Barcelona, and if you want to hear stories, I’ll tell ‘em later Barcelona, Spain is DEFINITELY on my top list of cities. New York is, of course, first… but Barcelona is pushing either 2nd or 3rd I WANT TO GO BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!