Rachel's Adventures in Spain : A fun weekend in Barcelona

Since arriving in this country I have met another Scottish girl on the same programme called Shona. She is from Balloch, near Loch Lomond. We agreed to meet up and spend a weekend together in Barcelona. We became very excited for this weekend as it was my first time staying in the city and properly exploring it. In one of my previous posts I went on a school trip there.

My good friend and colleague Judit drove me to the train station in Cardedeu and from there I embarked to Barcelona El Clot Aragó, via Granollers Central where Shona got on the train. We were so deep in conversation that we almost missed our stop! But we quickly got off and soon armed with a map and smartphones we found our hostel.

After checking in, paying and all that jazz we made our way to our rooms and we met two Italian girls sharing with us. I hadn't had anything to eat since lunchtime and my stomach was rumbling, so then Shona and I left to find food. We headed on the metro straight to Placa Catalunya and La Rambla in the city centre.

Decisions are hard, especially when it comes to food. We looked at several restaurants and while deciding on where to eat we somehow got lost. It lead us to some dark and dodgy looking streets, but we asked a man advertising his restaurant how to get back to La Rambla. He managed to direct us in the right way and then we ended up in the first restaurant looked at. An hour later with our tummies full and satisfied we made our way back to the metro, but not before we stopped to talk to a Cornish lady who had a gorgeous Border collie named Lulu. Before we got on the metro, we looked up and saw some rather questionable looking Christmas lights). Soon we were back at the hostel, straight to our beds ready for a full on day of city sightseeing.

Saturday started off at La Sagrada Familia, where I was awestruck with its magnificent beauty. It has been 100 years in the making and is expected to be completed in 2026. Our breakfast consisted of a chocolate croissant and I purchased a bottle of water as the weather was slightly warmer than I expected! I was seriously worrying that I would get badly burned (no worries though as my body was covered more than the average tourist). Next was another visit to the centre of town where I met another teaching assistant called Kirstie (we shared a room at the induction) and then met another one called Katy. We had cups of coffee and walked around the shops. One of the sights we saw was the Arc de Triomf which is similar to the one in Paris and also Marble Arch in London. It was built in 1888 for the Barcelona World Fair. After some sightseeing Kirstie had to go back home and the rest of us made our way to the cinema, where we met some more teaching assistants and headed in to see The Hunger Games Mockingjay: Part 2. Being a fan of the books, I found the films were excellent, however in the last film I felt it didn't do the book justice. The final scene I was a bit disappointed in but (spoiler) when Katniss and Peeta are in the field with their children you could hear the whole cinema awwing and oohing that the two main characters finally got together. I was sad that the series had ended, but then it makes me excited that I'll soon be able to watch all of them on DVD. After the film we headed back into the city centre and went to a restaurant which served delicious and cheap meals. Afterwards the others went to find a bar while Shona and I went back to our hostel and got some well deserved sleep.

Sunday morning started off with a visit to Hillsong Barcelona. The service was in Spanish, but the night before a teaching assistant called Maurisha came to the restaurant and she spoke the language, so was able to translate the message for us. The songs were both in Spanish and English. It was great to have a church atmosphere again, even if I didn't understand the language in which the message was spoken. However, worship is the same everywhere - no matter what language it's spoken or the country it's in. After church, we had lunch at a Chinese restaurant where I had delicious noodle soup and lemon chicken. It was then time to say goodbye to Barcelona as I headed on the express train back to Girona and back to the family's house.

I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend in Barcelona, despite coming back absolutely exhausted! I can't wait to go back! Soon I will be updating the blog about Spanish/Catalan Christmas traditions, until then enjoy the photos posted below: