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| Welcome back to Barcelona!! :) |
Hello again! It has been quite a while since I have been able to update you all, so there’s going to be a whirlwind of entries soon! I’ve been doing a lot of traveling lately, and I’m really excited to share with you all my photos and experiences! First off, let’s go back exactly a month from today. My boyfriend, Chase, came to Spain during his spring break along with two of his good friends. I flew in to Barcelona on Friday, March 23rd, and met one of his friends, Jenna and her boyfriend Dane at the Barcelona El Prat airport. From there we headed to the apartment after a nice stroll on the beach. The apartment turned out to be wonderful – it was spacious, had some awesome artwork, and the BEST shower I have had while I’ve been in Spain! It was also in a nice area of town, near the beach and a metro stop.
Chase and his other friend, Nikki flew into Barcelona on March 24th, so I picked them up at the airport Saturday evening. That was QUITE the ordeal. I wanted to take the metro to the airport, because on the metro map showed the grey line going all the way out to the airport. Fantastic. So I hopped on the yellow line near our apartment, made a transfer to the red line, and was planning on making a transfer to the grey line in Plaza Cataluña. Here is where things get interesting. I realized after looking at some paperwork, the flight was getting in at 7:30pm, and they had originally told me 8:00pm. It was 7:20pm when I arrived in Plaza Cataluña, so I knew I was going to be late…but I also knew neither Chase nor Nikki spoke Spanish, so I wanted to get to the airport as soon as possible so they didn’t get lost. I got off the metro planning on changing to the grey line, when I noticed that there were absolutely ZERO signs for the grey line. I asked someone, and he politely told me it didn’t exist. Shoot. So I headed above ground, and saw a bus that said, “Airport Transfers” on it. Yes!! I talked to the bus driver and he kindly informed me that yes, he could take me to the airport, but it was a 20 minute ride and he needed to take a smoke break first…so he wasn’t going to leave until 7:45pm. Well…that wasn’t going to work for me! So finally, I bit the bullet and just hopped in a cab that was open. The cab driver was one of the nicest men I have met while I was here in Spain. He told me that the “grey” line is actually a train that you have to catch, rather than a metro, and that it was out of order that day going to the airport. He also informed of some of the things to go to in Barcelona with my friends. When he realized that I was going to be late, he promised he would get me there on time and proceeded to run three red lights…that’s when I closed my eyes and started praying. Anyway, after that ordeal, I arrived at the airport about 2 minutes before Chase and Nikki came out from the arrivals area. Perfect timing!! That night when we finally got back to the airport, we went out to dinner and came back and slept. It had been a long day for all of us!  |
| This is a photo of the Roman Amphitheater in Tarragona |
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| And the beach (we were in the city looking down on it) |
On Sunday we got up nice and early because we had a tour scheduled to visit a few cities south of Barcelona on the Mediterranean coast. We spent the first half of the day in a city called Tarragona. It was a really important city when the Romans lived in Spain, so there are ruins of an amphitheater and a circo (where they raced the horse carts). Of course, there is a cathedral there as well. We found this wonderful outdoor market in which we stumbled upon some really interesting people selling old records, money from Franco’s era, books, and really interesting antiques. The city of Tarragona is built upon a hill of sorts, so that when you go to see the seaside, you’re actually well above the beach. It’s really interesting to look down and see all the ships in the Mediterranean sea! The afternoon we spent in Sitges (yup! I went there again, it’s so wonderful!) and basically walked around, got some great lunch on the beach, and enjoyed the sandcastles. There’s a really beautiful cathedral near the beach, and we saw a cool palace that was decorated with blue and white tiles. It made it really have a sort of Greek/Mediterranean feel to it (well, I suppose, since we WERE on the Mediterranean sea!). That evening, once we returned to Barcelona and made our way back to our apartment, we just bummed around and stayed in that night.
The next day was Monday, and we mainly bummed around Barcelona. By the time we all got up and showered, we decided to head to Las Ramblas and do a little touristy stuff. We headed towards the port and saw the statue of Christopher Columbus, and then we started walking down the main tourist area in Barcelona. It was full of tourists, shops, and people trying to sell us stuff. Then we decided to head to the zoo! It was the one of the greatest zoos I have ever been to. You were able to get really close to the animals (don’t worry – within reason). We saw animals like lions, tigers, bears, monkeys, rhinoceroses, hippos, you know..the basic animals. But we happened to time it right before feeding time, so all the animals were going absolutely CRAZY. Next time you go to a zoo, I suggest going around feeding time, because it was quite interesting! That night, Chase and I went to the train station to get his train tickets to come to Valladolid later in the week, and after exploring the train station for a bit, we went out to dinner with the rest of the group at a really awesome bar/restaurant near our apartment. That night, after dinner, we headed back to our apartment to get our sangria, and took it to the beach with us. Nothing beats having some sangria on the beach of Barcelona. 
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| Chase and I on a bridge in a park in Barcelona |
The next morning, Tuesday, I woke up, packed everything back into my backpack, and headed out to the airport one more time. My flight to Valladolid left Barcelona at 1:30pm, so I was there around 12:30 to go through security and get ready for my flight. Once again, I had a very nice cab driver (I was NOT going to try the metro/train again!) who brought me to the airport. He was trying to guess where I was from, and he said he was 100% sure I was from a European country. He guessed that I was German, Swiss, Austrian, British, Irish, and Polish all before he gave up. J Guess I’m starting to blend in more like I’m from Europe rather than the states now! Anyway, I boarded my flight, and headed back to Valladolid.
Chase came to Valladolid the next day, Wednesday and stayed until Friday morning. He didn’t get in until Wednesday late at night, and he left Friday early morning, so he could get back to Barcelona and spend another day with his friends before they left Saturday evening. He was supposed to get into Valladolid around 7:40pm, but his train was delayed 40 minutes, and he didn’t get in until well after 8pm. Turns out, he had to switch trains in Zaragoza, but the train he needed was broken. So Renfe, the train company, bussed them to the next train station along the route, and they got on a train there and finished their journey to Valladolid. Needless to say, Chase doesn’t speak a lick of Spanish, and he had absolutely no idea what was going on. I felt terrible that I wasn’t there to help him out but in the end he found someone who spoke English and who could help him out. In the long run, everything went well.
Maria, my host mom, offered to have Chase spend the 2 nights he was in Valladolid with us in our house! It was a very generous offer for her, and we took her up on it! He slept in my bed, and I slept on the couch, because I still had to go to class and take a few exams while he was here. Wednesday night we ate dinner with Maria and Rochelle, and then Chase and I went for a walk around the city and I showed him things at night. We saw the Cathedral, La Antigua (another church), a few more important churches, Plaza Mayor, and the area where I live. We came back home and then went to bed. Thursday I headed to classes, and while I was gone, Chase slept in. After we had lunch (Maria made spaghetti noodles with a cooked meat dish) Chase and I climbed the hill by our apartment to see the whole city from above. From there we did some more walking around – we went to Campo Grande and watched the peacocks, we met some of my friends at a café, and we got churros at El Castillo.
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| This is a photo from when we climbed to the top of the hill to see the whole city! |
Friday morning, March 30th came too quickly and his train left at 7:15am. We got up, ate breakfast and headed to the train station. It had been a great week in Barcelona and Valladolid. After he left, I went back to the apartment, and slept for a while longer since I didn’t have class until 9:30am that morning. Chase leaving was the beginning of a whole new experience, because it signified that the next day, Saturday, March 31st, my parents would be flying into Madrid’s airport to spend 2 weeks here with me in Spain.
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| Left to right: Dane, Jenna, Nikki, Me, and Chase |
That Friday afternoon I spent packing and repacking, and packing some more….
(to be continued)
besos y abrazos,
Erin
besos y abrazos,
Erin
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