Tapas and more Tapas

When we landed in Barcelona we took a van from the airport to our hotel, Le Meridian. Our hotel turned out to be the perfect location right in the heart of the city. It was nice staying in such a beautiful place in a central location. I will have to say goodbye to such rich digs because once my mom is out of the country it will be hostels all the way. We were exhausted but after dropping off our luggage. We hopped on the Barcelona Bus Turístic. I would definitely suggest this form of transportation for anyone who has just a few days in Barcelona. It has two routes that run past the largest attractions in the city. We were able to get our bearings and jump on and off whenever we saw anything we liked. Our first stop on Sunday was the Sagrada Familia. It was one of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen. Its indescribable, something you have to see for yourself to believe! The best part was taking the lift up to the towers. It is only an extra 2 Euros and the admission was 11.50 Euros. Looking down literally took the breath from my lungs (I am a little afraid of heights). Walking down was like walking through history. The stairs spiral down. There is a picture of my mom coming down below. It is an absolute must. Although I wouldn't recommend it if you get claustrophobic.

La Sagrada Familia 

Beautiful Stained Glass Windows Inside the Church

Mom walking down the Spiral Towers

After leaving the Sagrada Familia we rode the rest of the route and ended up back where we started. By this time we were both exhausted from lack of sleep and food and decided it was essential to eat Tapas before sleeping.

Tip #2: Talk to anyone and everyone you can! We happened to meet a man who had lived in Barcelona while waiting in the NY airport and he told us of a fabulous Tapas place to eat. It was 5 minutes from our hotel. The restaurant was called Ciudad Condal. It was everything he said it was and soooo delicious!

Left: Salteado de Girgolas con Jabugo (Oyster mushroom and cured ham)
Right: Artichoke with Garlic

The Tapas experience was wonderful and delicious. I can only hope that I can control myself for the next few months around all this new and exciting food. By the time we had 2 glasses of Sangria and ate we were both about ready to fall over. We went back to the hotel and fell into bed at around 7:30p.m. However, it felt like we hadn't slept in two days.

We both woke up wide awake around 2:00a.m. My mom finally got back to sleep at around 4:00a.m. and I took a bath because I was still wide awake. When I finally crawled back into bed at 6:00a.m. I was exhausted all over again. We both fell asleep without an alarm and didn't get up until 11:30a.m. which wan an accident. We were going to try to get up early and see more of the city but our bodies were not cooperating. We were starving by the time we left our hotel and headed for La boquería. It is a well know market here in Barcelona and has fish, meat, bread, and fruit stalls. We split a sandwich and then both of us got freshly made fruit juice. I had a coconut and strawberry and my mom had a banana and raspberry. They were both delicious and really helped us wake up. Make sure to head farther into the market to buy juice because the front vendors sell the same thing but charge a higher price.

We started walking Las Ramblas after we ate and we ran into these two characters....

They are freaky gargoyle things!!! They were actually pretty scary...the picture is dark so you can't tell that they had talons and were grabbing us and poking us. I can tell you after we ran into them we were wide awake. All along the Ramblas there are people dressed in crazy costumes and if you give them some spare change they will come alive. It is so much fun to watch and participate in.

We finally hopped on the bus for the second route at around 1:00p.m. This route had much more plants and trees growing and it was beautiful. We stopped at Montjuíc (Mountain of the Jews) and rode the teleferíc up the hill. At the top of the hill there was a beautiful castle with a bridge and cannons, the whole works!

Here was the bridge leading into the castle and the gardens...

We finished off the rest of the route seeing some really neat sites. We saw the monument erected for Christopher Columbus where he set off to find the new lands. We also walked through the Barri Gotíc (Gothic Quarter) with 2000 years of buildings and history. We grabbed some chocolate here that was to die for. Of course we couldn't finish off the day without some Tapas. Below is a picture of my mom in front of the place we ate at.

The food was great!

Later that night we went to see a Flamenco show that was pretty amazing. Just being in the country for two days I was already overwhelmed by the culture and talent of the people. Below are a few pictures from the show!

The entrance to the show:

One of the performers:

We finished off this night with a gelato...yummy!!!! Off to Murcía where I will be living for the next few months...wish me luck:)