Third day in Barcelona {Espanya}

Continuation : Still In Barcelona Spain

The third day was our last day in Barcelona. Our schedule allowed us to go only to Montjuic. We woke a bit relaxed but was surprised that at 8AM the district was still asleep. The restos were closed and it was hard to look for a decent breakfast. So, we ate bread with some spread and a glass of juice.

Out stop was Montjuic and we had to take the train. The train system is not that complicated but you have to be aware of the pickpockets as there are so many of them especially in trains. We reached there too early so we have to wait for the cable car operation to open so we spent a good 30 minutes at this park full of flower. We just took some photos....

We took a single route going to the fort while Peter and our Japanese friend had the round trip. We wanted to actually do the hiking....

Reaching the castle took us around 10 minutes and the ride was so interesting. You get to see the city on your left and on your right and beyond is the Barcelona harbor. As usual when we reached the top, it was all cam whoring :D

There was no guide and all that and we did not take any information map. There was a lot of Catalan history already care of Brian so we just wanted to explore and check for nice views :D After touring the huge fortress and having that 360 degree view of Barcelona, we decided to go back to the plaza and have lunch and get ready to our next destination :)

We had our lunch at this cozy resto serving local stuff. All of us had the Paella ala Catalan! The serving is actually huge and we were surprised cos we thought it's good for one person but nope it's for two for regular Asians. Anyway, we ate everything - remember we did not have a good breakfast :D

After our sumptuous lunch, we headed back to our hostel to prepare for our next stop.

We were riding a bus going to the airport and we were on time which was just perfect. We were taking Air Berlin going to Munich Germany. But, we had to stop at Mallorca Spain and took another plane of same liner going to Munich.

I actually fell in love with Barcelona because of it's history, their arts and culture. Oh Gaudi! He is all over the place - in a great way :) The warm greetings we had when we met folks in Rupit. And I love their Summer !!! Definitely a must to go back and experience Spain once again .... Viva Espanya ;)

To be continued :)

Still In Barcelona, Spain

Continuation ( Euro Trip : Barcelona, Spain)

The next day was, we were bound for Pyrenees - mountainous and a bit rugged with all the beautiful formation bordering France from Spain.

We needed to wake up early and be at the post office for our rendezvous. There we met Brian an American guy who's been living in Barcelona for less than 10 years - typical American, chatty and warm.

The travel was more than an hour or two from Cataluña post office or was it Correos Barcelona, ahh nevermind. It was interesting because Brian was on for a real deal - simply say hello to some Catalan history was what he did. We haven't had our breakfast so when we arrived at the starting point of our "mountain trek", we parked at this cafe. They served some really tasty breads and the coffee was good. Since it borders France, they say merci for their thank you :)

The trek started with some history about the houses which dates 1400 during the medieval times. The place was totally quaint. The cobble stones and the house in bricks but not the usual red bricks, instead, those that are just stacked stones perfectly stacked like some jigsaw. I can compare them actually to the stacked stones in my grand mother's farm in Cebu as her farm is on top of a plateau so they have this mini terraces. But in the Pyrenees, they were made for their house. As we continued our excursion on foot, we were greeted with a lot of houses where you would know who owned them because they have labels on their front door (I'm not sure if they do have back doors). And the dates as to when their houses were build were also on display. The way they displayed those markers were engraved. Then, we passed by a church so I had my simple prayers then we continued on until we reached the back side was it? Sort of a road to the other side of the mountain that is. It was beginning to be a real trek. I was not complaining, in fact, I loved it! The mountain air is so fresh and since it was a bit cool, the sun did not really pricked my skin. I am not sure as to how my mates felt but for me it was getting to fun.... We trek to the hillside descending and at the bottom of the hill we began to climb up. Lots of trees or should I say we were entering a forest but the village was still visible. The place was so calm and I guess we were the only ones making the noise. We knew that it was a trek so we were aware of what to expect. In fact, when I was still in Singapore, I trained myself to always walk from the office going to Buona Vista mrt station (imagine two train stops from my office). We continued to walk and when we reached the top, we arrived at this chapel - frail looking chapel but still a chapel from the outside. It was not advisable to get it as there might be falling debris. The view beyond the hill was fantastic and on the other side, you can see the village. It felt so great being on top. We did not stop there, as we were still starting our journey :) There were another mile of walk going to next mountain. It was another combo of some descends and ascends. Then we arrived at a roadside and Brian asked us if we wanted to follow on the road or go to a challenging trek, translated to mountain climb minus the gears. I said I was game for the challenge and my right hand shoot into the air :) Then everyone followed suit. Hehehehehe ;) And Brian was not joking as the trek proved really challenging. I went to Europe for a mountain trek which was funny because, Cebu is mountainous too and I have never tried to do some mountaineering, ironic! Well, well, well, we reached the top and the view was amazing. It was well worth it! Cam whoring was the labor of the day! It is actually a bit dangerous because we were a few meters from the mountain's edge so one false move and you'll be meeting St. Peter. After the trek, we started to descend and mind you it was challenging as there were dried leaves all over the place and that it proved slippery, so we had to be very careful. After that grueling descend, we were taking a flatter track going to another mountain edge. Along the way, people were just laughing boisterously and sometimes we would be singing :) Typical Filipino or should I say Cebuano! After another say 30 minutes of walking, we reached the mountain edge where there's a falls. Really nice and the place it breathtaking though the place is a bit hot already as it was around 11AM. We rested at the edge. We talked, laughed and sing some children's rhymes which was a bit silly. After that nice rest, we continued our journey and this time we were heading back to the village. Halfway to the village, we drank at this cold mountain spring which was really refreshing :) It was another 30 minutes of hike before we reached the village.

We had our lunch at the village. To feel and experience the Catalan culture, we tried deep fried rabbit matched with red wine and drank the wine the Catalan way. I honestly did not like the rabbit meat because of the strong smell but nevertheless I was full =)) Should I say I was a bit tipsy too :P

All for the good Barcelona trekking at the Pyrenees plus the breakfast and luch, billed each of us around 50 euros. And we gave Brian a tip of 30 euros.

After the trek, we asked Brian where to see some nice shops and so we alighted at the post office and head to the Las Ramblas. And there the shops were like mushrooms and all over the corners and there was a huge crowd. There was no recession or some sort of financial turmoil in that area. Everyone was like busy shopping :) As for me, I bought a pair of H&M high cut shoes. Some of my friends also shopped and bought personal stuffs. It was a long walk and I was still full from the lunch I had and I really did not feel hungry :) We continued roaming the shopping district of Barcelona until night time. We were walking and walking until the girls decided to go to the mall to buy some night snacks and breakfast. As I have mentioned, I was really full and so I did not buy food or anything. Peter actually went ahead after shopping so while the girls were buying at the grocery, I was busy doing my thing at the loo and then checked some stuff at the personal care section. After the girls paid their purchases, we decided to call it a night and so went back to our hostel.

And Oh, the place we went to was called Rupit ;)

To be continued ....

Euro Trip : Barcelona, Spain

31st of August, 2011, was our departure date to Barcelona via Qatar Airways. I was with a bunch of friends from Gemalto. We have planned this trip like 3 - 4 months prior to our departure and everyone were really excited. You can see it in our faces during that trip. I for myself would feel some zoo in my tummy.

Anyway, we arrived in Barcelona around 9AM the following day in a grueling 17 hours flight I suppose. We arrived their a bit fidgety though because we did know what to expect and were speaking Spanish and mostly Catalan. SOP, we had a long queue an the immigration and good thing nobody had any issues. After that, we got our belongings and proceeded outside to ride a bus going to our hostel. We couldn't find our way so Kay and Bud asked for some help. Good thing we found our way. Bus fare going to the city was around 5 EU and gave the driver 50 EU and he was like saying "cambio" and I knew it means something like he doesn't have change and he was looking for some smaller bills or coins from me. Well, Bud or was it Kay who saved me because they have smaller bills. The ride to the city was around 20 minutes and Barcelona was not like Singapore. It is a bit quaint and artsy and should I say lovely, except for the many grafitti. We alighted at Plaza Catalunya and from there we had to walk going to our hostel. It was a long walk on cobblestones and the morning was a bit chilly even if it was sunny. We were a bit lost and we had to stop at one corner and Kay went ahead leaving her things to ask some local and while everyone was looking tired Peter managed to discover that we were actually just in front of the hostel building. When Kay arrived, we then rushed to cross the street and head to the hostel which I have mentioned was just in front of us across the street.

I think I haven't mentioned that the food served in the plane was average and the snacks was not of my taste or maybe for non middle eastern or asian in general (but not quite sure though). Their service is quite nice anyway and the crew were really there to help. In their movie lists, there were Filipino films but since I haven't watched Rio, so there I had it for my eyes to feast.

Back to where we were, Kay was meeting her Japanese friend Minako-san. I actually forgot her name but I'll just update this entry after I have asked Kay. Yeah, we checked in and fix ourselves for the day's excursion. Minako arrived in our hostel and she was staying at somewhere 2 blocks from ours. Anyway, Minako waited a bit for us since the girl's room wasn't ready, and so it took us ages to washed ourselves =)).

Our first activity of the day was to have the city tour though their hop-on-hop-off bus. Rendezvous was at Plaza Catalunya, so that was another hiking from our hostel. The bus ride amounted to 25 EU each for the whole day, and for that amount, they gave us a pair of earphones and a booklet which has some discount coupons. We were thirsty and we knew that it's going to be sunny, we bought bottles of water for 1 EU each. We queue and after 15 minutes of waiting, we had our turn to ride the tour bus. Well, you need to plug the earphones in to a certain terminal and select your language and viola you will hear the tour guide explaining the history of the buildings we managed to pass by. It's quite interesting actually and their building looked different in some aspects. There were buildings which looked uniform. It's because there's one man who designed it, Antoni Gaudi. One of the highlights was to visit the Sagrada Familia. We arrived there after some 30 minutes from where we departed. Well the cathedral is still under construction and it's pretty massive :) We decided not to go inside because we did not have much time to join the queue of thousands. From the outside, the artsy cathedral was and is magnificent!

We bought some Barcelona style pizza and burgers and filled our hungry tummy. Well EU serving is in big portions so we did not have issues with it plus it's really tasty.

After all the pictures taken, sumptuous bites and some fun, we went to our next stop which was to the park Guell, still designed by Gaudi. The ride took us around 20 minutes and after we alighted from the bus, we had to hike to the park. It's sitting on top of a hill or maybe mountain so it's a bit demanding to get there. The climate is a bit hot and from time to time a bit chilly so it was pretty much manageable. We arrived at the park and it was too crowded. The park looks huge and we need to climb a few steps to this main area. It was nice with all the tiled ceilings and floors. We then climb some stairs and arrived at this huge flat track (maybe they created a plateau) overlooking the beautiful Barcelona. The cam whores were already on work and still had that energy after all the climb. We enjoyed the view and decided to go to this old monastery. We had an effortless descend I should say and took the bus again. Arriving at the monastery, we checked things out and not much of interest except from some picture taking outside the monastery steps and its huge door. Then we went to another stop, its a place which houses ceramics , museu de ceramica. They have a fine collection of ceramics all over the world and mostly donated by private individuals. The collection I must mention is amazing. I would love to touch them but its a big no-no! The good thing was the tour is for free. Wasn't that amazing ?
Anyhow, we finished the tour in around 30minutes and by the way, no flashing of cameras were allowed so I was advised like twice (I honestly forgot....).

Montjuic was our next stop. It was really sunny and the hike we took was pretty long. I always walked from our office going to the mrt, I think it's around 30 minutes of walk. So pretty much, I did not have issues.... Well the place is quite old as for the structures were built around 17th - 18th century. Greeting the tourist from the entrance would be the three massive pillars. Interestingly, I don't seem to get what those pillars are for. Anyway, you can just imagine if there's an earthquake and it will tumble (God forbid). As I have mentioned or did I not, Montjuic is sitting on a hill so we needed to climb some stairs. The palace is really amazing and it was like close but, from the outside it is truly magical plus the view of the city is fantastic - cam whores were on the loose in such a place. We were checking some place so hiked a bit but got lost and so we went back to where we started. But of course cam whoring is a must so we managed to have some good shots. We were actually looking for restaurants to dine and since we can't seem to find one, we had to descend back to the plaza and look for tapa-tapa. Good thing we found it just around the corner. We ordered a lot actually and because the serving came in small portions. Tapa-tapa is not really a restaurant, it's more of a pub ala snack bar with alcoholic drinks on the side. What we had was sangria. After the meal if it was, we went back to Monjuic to watch the "Font majica" show. Just in time and after like 5 minutes once were there, the show began. There was a burst of colors! The fountain show was amazing with all the lights and grand music to accompany the show. It was pretty show and it's for free. We enjoyed the show except for the smokers all around. But other than that, it was an amazing or should I say magical evening.

To be continued ;)