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Now that I´ve spent a few days in Spain, I can see that (similar to when describing an unattractive blind date) it´s not the outside, but what´s inside that really counts. When I first drove into Barcelona on the bus, I thought to myself, oh no, why the hell did I book 5 days in this place?! Get me back to Switzerland! The streets are old and dirty, there is poverty everywhere, lots of honking cars, etc, as opposed to my beloved Switzerland, where everywhere you go looks like a postcard. But after spending a few days shopping at the produce markets, wandering around the Gothic quarter, hitting the beach, and visiting monasteries high in the mountains, I have come to conclude that Spain is the sort of place you really need to get to know before you make judgment - it´s about its soul and energy, rather than its aesthetic appearance.
I flew into Barcelona from Basel (Switzerland) on a Ryan Air flight - touted as the cheapest wings in the sky for European travel. It´s not uncommon to book flights with Ryan Air for as as little as 10 Euros! As much as I´ve been assured that budget European airlines are among the safest in the world, I have to wonder how safe they really are when my flight played victory music over the loud speaker and people clapped upon our safe landing. Shouldn´t safe landings be a standard outcome after spending a few hours mid air?!
After my late arrival at my hostel, I met a couple of very sweet German girls who were (surpise!) leaving the very next morning. Just my luck. I have a habit of making short term friends over here. But luckily the next day, while feasting on my Korean noodles from Interlaken, I met an awesome chick called Allysa. We clicked so easily that is was an hour and a half into our conversation that we even remembered to find out each others´ names! Alyssa is from Washington originally, but has in the last couple of months moved to New York. She´s taking three weeks to travel around Spain, and will also be heading to Morocco for a few days. And even better yet - she´s staying in Barcelona the same length of time as me!
I love meeting new people. It is so much fun to say that you´re from Australia. As soon as they hear ´Australia´ their eyes light up and they say (insert funny foreign accent), ¨Ahhhhh! Australia! Kangaroos and surfing, no?¨. I was always advised that if I was having trouble communicating with someone, to make sure that they knew I was Australian, not from the US. This has proved very helpful, especially in countries such as France (who will not even attempt to speak English, even though I´m sure a large majority of them know how!). It´s like being Australian give you s a free pass with many cultures - they just think of us as their friendly, funny neighbour who is always good to have around when the drinks are flowing. I love it!
So, I suppose I should detail exactly what I did on my first few days in Barcelona...
After a sleepy morning, Alyssa and I headed out to explore Barcelona, starting first with the Gothic Quarter (a maze of very old, windy residential and commercial streets), then we headed along the beach. It is sooooo humid here! While the temperature itself wasn´t that hot, its the humidity that really killed me. Around 5pm, we started to get a bit hungry, so stopped at this little deserted pizza place, and shared a cheap 3 Euro pizza. The guys there were so lovely, the gave us a large pizza for the price of a small, and chatted to us about where we´re from, where we´re traveling to, etc. It was a very enjoyable meal.
That night we attempted to find the Gracia Festival, held in the Gracia Quarter, but in true Spanish style, it didn´t get started until about 1am, and by that time we were back at the hostel tucked up in bed. The theme of the festival was recycling, so we did see some streets decorated very cleverly with attractive, reused materials. You´ll see what I mean from the photos. We also bought a toffee apple at this little street carnival, which was the best toffee apple I´ve ever had in my life (you´ll notice a look of ecstasy in my eyes in the photos...)
The next day, (after another sleepy morning) Alyssa and I headed to the produce markets to pick up some supplies for a gourmet lunch! The markets are so amazing! You can get a kilo of avocados for 2 Euro, a kilo of mangoes for 1.50 Euro, and we bought the most amazing fresh cob loaf for 1.20 Euros. We took our loot back to the hostel and made ourselves some AMAZING avocado, tomato and Swiss cheese sandwiches before heading to the beach for the afternoon.
Barcelona´s beach is very deceiving. And it made me very sad. From a distance, the beautiful blue Mediterranean looks just that - beautiful and blue. However upon closer inspection, it is absolutely FILTHY! There is rubbish floating in the water (on my left, a plastic bag. On my right, a rotten orange. Straight ahead, an old shipping buoy), there´s rocks on the bottom, and also JELLYFISH! AHHHH!!! Alyssa thought I was being paranoid when I tentatively made my way into the water. Minutes later, after seeing a boy come running out of the water clutching his arm, she too become as wary as I. As hot and humid as it was, Alyssa and I had to settle for lying on the beach reading books, and every now and then quickly dipping into the ocean to cool off. Like I said, I was very disappointed, but that´s coming from an Australian, and I suppose we have the right to be beach snobs!
That night we headed to a Spanish cooking class. After getting lost in the winding streets around Las Rambles, we finally made it what has been by far my favourite thing in Europe! First we were shown how to make Sangria, which is an awesome cocktail that uses freshly chopped fruit, sugar, brandy, red cask wine and lemon softdrink, and were given free reign on filling our jugs as much as we wanted all night! Needless to say, we took advantage... Next, we were shown how to make Tapas, and our lovely host explained the origins to us: many years ago, in Southern Spain, there were alcohol abuse problems. The government recognised this, and decided that the way to combat the problem was to decree that every alcoholic beverage must be sold with food, so that there is something to line the stomach. The food was often just a piece of bread and, as there were lots of flies in Southern Spain, people used to sit their bread on top of their wine glass to prevent flies falling in. Hence, taps, which means to cover, or like a lid!
We then learnt how to make paella, which was very very yummy! There are three possible origins to paella. The first is that a pan in Spanish is called a paella, and this is what they use to make the paella. The second is that paella (in the country) is another term for leftovers, which would been included in the paella along with seafood and rice. The third is that paella also means ´for her´, and it is the dish that men used to make for their wives every Sunday (this is the origin that our female class agreed was the best!). After the class ended, Alyssa and I hung around to finish off the Sangria (can´t waste it...) and to talk to some of our classmates. Do you know just how small a world the Earth is? Two of the girls in our class were from Cairns, and they went to Tully High with Kerri Dawson and Bec Mestroni, who I went to college with, and are now good mates with. ABOSLUTELY CRAZY! It was a very fun night, one of the most enjoyable by far.
Today, Alyssa and I headed to Montserrat, which is a monastery high in the mountains about 70mins outside of Barcelona. After a train ride, we caught the cable car up the mountain to the very top where, on top of rocky cliffs, perches this monastery. It is an amazing sight. We also chose to do rosary walk around the mountain, on a path made by the monks hundreds of years ago. Along the path there are statues and monuments carved into the cliff depicting the lift of Christ, from his birth, to his crucification, to his rising. While not a religious person, I found them to be very inspiring and beautiful, and at the end of our walk there was a small church that is still used today by monks on the mountain.
So that´s Barcelona so far! It´s starting to grow on me. I think in the beginning it had a bit of stiff competition with Switzerland, which I had instantaneously fallen in love with. I still have four more nights here, then four night in Valencia before heading to Croatia in Eastern Europe. We´ll see how I go.
Talk to you soon!
Love Hayley xxx
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