Barca Blog

Seaside bikeride

This past weekend I travelled to Barcelona with Dave and Linda. We escaped from the cold and rainy environment of London for a warm and sunny short vacation in the Spanish city. It was about 70 degrees for the entire weekend and we took full advantage of it. Renting bikes was an excellent way to enjoy the temperate climate as well as to tour the city in a short amount of time. Although there wasn't any swimming, we visited the beach and enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere.

Our first late-night Spanish meal of tapas and paella

The change in culture was as refreshing as the Mediterranean seaside. After stepping off the plane, we immediately ran into a language barrier with two or three people. While some find this to be an annoyance of traveling, I love it. It's a fundamental difference between cultures and it means that you're going to learn something, whether you like it or not. Anyway, out of the three of us, no one knew any Spanish, so it was hit and miss as to whether we got our point across or got our questions answered.

View from Sagrada Familia Cathedral

We made it to where we were staying, another couchsurfing.com destination. This time a Spanish villa about a 20-minute train ride outside the city. I called Paul, whom I had been in contact with on couchsurfing.com, and he arranged for us to be picked up at the train station the moment we stepped off. We were set up in what was essentially a mansion that had been turned into a hostel, only we felt like part of the family. Paul said that he was in the beginning stages of starting a hostel and touring business and was letting people stay for free while he got everything going. Paul ran the place with a couple of friends who cooked us breakfast and dinner, gave us clean sheets and beds to sleep in and never asked for any compensation. There was simply a piggy bank for donations, which we happily contributed to.

Playing a game of kick the ball over the pool at Paul's "No Worries Villa"

On our last night we left the villa and checked into a hostel in the city since we had to leave from there the next morning. We were delighted to find out from Paul that Barcelona's football (soccer) team had a match on Saturday night. We were even more delighted to find out that tickets were only 18 Euros, far less that the £30 to £40 we have been paying for matches in London. The match was at 10 pm, which gave us time to enjoy a couple glasses of sangria at our hostel's bar before we made the trek across the city to the Nou Camp, Barcelona's stadium. The home team far outclassed the visitors, winning 6-0. It was awesome to see Thierry Henry, who I've been watching on TV for what seems like most of my life, score a goal in person. However, Samuel Eto'o did steal the show by scoring 4 goals in the first half.

GOAL GOAL GOALASOOOOOO!!!

A fantastic weekend in the seaside city was the culmination of my travels here in Europe. It's been great getting to see some places I never thought I would. My time abroad is running short and I'll be in London for the next two weeks before flying home. I have always thought traveling to be an invaluable method of learning about different people and cultures. You can gain experiences that will give you an understanding of the world that no book ever could. On that note, I always find myself coming back to this quotation by Saint Augustine; "The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page."