Day 88, 89, 90, 91, 92 & 93
Barcelona, our last city in Spain was not as action packed as I would have thought. Whilst the nightlife was fantastic and there were things to do in the day, by the time we got to our end of the week there, I was finding we were running out of things to go and experience. Don't get me wrong some of the things we did during the first days were incredible, however by the end of the week the only things we were doing was waiting around for the night life.
The nightlife was absolutely incredible in barca with there something to do everynight. Razzamatazz, port Olympic and Apollo were just a few of the big name clubs we went to. If anything there weren't enough nights to go to clubs, we could have partied for another week. Whilst the first night I was out of action, sick with the cold gav gave me, I was up and out the next night partying hard with everyone.
The pubs were also something to be remembered following the gimmicky trend of Lagos and Ios. One of them, the Dow jones was a bar modelled on the stock market with prices increasing as demand for drinks does and a "crash" every now and then to make all drinks cheap again. Another bar, Chupitos, which literally mean shots in Spanish, had a range of over 500 different shots served in a variety of ways including a syringe (for the Pulp Fiction shot), in a marshmallow (Scouts Shot) and with chocolate on top (willy wonka). Despite the amazing shots we all had the crux of the night was when Gav had the world famous shot, the Monica Lewinsky. He certainly got more than he bargained for and without giving too much away as you will certainly see pictures soon, it involved a blindfold, a wig and a heap of cream.
As always we did the free walking tour, getting what we could from tour guides without paying a cent. There was a lot of history and we saw a couple of cool things such as the oldest shul in the world and the Gaudi architecture. However this tour wasn't one of the best and didn't really show us anything new we now wanted to see.
After the tour by ourselves we saw a lot more that actually interested us. Gaudis Sagrada Familia (massive cathedral that is still being built after 100s of years) and Parc Guell (Crazy Gaudi park) were awesome to see. Las Rambla (the main street with buskers, portrait artists and people dressed up in suits) was also cool to walk up and down at all hours of the day and night, meeting different people every time we walked past.
Since we told people we were going to Barca the first thing everyone said was "go see the magic fountains, they will change you life". Following their instructions that was one of the first things we did and it was spectacular. After climbing Montjuic Hill in the centre of town and finding a seat in amongst 1000s of people, we sat and looked at what appeared to be a large but regular fountain. However once the clock struck 9 the Magic began. Starting with the circle of life and progressing through a whole range of Disney songs, music began to play and water and lights were shooting in every direction. It was coordinated fantastically and had us hooked for the next 15 minutes, it was hard to look away. It most definitely changed our lives. :)
Our last beach days for a long time were also a spectacle, chilling out for the last time in the sun on Barcelonas manmade beach. Visiting the beach twice we made the most of it, ordering drinks and even getting massages on our towel.
The biggest highlight of the city came once again on our final night as we went to a Barca match at Camp Nou against AC Milan. Psyching ourselves up during the day we found a massive soccer shop nearby tricked out with outdoor football field and goals to test out your boots. I even went so far to buy myself a Barca t-shirt just to fit in with the crowd that night.
The evening was amazing from start to finish with not a dull moment in between. Right from the second we stepped of the train the excitement took hold of us as thousands and thousands of people walked to the stadium. Whilst initially worried that our seats were too high, once we reached our place you could tell there would not be a bad seat in the house. It was especially cool to be sitting near the opposing teams section as not only could you tell how crazy dedicated they were to their team but also you could see how many cops were standing around to control them.
Now I won't bore you with a commentary of the match but to say the least it was a cliffhanger throughout. Whilst it ended in a 2 all draw it was incredible to see such amazing teams go head to head. You really had to pinch yourself sometimes to realize you were at the match, but a hundred meters away from some of the best soccer players in the world.
Whilst Barca was pretty cool I wouldn't say it was one of my favorites. It had some cool sights and cool things to do but I wouldnt rush back particularly soon. Maybe we just had a bit too much time there, maybe we missed things to do, I'm not too sure. All that I know is we are now heading to a place that most definitely will not disappoint. Next Stop, Amsterdam