So Alyssa and I have changed hostels, and as Dorothy said, Toto, I don´t think we´re in Kansas anymore! This hostel is nothing like a hostel, it´s more like a hotel. Just to give you an idea - our first afternoon was spent in the hostel´s pool and sauna complex, we have our very own art deco bathrooms with automated light systems, AIR CONITIONING, and after dinner we drank jugs of sangria from in the hostel´s very own bar. HEAVEN. Our last hostel had two showers for all of the girls in the entire hostel - I´m not sure if there was an alpaca at the hostel that I didn´t meet, but more often than not the showers were clogged with hair. EWWW. And the lack of dressing room in the shower cubicles meant that I often encountered middle aged French women in full monty while I was brushing my teeth.

I had read in my guide book that there was a vegetarian buffet restaurant near our hotel (I mean, hostel) that was only 8 Euros for all you can eat. Sounded like our kinda place, so Alyssa, our new American friend Charles, and I decided to check it out that afternoon. But in true backpacker style, we had to get our money´s worth. After a couple of laps at the pool, having a sauna, unpacking our gear, checking out our neighbourhood, etc, we decided we were sufficiently starving to make good use of the buffet. By this time it was 4:30pm - we´d eaten breakfast at 9am.

IF YOU EVER FIND YOURSELF IN BARCELONA GO TO OVNI RESTAURANT!

I´m not going to waste time listing exactly what we ate (10 plates later...), but I will tell you it was amazing. We spent about two hours eating, and the next five hours trying to do up our jeans. The address is 32 Via Laietana (get off at metro Jaume I), so you had better go!

With our seams bulging we headed to the Church of Santa Maria del Mar, an absolutely beautiful church which, in Alyssa´s words, makes you want to be religious. The church has this massive echoey roof, and stunning stain glass windows all around the top, including the most famous and grand round Rose Window. The Church of Santa Maria del Mar is known as the Cathedral of the Sea - Alyssa and I agreed that that was a more accurate description of our stomachs at that point in time!

That evening we headed to Montjuic, a hill outside the city centre that houses dozens of museums, the old Olympic arena, a castle, water fountains (which is what we were there for) and has beautiful views over the city. At around 9:30 (when it finally got dark...) the usually dormant fountains spring to life accompanied by lights and grand orchestral scores. Every fountain we have come across in Barcelona had zero water in it, as (similar to Australia) Spain is facing a sever water shortage. I think they save all of their spare water just for the Montjuic fountains! We found prime seats on the edge of one of the higher fountains - as my balance was still a little off from our huge dinner, I had to grip the edge banisters tightly for fear of falling in and becoming part of the show! It was all very beautiful, and was very magical watching the sun go down atop of the hill.

The next day Alyssa and I headed to the seaside town of Tossa de Mar, about 1.5 hours North of Barcelona. It was described in our guide books as ¨a seaside town on the verge of becoming a full blown tourist attraction¨ - I´m not sure when whoever wrote that was last in Tossa de Mar, but it is beyond a tourist attraction! It would be quite a pretty, peaceful place if it weren´t for the hundreds of day trippers and tour groups crowding the beaches, cafes and narrow streets. We hadn´t come on the best day for weather, both in terms of temperature and the fact that Alyssa was a little ´under the weather´ (she had too many 3.50 Euro jugs of Sangria at the hostel the night before). We made our way up the top of the ancient lighthouses and walls that line the cliffs of the town, which offered amazing views across the bays and the rooftops. The number of strollers that nearly ran Alyssa and I over was phenomenal - I cant believe how many families bring infant children on overseas holidays! We also had to dodge quad bikes ridden by fat, lazy tourists who couldn´t make it up the small hill to the lighthouses on foot. It was all a bit disgusting.

After chilling out in a smaller, more secluded cove away from the dozens of tourist boats blocking the main beach, we headed in for a nice lunch before catching the bus back to Barcelona. Just before we left I saw a cute little boy of about eight years selling bracelets and necklaces he was making himself. It was just too cute to pass up, so I picked up a pretty purple and yellow beaded bracelet and gave him a Euro. When we walked past later on, he wasn´t there, so he must have made enough to by his ice cream for the day!

As Saturday was our last full day in Barcelona, Alyssa and I decided to split up for the morning to visit the places we had not yet seen. I headed to the Sagrada Familia, which is an uncompleted church designed by the Spanish architect Gaudi (who, according to history buff Alyssa, ¨is a freaking genius!¨). The church has been under construction for over 100 years, and has amazing sculptures all over the exterior, including religious monuments, botony (think snails, lizards, and fruit), and astronomy. It was amazing, but a lot of it was blocked by cranes and scaffolding, and the hundreds of tourists surrounding the fences. To carry on the theme of Gaudi, Alyssa and I headed to Park Guell that afternoon, a massive park outside the city built by Gaudi, originally to be used as a housing estate, but it never took off. It is covered with mosaics, which Alyssa and I decided we would attempt to recreate when we each bought our own houses.

For our final night in Barcelona, we thought we should do something Spanish, so our ever expanding gang (two Canadians, one American, three Australians and one Brit) decided to find a tapas restaurant! After some yummy food and lots of laughs, we found a convenience store to pick up some cheap wine and beer (1.50 Euro rosé!) and headed back to the hostel to play some ´card games´. For those of you that aren´t familiar, young Australians (and Canadians/Brits/Americans we discovered) play this drinking game called Ring of Fire/Kings which is designed to make you drink lots and fast (please stop cringing, family... I am a very responsible young lady...). And, well, that´s what we did. I´m embarrassed to admit that my last few hours in Barcelona are very fuzzy, and I now have mystery carpet burns on my legs. But I do remember having A LOT of fun!

The next morning I had to get up early to catch a bus to Valencia, which was not the most pleasant trip I´ve ever made (more Cathedral of the Sea moments), but I did eventually make it to Valencia.

My next blog will be coming to you from Valencia, Spain, where I will be participating in the notorious La Tomatina tomato flight festival!

Talk to you soon!

Love Hayley xxx