Barcelona, Spain

After an 8 hour overnight train from Granada, we arrived to our final city in Spain.  Daniel "Mammoth" Smith, a friend from Austin, helped us find our lodging for the first night through a local frisbee friend.  He has lived in the city for the last year studying for his law degree and had invaluable advice on how to get the most out of the city.  After a quick nap, we went out to explore Park Guell, designed by Antoni Gaudi, and then to wander through the Gracia neighborhood.

Park Guell was originally designed as a neighborhood for rich Barcelonians in the early 1900s.  It was an unsuccessful endeavor and later turned into a public space.  Gaudi was heavily influenced by nature which you can see in his fluid lines.  He was a genius.

He also loved using mosaic tiles for decoration.

One last beach! This was quite a different experience from our Algarve experience.  The man-made beach was packed with "man."  It was a bit chilly, but we enjoyed people watching and having a break from the city hustle and noise.

Cara and Ellen walking towards the Arc de Triomf.  We felt pretty victorious by this point in our travels.

Gaudi is most well know for his masterpiece, La Sagrada Familia.  This icon of Barcelona has been under construction since 1882.  The outside is covered in intricate detail and is planned to have 18 spires of which 8 are currently complete.

The light inside is beautiful and different sides of the church are lit in different colors depending on the stained glass.

J.C. hanging over the main pulpit.

The huge columns branch out to support the ceiling and spires above.  It feels like looking up into the canopy of a massive forest.

Nothing like a huge pile of meringue!  It was so rich that the three of us could not finish it.

Me and Mammoth after a throw in a plaza in Gracia with our new sweet disc.

One of the best things about staying with locals when you visit a city is finding out about the hidden gems.  On our last day, Mammoth joined us for lunch at La Flauta, one of his favorite restaurants at the typical spanish lunch time of 2:00pm.  You can order off the 'menu del dia' for 13€ and choose a starter and main dish which comes with bread and dessert or coffee and something to drink.  We might have made the mistake of ordering a coke, water, or even beer, but because we were with our local in the know we ordered wine.  La Flauta doesn't insult the locals by giving just one glass, so when you order wine you get a whole bottle yourself.  Of course, we put in the work and made sure to finish all 4 bottles coming our way!  Side note, the food was delicious especially the Catalan cream which was their version of creme brûlée.

Outside the synagogue meyor near the center of town.  This was a small museum in the location of the old synagogue in the Jewish quarter.  Like other parts of Spain in the 15th century the Jews were eventually attacked and then either forced to convert or kicked out/killed.  The synagogue was taken over and lost its identity for many years until it was rediscovered and converted into a museum.

No trip to Barcelona would be complete without a night out dancing at the clubs.  Mammoth took us out to 'Nasty Mondays" at the Apollo.  We arrived to the club too early, 2:15 a.m., so the bouncers had us and the hundreds of others eager to party line up outside.  After a short wait we made it and it was packed!  It was pretty much a typical dance club scene with loud music, spot lights, and a DJ, except it was huge and full of rowdy Euro dudes.  The music was mostly rock, think Foo Fighters, so in between dancing there were several mosh pits.