Madeline Sarah Barcelona!

The following is a long overdue retelling of my adventures in Barcelona a few weekends ago. For the concise Spanish version, visit my other blog.
In the quest for affordable weekend travel from Bilbao, the main struggle lies with the frustratingly expensive flights in and out of the Bilbao airport (to clarify, the prices are expensive for travel throughout Europe but comparable to prices of intra-continental American flights). The main discount airline in the area, RyanAir, doesn’t have service to Bilbao, but it has a hub at Santander, a city about an hour and a half bus ride away from my home base. Due to the enticing prices of the RyanAir flights and my need to get to Barcelona the weekend of February 19th to meet my friend Madeline, I hopped on a bus from the Termibus station bright and early the morning of Friday the 19th, arrived at the Santander bus station at 11, and took an extra 15-minute shuttle bus to the airport. Apart from the exhausting nature of having to utilize various modes of travel, my journey was generally enjoyable. I had luckily remembered to print out my boarding pass prior to arriving at the airport, a requirement for RyanAir travelers if you care to avoid paying a 30€ “reprinting fee” at the ticket counter. Note: watch out for hidden fees at every turn with discount airlines. They’ll get you when you least expect it. Security was efficient, and soon enough I was on the plane (with a carry-on bag that barely passed measurement requirements, saving me a 25€ checked bag fee). Upon arrival in Barcelona, the only thing separating me from my hostel was a 20-minute train ride to the center of the city.

Geese in the cloister of the Barcelona Cathedral

Moderately sleepy but ready for a weekend of excitement, I checked into the hostel and, having a few hours to kill before Madeline’s train arrived from Madrid, visited the most renowned attraction the city has to offer: Starbucks (just kidding, I swear). I promise I can justify, or at least rationalize, my burning desire for any drink I could get my hands on from Starbucks. As a Seattleite [person from Seattle, not to be confused with those satellites floating out somewhere in orbit], my soul is inextricably linked to the phenomenon that is Starbucks Coffee. Also, they don’t have any locations in Bilbao, a fact that is somewhat comforting in that they haven’t yet extended their influence to every last city in the world. So, armed with my well-founded reasons and a lack of that brand of caffeination for the previous two months, I arrived at Starbucks, ordered my coffee (in Spanish, if that’s any consolation), and stayed for a while to read my book about the history of Spain. After sitting for a spell, I took a walk around the city, occasionally checking my larger-than-life-sized map of Barcelona to ensure I knew my general location. I visited the Barcelona Cathedral (La Seu) right before closing time, and I managed to see the cloister filled with orange trees and energetic geese. My favorite part of each church/cathedral I've visited so far has been the cloister (courtyard), always right in the heart of the building, tranquil and beautiful. Anyway, by then it was almost time to head back to the hostel to meet Madeline, so I quickly bought a delicious chicken sandwich, looked at the government buildings since Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia, and made my way back through the bustling streets of the city.

A stately looking government building

It was awesome to see Madeline because I hadn’t seen her since August as she’s been studying abroad in Munich for the academic year. She has a month off to rest and travel, though, so we decided that this particular weekend would work best for the both of us to meet up. We walked around the city for a while, and then realized how hungry we were, so we found an Italian restaurant (don’t judge us, Barcelona’s an international city and all the tapas restaurants were really expensive) that served amazing pizza and pasta. I’m proud to say I ate a medium-sized (14”) ricotta, tomato and basil pizza on my own! What an accomplishment. We were too tired to go out that night, so we stayed in, caught each other up on our lives and played Scrabble.

A rockin' band in Park Güell

Saturday morning we woke up and headed immediately for the largest food market in Europe (smaller than that of Granville Island, if I remember right, but still grand), La Boqueria. We took in all the sights, sounds, and smells of the different market stalls specializing in meat, fish, eggs, produce, and chocolate, discovered some new fruits (Pitahaya), and ate brunch at a bar within the market. Madeline hadn’t yet tried the tortilla de patata, a Spanish specialty similar to  a potato and onion omelette that my host mom cooks weekly, so that was a necessity. Following brunch, we stocked up on baguettes and cheese for our journey later in the day to Park Güell, one of Antoni Gaudí’s masterpieces. The weather was bearable, although a little windy in the afternoon. We walked through all the main attractions, including Las Ramblas and the marina, saw the giant statue of Christopher Columbus (Cristóbal Colón in Spanish; who ever would have guessed his real name wasn’t Columbus?), and took the metro up to Park Güell. This may have been my favorite part of the weekend. I love the interaction of different cultures, and our visit to the park was a perfect representation of that. I heard at least 7 different languages, maybe more, including German, Catalán (official language of the Catalunya province), Castilian, Vietnamese, English, French, and Arabic.  The design of the park is beautiful, but the best part is the panoramic view of Barcelona from the top of a hill within the park. We also watched a band give an impromptu, though spirited performance from the main grounds. By this point in the afternoon, Madeline and I were fading fast, especially because the park is a 20 minute walk uphill from the metro stop. We headed back to the hostel and took a much-needed nap, followed by a coffee break. We made pasta for dinner, played cards, and took another nap, all in preparation for going out to the discoteca that doesn't even open until 1 am Saturday nights. At about 1:30, we mustered up enough energy to walk to the club, called Razzmatazz, and after getting a little lost, we finally made it. Serendipitously, there was a concert the night we went, so we got to dance the night away and listen to live music at the same time. We had to leave relatively early because I had to catch the train back to the airport at about 9 am, but it was definitely a whirlwind weekend all in all. I managed to sneak in one more trip to Starbucks Sunday morning, and before I knew it (a train-ride, flight, and two bus rides later) I was back in Bilbao.

The grand vista of Barcelona from the top of Park Güell

It’s interesting how after a vacation from a vacation like this one can be so rejuvenating but at the same time make you appreciate your home base. I like traveling and I’m so glad I got to Barcelona to see the city and Madeline, but I’ve realized that Bilbao has so much to offer socially and culturally that I don’t need to leave too often. That being said, I’m off to Paris this weekend to meet up with my friend Alice (another friend from high school, studying in Dublin for the semester). I think I’ve achieved a good balance so far of staying and traveling, and I intend to continue that trend.

One for the road: I'm trying to learn as many useful French phrases as possible before I leave on Thursday. To that end, I've taken up memorizing this song that's on the Top Ten charts in France right now. I think if I just repeat lyrics from the song to the locals, they'll automatically want to be friends with me.