Barcelona, You're A Winner.

Sunday, October 27th, our flight landed safely into Barcelona! I cannot believe we were already in Spain. It was about 82 degrees and as exhausted as I was, I was ready to explore. We walked to The Hipstel which was the name of the hostel we were staying at. It was awesome there. They had all these events going on each night which included dinner or pub crawls and clubs they take you too.

We dropped our stuff off and got some delicious food right away. We found out that there was an amazing park nearby and it was the last day for free entry. Because of all the tourists Park Guell was attracting, they decided to start charging and the locals aren't very happy, the graffiti all over the park says it all, but it was still beyond beautiful. 

I honestly wasn't sure what to expect with this park but it turned out to exceed any expectations I had and wound up being one of my favorite places I went to in Barcelona. The further you walk up, the more beautiful the view was and it was breathtaking to say the least. 

That night we went out to dinner at this restaurant that was right on the beach boardwalk. It wouldn't be a complete Spain visit without going to the beach at least once. The restaurant we went to was pretty pricey but totally worth it...nachos, paella, and sangria! 

Those 2 giant pans were for 7 of us. I had rice for the next 2 days! During our subway trip, we passed by this awesome vending machine, or should I say vending grocery store! 

Monday, October 28th, we took a Barcelona city bus tour! There was 3 different lines you could take and of course I wanted to see it all so that's what I did all day. 26 euro for a full day ticket, hop on and off whenever you want..sounds good to me! The pictures below are just a taste of the beautiful sights I saw and the stops I hopped off. 

And why not get a piña colada to drink while having this view in from of me....

Yeah, it was pretty awesome to say the least. 

 Unfortunately the tour had to end because we made dinner reservations at this place Tapa Tapa at 7:30pm. I don't think our waitress liked Americans very much but the food was still good (salmon potato salad and chicken).

And Barcelona is even more beautiful at night! 

Unfortunately I did not get to experience the clubs and nightlife there but that's a different story. I did however stumble upon some cool street art work during the night. 

Tuesday, October 29th, adventures continue. Took the subway over to the church of Sangrada Familia and hung out in a cool park there and did some shopping around the area. 

Then me and another girl in the program went to this awesome place for lunch, there are little sandwiches for 1 euro, and beer and sangria for 1.50 euro. They had all the sandwiches numbered and you would write your order on a piece of paper and then bring it up to the register, pay and they would call your name when your food was ready. 

Sangria and a bunch of munchie food for about 5 euros? Sounds good to me. We headed back to our hostel (everyone else went their separate ways in Europe at this point) and took naps. Eat, sleep, adventure...that's basically what this vacation consisted of. We woke up and went back to the same place for dinner, I mean how could you resist 1.50 euro beer or sangria. Then 3 of us headed to a cool coffee shop to check it out, and then off to the beach for our last night in Barcelona. Oh and look at this amazing thing I stumbled upon in a market on our walk..... 

Yeah, 140 proof (unfortunately I didn't have enough cash on me to buy it). 

Wednesday, October 30th, the last couple of hours in Barcelona. We headed to the most popular market and of course ate more food...churros, fresh fruit juice, and empanadas. Every stand looked so good and full and I was tempted to but everything! 

But we had to stop eating and head back to our hostel and start making our way to the airport to catch our 5:30 flight to our last destination...Paris! 

Boarded safely onto RyanAir and excited to get to Paris that same night! Barcelona was definitely one of my favorites though and I plan on coming back for sure.