I found my happy place Barcelona - Part II

Day 4

Beach time! Once up and around we took the bus to the Platja de la Barcelona, where we spent the majority of the day. We people watched, shared pitchers of sangria, had conversation with tourists and marveled at how beautiful and surreal it was to be at a beach in Spain. So breathtaking. So relaxing. So perfect. Then we bussed. This was our last day to use our bus pass so we took full advantage and finished the rest of the city we had yet to discover. We went up the montjuic (hill) to see the Jardin de Joan Maragall (gardens), the Olympic Stadium and so much more. We finished the night in our usual fashion… people watching on La Rambla with sangria and paella. 

Day 5

Waking up on our last day in Barcelona (and on this epic vacation), there wasn’t much we hadn’t done yet. Mom and I basically just picked a place on a map and went! We went to about the furthest place you could go, Park Guell. It was a real bummer when we found out the wait to get in was over two hours long… so instead of wasting precious time we simply surrounded the park. The grounds are quite expansive! There’s so much so see outside of the actual park itself. We walked up what seemed like 1000 steps only to take a break listening to live music at the top. But it was all worth it because once we “summit-ed”, we saw a view of all Barcelona, a truly spectacular sight… the pictures will never do the view justice! After taking a taxi back to plaça de catalunya (City Center), it was time for more sangria and exploring. We shopped in El Gotic, a district we searched and searched for and never knew we were actually staying one street over from and had been in all along until the end. We walked the streets until our feet could walk no more. We ended the night on our rooftop at dusk, listening to the cathedral bells of the city, with Barcelona at our feet.

Barcelona was a perfect combination of the alleyways of Venice and the historical and massive monuments in Paris. It was everything I wanted it to be. This trip was everything I wanted it to be.