Float On

After our first semi-disappointing large Spanish city visit, we were excited to get to Barcelona and see all the amazing things people are always talking about. Just the drive from Valencia through the mountains and along the clear blue Med sparked our excitement exponentially more than the desert to Madrid. We arrived to our literally underground hostel after a crazy drive in the city and were pleasantly surprised with a huge, clean room and common areas that looked like the owner was actually trying. We were there for 4 nights (that turned into 5) so we unpacked, and put our stuff in the closet. Yes. I said closet. With shelves. A luxury I will never take for granted again. 

The first thing we learned was that Barcelona was definitely our most expensive Spanish locale. Eating dinner on La Rambla being our first activity, that was not a difficult discovery. We spent the next day doing a little bit of wandering, and met up with some friends from home at the city's main beach. It was crowded, but beautiful, despite the drugs and alcohol offered to us on average every 7.5 seconds. After the beach we headed back to make dinner. Our friends in the city had their friends in the city, so we got some social time in and all met up at a pub for 1 euro San Miguels. The night turned into drinking on cathedral steps and making awesome new friends until morning, and arriving home just as light began showing in the sky. 

Unfortunately, after feeling a little too lucky for the previous two weeks of good health, Europe caught up with me and I was out for the count for a full day, which led us to booking one more night in Barcelona so as not to miss the too much. When I was functional, we set out for a whole day of Gaudi adventures. We saw the apartment buildings on Passeig de Grácia, La Sagrada Familia temple, and Parc Guell, and each one blew my mind a little more. The apartment buildings were fit for mermaids. That is all. La Sagrada is the strangest and most beautiful building I've ever seen. As my friend Elliot wrote to me so accurately, it looks like a giant drip castle. Unfortunately it was under construction and completely surrounded by cranes, but it was still incredible. Parc Guell, my personal favorite Barca moment, was just perfectly weird. We spent about 4 hours there. It can't be described. I wont try. All I will say is Gaudi was completely out of his mind in the most brilliant way, and also, go there. ASAP.

Our last day was spent doing more wandering, eating an amazing meal, seeing the Picasso Museum, and stumbling upon the 4Cats (the famous old haunt of the Spanish avant-garde) in an alley. We know we didn't see enough of you, Barcelona, and we will be back. 

After the Storm

We're on the road to Maarrbbbeeellllaaa. Michael didn't stop (and really hasn't stopped) singing that to the tune of the Judea song in History of the World Part 1 since we left Madrid. I can't really get too annoyed though, because Marbella was worthy of a lot of singing. The drive in itself was amazing, as we saw the influence of the Moors grow stronger in every town we passed. By the time we reached the southern coast on the Mediterranean most of the buildings, including the townhomes, just started to look blatantly like Mosques. 

We pulled into the cobblestoned old town section of Marbella, and searched the tiny streets for our hostel. Michael chose the place for its story - a 17th century monastic residence now owned by self-proclaimed "accommodating Scots" - they forgot to mention "completely crazy but in mostly a good way." We arrived to the warmest welcome from Mike (said Scot) and a free beer to boot, were shown to our little room and given advice on where to eat, where not to eat, etc. Mike gave a lot of advice. Approximately 25% of our time in Marbella was debatably spent listening to Mike's advice. It came, of course, served with a hearty side dish of insane ranting/frustration with Spaniards. But man, that place had wacky charm. 

We started with tapas and beer on the beach, and didn't stray far from there (besides our day trip to Gibraltar that will arrive shortly in it's very own post!). Wake up, laze, have a beer with Mike, walk to beach, eat tapas,  drink more beer, walk main street, drink wine on Mediterranean jetti until midnight. That pretty much sums it up. Marbella is truly lovely, especially after our rough first week and a scorching jaunt in Madrid. The weather was insanely humid, but rather mild, and the sea was warm. The food was relatively cheap and the beer was cheaper. It was a unanimous must-return location and again, we were tearing ourselves away to head to Valencia.