Sadly, as I am writing this, my European adventures have
finally reached a conclusion. With one last week in Barcelona and one last
night in London, I find myself waiting for my connecting flight in Chicago,
back on US soil for good. But what an exciting week it has been.
Starting with that wonderful breakfast and getting to show
my parents a little bit around the London that I have quickly fallen in love
with, we boarded our flight to Barcelona and came to find that British airways
is the only airline we want to use from here on out! On our short flight we
were given free drinks and a snack (more like a meal) and told to ask for
anything else we might need. Certainly a change from normal European airlines,
like Ryan Air, who at one point tried to charge passengers to use the restrooms
on board…
Arriving in Barcelona, we were immediately confronted with
wonderful weather and made our way to our hotel to rest up for the packed days
we had planned ahead.
Starting early the next day, we took a bit of a walking tour
to a market a couple miles away. We were pleased to come to find that our hotel
ending up being right next to one of the beloved monuments of Barcelona, the
Sagrada Familia, which is an amazingly designed Cathedral by the artist Gaudi
unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.
Once again, walking the streets of Barcelona, I was
confronted by a completely different feel and ambiance than any other place I
had seen in Europe. The architecture was beautiful though, just as the other
European cities I had ventured to had been.
Since I had acquired a recent infatuation with markets in
Europe, I immediately started researching the best ones in Barcelona once
arriving in the city, and all signs pointed to one: Mercat Sant Josep. This
indoor food market had about every single food item you could ever want. I even
found fruits that I had never seen in my life before with names I can’t even
pronounce. At this market also, I pushed myself to once again try some exotic
dish and this time it was octopus. Although the taste wasn’t bad, the chewiness
left a little something to be desired…
After walking around a bit more during the afternoon, my
family and I found one of the few cafes opened in the afternoon siesta hours
and relaxed for a couple hours. After we made our way to one of the top
restaurants in Barcelona (based on the trusty Trip Advisor), which happened to
be a Mexican restaurant called La Taqueria, where we got some of the freshest
tasting make-your-own-tacos I have ever had.
All over Barcelona, one artist influenced the architecture
of countless buildings, sculptures, and parks, and one of the biggest parks in
Barcelona was designed entirely by him. Park Guell by Gaudi overlooks the
entire city and consists of some of the most amazing mosaic work ever done. Not
only were you amazed by his art, you also were blown away by the views.
We all were pretty tired from walking and doing so much over
the last couple of days, along with the hassles of traveling, so we just
decided to relax the rest of Sunday and wait for the adventures Monday would
bring.
The first adventure Monday brought was a Monserrat Wine and
Tapa tour that took us on a bus tour along the mountains of Brazil. Monserrat
is the biggest mountain in Brazil and nestled in the mountain-side consists an
amazing monastery with a beautiful Church, all built to revere a statue of a
Black Virgin Mary, which legends say was found in a cave in the mountain. As
the first stop on this tour, we were able to walk inside the cathedral and bask
in the mountain views. Next, the tour made its way to a little castle in the
countryside, with a winery attached to it, that had been past down by the first
born son through 36 generations, with the 37th generation already in
line to receive the property. The winery specialized in red wine, and after
getting a tour of the facility, we got to sit down for a lesson on wine and a
lunch of tapas and red wine tasting.
After getting back from the tour, we rested for a couple
hours and became determined to find a place to get the signature dish of Spain,
paella. We did not have to venture far though, as we found a place right by
Sagrada Familia and our hotel that had delicious seafood paella, something I
thoroughly enjoyed as this was my and my family’s first time trying the dish.
The next day, we boarded an early train and found ourselves
on the way to a small Spanish town an hour away from Barcelona called
Terragona. This town was once a Roman settlement, so in the town was all this
Roman architecture and influence, including a mini-Coliseum called the Roman
amphitheater. One aspect of European cities that I have really come to love is
the random side streets where you can find the best shops and restaurants, and
Terragona was no exception.
That night, the US again had a world cup game and through
the suggestions of some friends, we went to an American themed place called Bar
Dow Jones. At this place, all the prices of their drinks are like the stock
prices in stock market, and randomly will go up, down, or stall based on
activity. Also, every thirty minutes the ‘stock market’ crashes and all the
prices fall and everyone rushes to get their orders in before the prices go up
again. It’s quite a fun experience to see. Upon arriving at the place, I had
the fortune of running into two friends and got to watch and support the US
with them. Although the US lost, it was a fun time all around.
The next day, my sister and I decided to venture off on our
own and enjoy the day just the two of us, something we both don’t get enough
of. The first thing we decided to do was something on my bucket list I had been
dying to check off, driving a Moped around a European city. After renting the
Moped right by the hotel, we were surprised to find that we were unleashed on
the Barca streets without so much as a test drive, with neither of us having
driven a Moped or motorcycle type vehicle ever before. Luckily, we both
mastered them pretty quickly and had the time of our lives going up and down
the city streets on our awesome rides. We made our way to El Raval, which is a
younger part of town, and settled down to have lunch at an Indian restaurant
that made fresh hummus and falafel upon ordering, and had one of the best
lunches of the trip. After lunch, we mad our way on our Mopeds to the beach,
where we enjoyed an afternoon of basking in the Spanish sun. That night, after
loving the first meal at the restaurant, Aitor, by our place, we again went and
had paella again, although opting for a vegetable version this time, and tapas
that were to die for.
We had one final morning in Barcelona before starting our
trek to eventual US grounds, so we spent it on a morning family walk around
Sagrada Familia and the surrounding area. We also stopped at a little bakery
and tried yet another Spanish dish called Horchata, which was a kinda like a
spiced Coconut Water, but very very good.
We caught our flight back to London, and spent one last
evening in what has come to be my favorite city, before embarking on our trip
back to US grounds on the best day to do so, July Fourth! Although my European
adventures have finally come to an end, I am left with a lifetime of memories
to keep me with a thirst to explore the world some more.
Hola, cheers, and bye,
Elyse
