Barcelona...more than a nut shell.

After arriving in Barcelona pretty late on Thursday night, we metroed to Las Ramblas, found a hotel, got cleaned up and ventured out. We had dinner of over-priced and under-whelming tapas and sangria, then (naturally) found a bar offering 3 euro shots. They were closing up so we grabbed a shot and a drink to go and finished the night at the Christopher Columbus statue. 


Friday morning (errr, any time we mention "morning" it really means more like noon) we grabbed breakfast from La Boqueria, headed to the Picasso museum, taking the scenic route down Las Ramblas, by Christopher Columbus and the marina. After the museum we had a cerveza and tapita at a hole-in-the-wall cafe -- as we were the only Americans in the place, we considered it a pretty good find. Josh left to take a siesta, while Iezzi and I headed to Sagrada Familia (amazing cathedral still under construction) and hunted for Gaudi architecture. We found a lot of it! Probably even more than what Barcelona and Gaudi himself were aware of. Not to be outdone by the fat sandwiches of Tomatina, Iezzi ordered a sweat sandwich at a local shop. And ate every bite. 

Goods at La Boqueria

After naps for everyone, we had dinner at a delicious Chinese restaurant. We wrote down goals for the 3 of us to accomplish that night, then hit the town, stopping for a bit at an Irish pub where we met the nicest Spanish couple on their first date. We met up with Matt and Eric, the DC dudes, at the Columbus statue, had a beer with them there, then strolled up Las Ramblas to find a discotec. That's when the night got a bit more interesting.


Iezzi almost got beat up by Matt... something about airports. But then they made up... something about apples. I don't really know. Meanwhile, Josh was off fulfilling a goal... essentially the only goal that was achieved that night, and it was by far the craziest goal of all. Congrats, Josh, you win! I was just along for the ride, until about 5 AM when I decided to check out the Mediterranean Sea and made it back to the hotel around 7 AM, when the markets were opening and the sun was already up. 

After the airport scuffle, we party-partied.

We spent a lot of Saturday laughing... mostly about airports, apples and chaos. Did some shopping at the street vendors on Las Ramblas, then headed to the airport to catch a flight to Madrid. We got into Madrid around 9 PM, took a shuttle to a hostel near the airport, and headed out to dinner with a new friend, Jake, who we met on the ride from the airport to the hostel. We went to a fantastic Spanish restaurant and let the hostess choose our food for us -- always a good call. We had salad, olives and nomalicious steak. Perfect ending to a great trip.

Last dinner in Espana... grill your own steak. One of our best meals!

In keeping with tradition, we woke up a little late on Sunday but still made it to the airport in plenty of time to catch our flight back to America. Iezzi and I befriended our flight attendant Nelson, and who knows, maybe we'll be taking another trip abroad before we know it! :)