Viaje a Barcelona (trip to Barcelona)

We hopped on a bus to the train station at around 3:30 and got there around the time they were starting to load people onto the train platform, although the train hadn't arrive yet. We got on the train, which took us to the Madrid Charmartín station. From there we had to take the Cercanías train to the Madrid Atocha station, where we would take the high speed AVE train to Barcelona. We were unsure how to get the tickets for the Cercanías train and so the whole group sort of freaked out but we finally found the red ticket machine that said Cercanías, scanned our Barcelona tickets, and then headed to one of the trains that said Atocha. We were almost late for our train but we made it in time with some running and stressing out. We then had a 4 hour train trip to the Barcelona Sants station.

 After that, we walked to our hostel, Perre Tarres, where we checked into our rooms. My group was in room 211, which we shared with two backpackers (both girls) for the two nights we were there and then a guy the  second night. 

All of them were very nice. Some of the group went to the club that night but a few of us decided to stay in. 

The next morning, we woke up and headed downstairs for breakfast (which was included). We then decided to head to Sagrada Familia first after heading to the train station to get a couple of the girls return tickets to Segovia. Sadly, we couldn't get the tickets that day so we headed on to Sagrada Familia, which was also packed. The line was 4-6 hours long, so we decided to get tickets online for the next day. I managed to buy a really cool painting by a street artist before we left the though. We then walked to Gaudi's Park Guell ("gwey") (which is a 40 minute walk uphill. I would suggest taking the metro instead of walking), which holds a lot of his architectural pieces. Some of the group decided to stay and watch a high school soccer game while me and a girl named Liz decided to head to Park Guell. We took a detour by a very pretty wall that had gorgeous plants (a.k.a. We got a little lost) but we made it to Park Guell. We decided to tour the free parts instead of buying tickets to the popular part ( the popular part has a timed entrance). It was really pretty. 

After that, the group decided to go out to eat cause it was about 2 or 3 by that point. I got paella de carne (meat paella), which was really good. Half of the group then headed to Las Ramblas, where a covered market is located while the other half went to the popular part of the Park Guella. Las Ramblas was so cool. It was really neat to see all of be fruit and fish and other products in one place.

 I ended up buying a fruit juice drink made with papaya and mango and it was amazing! 

After that, we walked down to the habor. Along the way, we saw many artists selling their work as well as people dressed up as different characters, who you could take pictures with. 

We made it to the harbor, which was gorgeous 

and then headed back to the hostel for showers and dinner. We had been planning on going to the beach after dinner but after eating, we all decided that it probably wasn't the safest idea and so we sat in the park for a while before heading back to our hostel. A couple people stayed up playing cards but I headed to bed. The next morning, we got up early and checked out, leaving our bags in a room they had behind the main desk. We then headed to the Sagrada Familia, but we had to wait because we got there before our entrance time. They had a few little tents across the street and so we shopped over there for a while. I got two really pretty and gorgeous rainbow scarves, which I can't wait to wear in cooler climate. We then went to Sagrada Familia, which was gorgeous and simply stunning.

 Gaudi really knew how to design a church. Finally, we headed back to the hostel after picking some fruit up for dinner and got Mary. We headed out to eat at Pans and Company and then grabbed our bags before heading to the station to go home.