The clock was winding down on my adventure through Europe as I headed towards the final two stops on my journey. First up was meeting back up with Justin and Tracy in Barcelona.. That is if I could survive the flight there from Geneva. Just as we were making our decent into Barcelona over the sea, the pilot decided to take us on a bit of a rollercoaster ride. We were low enough to the water to visibly see the boats and the pilot starts to turn, when all of a sudden he jerks the plane backwards and we start to rock from side to side like a boat being hit by waves. The best analogy I have is it was like he went to change lanes on the highway without shoulder checking and jerked us back at the last second after realizing a car was in his blind spot. Everyone on the plane chorused out their "woooooaaaahssss", and I was mentally going over emergency procedures and reminding myself where my life jacket was ... So just a little freaky!!

Once I landed everything was good in the city. We had a great few days exploring the city, visiting the beach, eating the local delicacies, and taking in some of the culture of the city, which is actually quite an interesting one. Not many people know this, but many Barcelonians don't consider themselves to be "Spanish" but instead "Catalonian" which is essentially the province that they live in. They have their own language and everything, and hope one day for seperation. We met a particularly passionate Catalonian man who owned a local restaurant we ate at one night. This place wasn't typically attended by tourists so he took an interest in us right away. This was increased immensely when Justin started wooing him with his basic knowledge of the Catalan language, which the guy loved. He chatted with us for quite a while and even translated the whole menu for us, all the while making us laugh and feel so welcome. To top it off he gave us 2 free dishes to enjoy (as long as we promised not to post that he did so online!). Such a great experience. Despite that, I think it's safe to say that our favourite place in the city hands down was a local market that we found on the Main Street in the city. It was stocked full with fresh local goods, but we were mainly there for the fruit and smoothies. For 1 euro you could get a delicious smoothie and around the same price a cup of mixed fruit salad. This was like heaven for me to finally have berries and a greater variety than the previous bananas and apples that fit inside my budget (and wouldn't get squished as I lugged them from city to city). We loved it so much we went back every day!

And now, time to talk about the hardships that we encountered in Barcelona. And I'm really sorry to bring this up.. But it happened, so I must tell the tale. My dear dear brother became another number in the grand statistic of tourists when he became the target of a no good pickpocketer. We were just casually walking down the street when it happened and as we looked back and analyzed the situation over and over (and over) we think there may have been a slightly suspicious woman walking behind us at the time, but you get so comfortable strolling the streets that you let your guard down sometimes, and they get the better of you. Luckily it happened to Mr. Calm Cool and Collected (because let's be honest I'd be having an absolute fit if it was me), and he sprung right into action calling and cancelling cards, so that the only real damage was 50 euros and the annoyance of it all.

It wasn't long before once again it was time to say goodbye and they headed back to Canada and I was off to my last stop in Portugal. Not wanting to mount another great adventure in my last days, I decided to stay in Lisbon for the remainder of my trip. Which turned out to work quite well because the city had a lot to offer and see. I did a few walking tours of the various parts of the city, which I learned actually has a ton of history that most people maybe don't know too much about! They were a huge part in the discovery era, discovering a lot of countries, including Brazil in South America, where they still speak Portuguese to this day. They are also responsible for things like bringing tea to Britain and tempura to Japan... Who knew!? I also discovered two records that the city holds. The first was that they have the oldest bookstore in the world, which comes in at about 300 years old. And secondly, they have the BEST PASTRY IN THE WORLD. Literally.. It was voted in by some magazine in the UK. The recipe was passed down by monks hundreds of years ago and to this day only 3 people are allowed to know it, and they can't ever travel together or even eat the same meal... Serious stuff! I have to say it was quite tasty.. But honestly what do I know! As someone who eats for sustenance rather than pleasure, I'm probably not the best judge! My last day was spent in a nearby city to Lisbon which they call the fairy tale city for the beautiful palaces and castles all built on the top of the mountain overlooking the town below. I also ventured to the furthest West Point of continental Europe to see the beautiful cliffs leading down to the shore. After that it was time to say a sad goodbye to this amazing continent.

I thought I was ready to go home, but now I'm not too sure! This sounds so cliche but I cannot believe how fast time has flown by on this trip. I feel so fortunate to have been able to have this adventure and to have met so many great people from all sorts of different places along the way. I will not soon forget this experience, and am already plotting when I will be able to set out on the next one!

107 DAYS

20 COUNTRIES

THE END... for now!