A weekend in Barca with Alex

I've had a wonderful weekend in Barcelona with Alex! I've rested, explored, eaten, drank, and soaked up the last of the heat I’ll experience before I go home.

Originally I intended on only being here till Sunday, but it was Al’s birthday on Monday and she asked me to stay and celebrate, so I did. It was a great decision. Al lives near Casa Batllo and we can see a castle up on the hill from the balcony of her apartment. She lives with 4 others, although they are all on holidays and travellers are renting their spaces at present.

Her apartment is cool. Is exactly what I think you see in the movies. It has this balcony that has wire metal designs on it, a small little trolley to put drinks on and you can smell weed everywhere. We look down onto a very busy street and it’s just awesome.

It’s a bit like when you’re in Italy and up in an apartment block looking down into the street – so mediterian and all. Her apartment is also really old and weirdly feels heavy. But it’s nice and homely and made me realise how much space you actually get in a hostel.

I arrived on Thursday evening, delayed, and at the wrong station, but I made it, and we enjoyed love Spanish tapas at her apartment, meeting her new holiday roommates.

On Friday, while Al was at work I chilled on the couch at home. I made an attempt to find the local grocery store, got lost, so returned to the spar across the road haha. After camping for 4 days it was nice break. In the evening, I joined Alex in attending a leaving du for one of her old work colleagues.

We started on the rooftop somewhere and finished in a divvy joint off the main shopping strip haha. In true Spanish style we didn't head about till around 11pm and didn’t leave until 4am. The Spanish life is not for me.

On Saturday Alex went on some water sports adventure that she had already booked before I arrived. And having already visited Barcelona with Contiki and had done the major tourist things I was felt free to do explore at my own pace.

In the evening I was joining some of the friends I had made at La Tomatina for a Paella and Sangria cooking class, so I decided to join the Sandeman’s Walking tour in the afternoon. It was really interesting as Catalonia behaviours as if they are their own independent country, with their own cultures, flag, language, anthem and football team! And they seem to be forever trying to regain their freedom. Their history makes for a very interesting tour.

Things we see: Barcelona Cathedral, The Gothic Quarter, King Martin’s Watch tower, The Generalitat, The Council of One Hundred, El Born District, Sanat Maria del mar, Roman Necropolis, Catalan national identity, the Olympic Legacy, Port Vell Historic harbour, Santa Maria del Pi, Fssar de les Moreres, Catalan Legends & Heroes, Picasso in Barcelona, Spanish Civil War, Roman Ruins, La Llotja and Plaça Nova.

Although I’ve done mostly Sandeman tours its still nice to see that each of the guides in Spain are giving the same history and it reaffirms that they are telling you the truth haha. I’ve also found learning about Spain’s involvement in the world wars very interesting and how it all interconnected.

But moving on, Once the tour was over, I wandered around for a bit ducking down little side alleyways and peering into bars, before heading to the meeting spot of the cooking class tonight. That’s my favourite part of travelling, is just exploring the side streets that tourists don’t walk in, stopping into the little independent shops to see what their selling or how they present their work. I walked past one bar that has this lady singing the most amazing opera type songs - it was great!

Tonight’s cooking class was a last minute decision on Thursday as we were all departing from breakfast. Scotty was telling us about it and highly recommended it, so the five of us who were heading to Barcelona this weekend decided to join up and do it.

The premise was that we’d start at the La Boqueria food market to gather our fresh ingredients and learn a bit about it all, then head back to the kitchen we were would be broken into groups of 3 – one for prep, one for the paella cooking and one for making the sangria. I thought it was going to be a bit more about each of us cooking, but it was more about us getting drunk and pretending to cook while a head chef did most of it haha. And that was fine too.

The market was super busy and it was quite difficult to hear what was going on, but I chilled with Rose at the back and we looked at all the amazing food on offer. We also bought a lovely tasting juice, I think it reminded me of mango wesiz bars at home.

Back at the kitchen we sat down to learn how to make Catalan tapas. There’s a special process. We had a section of meats, cheese, oils and breads on our table. The chef showed us how to layer it all correctly ...... And then we got to dig in, while the first group went into kitchen to start preparing the ingredients for paella - read cut up vegetables.

When it was time to make the paella all of the groups came into the kitchen and my group got to put things in the pot and stir haha. But we had our chefs hats on and looked like pros. While we waited for our paella to simmer / brew / cook, we went to the bar to learn how to make sangria. Which is ironic given that all the tour guides tell you that only tourists drink it.

Once our paella was ready to go we sat down to enjoy our cooking efforts and homemade sangria, which came with more then the recommended dosage of alcohol. It was really yummy and I had seconds, however I thought paellas took all day to cook, so I was slightly suspicious as to why our was 1 hour. But when in Rome!

Afterwards the guys went out drinking at a hostel and I headed back to Alex's as late night drinking isn't really my thing.

On Sunday Al and I chilled at her house as she wasn't feeling too well and in the evening we went to the magic fountain of Montjuïc's to watch a light show. It’s at the base of this castle looking thing and runs a light show in tune with famous music. It’s awesome! I actually think we saw this when I was here with Contiki, except we also stumbled across a major parade that had shut down the street, it was just a cool then.

Monday was Al’s birthday, but she was still sick and home from work and insistent that I saw the beach before I left. So off I went on my own little adventure, winding my way through the small and major streets of Barca making my way to the beach.

I stopped back in at La Boqueria to pick up some cheese and meats for lunch, I then sat along the coast eating that and enjoying the heat. I took a wander down the beach and then back up some side streets seeing different things on my return.

Al told me about this bakery does that croughnuts (croissant and doughnut cross, it’s weird) so I stopped by to pick up some for her birthday cake. They were pretty good and really fancily decorated!

In the evening the housemates and Al and I went out to her favourite Mexican for dinner and lovely way to spend my final evening. Happy Birthday Al!

Cooking class
http://www.travelbar.com/uk/activities-in-barce…

Walking Tour
http://www.newbarcelona-tours.com/daily-tours/f…

Croughnuts
http://chokbarcelona.com/もっと詳しく