The Wild Wanderess: Barcelona

Do you know that feeling? The one where you step off a bus, a plane, or a car, and you can just FEEL the buzz of electricity in the air? That’s exactly how I felt when I came to Barcelona. The best part? Spain was never really on my life bucket-list.

In one instant, Barcelona flipped my closed-mind on its… well… head!

I remember feeling the dry heat, reminiscent of what it feels like to be home in California, and feeling ready to bust out my Spanish! After a month of jumbled French, Portuguese, Dutch, and German, I was SO ready to speak my native tongue. It’s a silly thought, but I felt like I was home already.

Monica, my backpacking partner, and I hopped in cab so we could get to our hostel quickly. We had been on the bus since 6 am, and it was already about 4 pm. We decided to have a quiet first night in, maybe do some laundry, get some real sleep after all the partying in Pamplona, and wake up early to adventure.

What do they say? LIFE HAPPENS WHEN YOU ARE BUSY MAKING PLANS.

We did not do any of that.

We decided to partake in our Hostel’s speed dating night, free booze, and the bus trip to a famous Barcelona club.

WHOOPS! 😉

Our hostel had THE CUTEST guys and the best margaritas in town. If you’re looking for a hostel, St. Christopher’s Inn was THE BEST one I have stayed in.

The dance club was called PACHA and it was FABULOUS, overlooking the sea. Monica was particularly excited because they were finally playing HIP HOP from AMERICA. We danced, curved guys until 5 am, and knocked right out as soon as we hit our bunks.

Did we wake up early and adventure? OF COURSE NOT!

We accidentally slept in until 4pm and decided to just relax on Platja de la Barceloneta. Luckily, the sun goes down around 9:30 pm so we got to enjoy the beach all night. Monica sat along the sand and listened to music, while I decided to go for a stroll along the water. I can’t believe the water is so warm!

Love was definitely in the air on this beach, as couples were making out all over the place. Barcelona… the city of love ❤ It was the best beach we experienced in Barcelona.

The next morning, we decided to buy a red city bus pass, the hop-on hop-off kind, for 2 days, because it was pretty inexpensive. It dropped us off at all the major locales in Barcelona. I would definitely recommend it if you have a lot of time and want to see the touristy spots.

Some of the stops we hopped off at over the next 2 days:

La Sagrada Familia- The most BEAUTIFUL, BREATHTAKING CHURCH

(More pics to come in a specific blog on this amazing church- stay tuned)

Park Guell

Park Guell has that ICONIC image of Barcelona. Chances are, this photo looks familiar to you already!

Mount Tibidabo- The famous one that JOEY from FRIENDS talks about. It is actually a church/amusement park atop of a very tall mountain! Who would’ve thought!

One of the best restaurants we tried in Barcelona:

La Vinya Del Mar- the cutest little cafe along the waterfront at Platja Barceloneta. The rain fell on a hot summers night, while we were munching away on delicious food. What a memory.

Paella Marisco

(sorry about the phone-type of photos, I had to share the craziest, most amazing tapas though! Anchovies!)

One of the highlights of my own adventuring:

Museo Pablo Picasso

The reason I am a painter now is because I was inspired by Pablo Picasso in elementary school. This was a fabulous museum full of classic Pablo paintings and sketches. There were signs saying “no photos allowed in the museum”, but here are some from the internet!

Barcelona is full of wonder, great architecture, classic paintings, beautiful people, and FOOD. I hope you liked the sneak-peak into our trek through Spain.

SpotTheRedhead | London Travel Blogger

Where will you spot me next?