It's been a while!
Yesterday, I returned 'home' from my Semana Blanca holiday which is a non-teaching period in the Málaga province that coincides with the Día de Andalucía.
As I don't work Fridays, I was able to take 10 days off to catch up with friends and explore new parts of Europe. And when I say explore, I mean properly explore. I've been measuring my days in steps! But there is still so much more I want to see; everyday, I learn about new things and my travel list gets longer and longer!
I'll start backwards with Spain first and then the Netherlands.
Okay so...
Day 7 (34,960 steps)
I flew into Barcelona late on Wednesday night where I met up with my Australian friend (who's on exchange in France). We didn't realise that El Prat airport has two terminals...I eventually found the free shuttle bus to the other terminal and we bought tickets from blue Aerobús machines in order to get to the Plaça de Catalunya. Unfortunately, the metro system had stopped at 8pm and we weren't sure about the bus system, so we took a taxi to the hostel. The Factory Hostels Barcelona is amazing! It's in the Gracía suburb, which is convenient for accessing the Park Güell, but apart from being in a quiet location, it was actually a bit annoying having to hike down to the city centre. Although Barcelona, or BCN, is humongous, so wherever you end up, you will always have to hike to somewhere. (I found the wide streets to be very Melbourne-esque.) It was a small, chic, clean, and quiet hostel. We even had breakfast included in our booking, so every morning, a staff member would make us a coffee, orange juice, and a piece of cake.
On the first morning, we walked to the Sagrada Familia. Wow! It was huge. Very glad we had pre-booked tickets as the line was long. (Barcelona is the only place in Spain I had already been to - we went for a weekend when I was about 10 - I vaguely remember the basilica, and the first thing that struck me, although being enormous, was that it actually seemed smaller than how I remember.) Designed by Antoni Gaudí, the Sagrada Familia was began being built in 1882...and it is still being built today! Gaudí's style is very modern and quirky despite him being alive 100 years ago. The large pillars inside the basilica so similar to trees that I genuinely felt like I was in some kind of forrest. When finished, it will be 126m tall. This height is to ensure that it won't surpass Montjuïc, a nearby mountain, as Gaudí believed 'the work of man should not be higher than the work of God'. Gaudí devoted 43 years of his life to the Sagrada Familia. When he died in a tram accident, thousands of people escorted his body to a grave inside the Crypt. Among Gaudí's work, I also liked the nativity scene sculptures by Josep Maria Subirachs, and the doors and glass fruit by Etsuro Sotoo. The Sagrada Familia is most certainly 'a collective effort' of 'one man's dream'.
For lunch, we explored La Boquería which is an indoor market place on las Ramblas street. The were heaps of options: seafood, cured meat, juices, empanadas...
We also sorted out the public transport and caught the metro to Park Güell. As there were two of us, we bought a T-familiar ticket from the blue TMB machine underground which gave us 8 trips for 10€. The structures in Park Güell were super interesting! Unfortunately, there were no hard copy maps and the signs around the park were not very informative, however, after a couple hours, I believe we saw everything and were amazed at how one man, Gaudí, could have designed all this.
For the sunset, we ventured up el Turó de la Rovira, or the 'Bunkers', which is the unofficial hang-out spot for all the young people in BCN. I found it quite bizarre that the streets of Barcelona felt extremely quiet at night. Maybe it was the off-season, or perhaps just the areas we were in, but most of the bars were closed and the streets were empty from about 11pm on Wednesday and Thursday nights.
For dinner, we caught up with a German friend I had met in Seville, who was on Erasmus in BCN. We went to Bodega Marín, which is an authentic tavern in Gracía where we drank vermouth and ate octopus/sardine tapas.
Day 8 (27,433 steps)
We walked to Casa Batlló, which is another one of Gaudí's famous buildings. My friend had booked her ticket online for 29€ to save money, and I was able to get one for 21,50€ at the office being a Spanish resident. It was a bit of a splurge, but amazing to be able to walk through a Gaudí building, other than the Sagrada Familia, and the tickets included an beautiful audio-guide which was a very surreal experience.
We walked through the Barrí Gótico (the Gothic quarter) on our way to the Cathedral where we purchased two 7€ student tickets in order to explore the 1058 cathedral, including its courtyard and taking in the rooftop views of BCN.
For lunch, we had pan con tomate ('bread with tomatoes'), papas bravas which are fried potatoes with a spicy sauce, croquettes which very popular in Spain..., and tinto de verano!
We walked to the Arc de Triomf which is the entrance point of the Parc de la Ciutadella where the 1888 Universal Exhibition was held. The park's fountain was also very impressive. From there, we went to the port and the Barceloneta beach where we caught up with a fellow Aux, also in Torre, from South India who was visiting another friend from his side of the world.
That night, we had tickets at Razzmatazz, or just Razz, which is this gigantic club with 5 DJs and 2 terraces! This is where all the people of Barcelona were, no wonder it was quiet on the streets!
Day 9 (17,531 steps)
We collected our hire car from OK Mobility in Barcelona and drove to Monsterrat. This was actually my first time driving on the right-hand side, and although I had been pretty nervous, it was a breeze. I also read up on the different road signs in Spain which helped. We had tickets for the Teatro-Museo Dalí ('Dalí Theatre-Museum') at 4.30pm (which is the last slot as the museum closes at 5.45pm), so unfortunately, we were in a bit of a rush and only managed to drive up to the Abdia (abbey) Monsterrat, then drive round the roundabout and back onto the highway. The mountains were stunning and it looked very popular among the hikers, so I will definitely be returning.
At the Salvador Dalí museum, I thoroughly enjoyed the surrealist, modern art. I was familiar with 'The Persistence of Memory' (melting clocks painting), but didn't really know much about his other works. I wish there had of been more information about his life, but I was able to do some Googling as I walked through the museum.
That evening, we drove to our Airbnb near Empuriabrava. We had a scrumptious paella dinner at Taberna Las Tablas in Roses.
Day 10 (14,722 steps)
On our final day, we got up early to catch the sunrise on the way to Cadaqués, a white coastal town on the north of la Costa Brava where Dalí once lived. From there, we drove south to Tossa de Mar to visit the Vila Vella enceinte which is the only fortified medieval town left on the Catalan coast.
We then hurried back to BCN to return the car in time for our flights. The OK Mobility airport drop-off point was not actually at the airport, but they shuttled us over for free which worked out well. Although the car hire itself was relatively affordable, petrol prices are ridiculously high right now, so a full tank cost us 68€ (more than the car) and we were silly to drive well over the 300km daily limit and therefore, had to pay an extra 40 cents per extra kilometre. In saying this, we wouldn't have been able to see la Costa Brava without the car as we just weren't able to squeeze it in using public transport, and, it was definitely a learning experience hiring a car and driving in another country for the first time.
Notes:
- To enter Spain, you still need to do the SpTH form within the last 48 hours of travelling in order to get a personalised QR code.
- Although there has been a recent surge in the Catalan language, apart from on street signs, I felt like Castilian Spanish was still very much the working language in Catalonia, more so than English.
- We saw a lot of Catalonian flags in Barcelona and yellow ribbons on la Costa Brava which symbolise the pro-independence movement in Catalonia.
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