Bleo's European Adventures: Barcelona

Stop #6 was Barcelona.

Not too sure how we feel about here. Upon arrival to our hotel, Blake looks at me and says..."This must be the slums of Barcelona". Convinced I had booked in a 'hip' place (as described by the Lonely Planet book) I assured him it was just the street and the cool places would be near.

Anyway, after checking in to our hotel which feels like a night club more then anything (see photos), we decided to go for a walk to see our surrounds.

We walked down the dodgiest, smelliest, dirtiest street, and were greeted by hookers and drug dealers. Awesome 1st impression of Barcelona.

We found La Rambla, which is easily the busiest street of Barcelona. Filled with little stalls of souvenirs, flowers, pet shops, you name it it was there - as well as retaurants which offer anything from tapas and sangria to steak and chips.

We ventured down to the beach on our 2nd, 3rd and 4th day here, as well as did some much needed shopping (Blake is definitely improving on the shopping front). The heat here is like nothing else. It is so humid, and I think it only emphasises on the stinky smells that are everywhere.

The food is GREAT. The tapas are just amazing, even Blake enjoyed them. Which for anyone who knows Blake, you know he likes quantity and not quality. Tapas aren't generally very BIG. But he enjoyed it.

We visited the Parc Guell and checked out La Sagrada Familia (didn't go in as the line was around the block) but still got to check it out. Pretty amazing architecture.

We leave tomorrow and head for Madrid to spend the weekend with my cousin Lisa. Really looking forward to spending some time just chilling. We are both pretty over doing touristy things and just want to do nothing. I think San Sebastian will be great. We're even thinking of extending our stay there instead of passing through Bordeaux. We will see.

Adios!