Wanderings of Barcelona - Short Recap

I was told I would fall in love with Barcelona. From my parents, colleagues, and friends all whom have traveled there within the last years, everyone thought I would enjoy. They were absolutely correct. We had just a few short days to stay in the city on our travels, but we made the most of them and even went to our first soccer game in Europe to catch of my favorite teams. I continue to be amazed by what I am able to learn from the people on how things operate, the challenges, and the true essence of their cultures as we continue along. I thought I would just share some snippets of the days, which is how I usually document what is going on, but just don’t share in this forum. I sure enjoyed our time in Barca, and though there’s many places in the world to see, I wouldn’t mind being back in the city. 

September 1 - Walking 8.5 miles

Arriving after an overnight bus to a gloomy day around lunchtime in Barcelona did not initially give us much energy to propel our day. Knowing we were limited on time, we were determined to explore . 

-Brief walk by Arc de Triumph and streets in a bit of drizzling rain.
-Lunch at Platilleria, a local spot in our Air Bnb neighborhood of El Poble Sec.  
-Countless streets and ally’s to wander after walking along the port, through the Ramblas, and into the Gothic District for browsing shops and exploring plenty of curious side streets. 
-Cathedral of Barcelona was beautiful on its own, but the with circus like acro performer graced us with her elegance and strength performing perfectly in front of it. 
-Veggie Garden was a great find and provided a multi course vegan and gluten free option for me! Knowing pintos are tough for my diet and our hunger was real, we were stoked to devour a safe Nepalese dish. 

September 2 - Walking 18.5 miles

We knew today would be a full day and it sure was walking nearly everywhere and exploring places at different times of day. We always felt safe, though remained attentive given their surge in tourism over the last years. 

-Morning workout for views up in Jardins Del Mirador. Plenty of trails around to explore the gardens. There’s so many in this area of Mont Juic! 
-Picasso Museum is free first Sunday of the month, so capitalizing on some time there proved interesting as his art varies much more than I had remembered! 
-A coffee by El Borne and exploring the old city ruins that are shown where the market used to be. 
-Time to embrace the beauty of Park de la Ciutadella that is so inconspicuously tucked in the city and by the Passeig de Lluís Companys. 
-Wandering through the streets, stumbling on the big market which was closed due to it being Sunday, and finding the Sagrada Family Church which is still under construction to originally plan from over 100 years! 
-Barcelona FC at Camp Nou is a must if possible-soccer is a pivotal piece of the European experience and culture. We won! And enjoyed cheering in our Barcelona gear.
-The route home took us a new way that provided amazing and colorful night show of the fountains at Font Màgica. The whole area looks beautiful with the lights changing, street performers playing music, and people meandering the blocks nearby. 
-The Ramblas at night become even more lively and active, even on a Sunday. The days of the week don’t seems to make much of a difference in nightlife here. 

September 3 - Walking 7.5 miles

After such a full day yesterday, we had seen a majority of our desired attractions this trip, with possibility of rain also in the forecast. We knew we would enjoy a leisurely morning workout and brunch, find a Correos, wander some more and get packed up for our extremely long bus route to Zürich. 

-Back to Jardins Del Mirador for a morning workout! 
-Brunch, writing, and finishing our postcards and notes to mail was a perfect early afternoon activity. I couldn’t wait to mail my small but heavy and clunky package of things home! 
-First stop was a Correos to get rid of my duffle of things (not really that much but easier to carry and strategically brought to stock up on a few gluten free essentials, snacks, and preps for dinner and bus travels). 
-Arenas Mall was pretty, but still no Toms that I am looking to replace since I threw mine out in Santiago. The most exciting part was honestly the grocery store in the basement. 
-Cooking at home is always our favorite, and tonight was no exception. I am so grateful Sarah is vegetarian as well, and has patience for my gluten free needs with similar creativity when we each need some part of a meal that’s different. Usually it works perfectly. 
-Packing what possible and awaiting for some laundry to dry had us organizing a bit in the evening and relaxing with weather brewing and no good sunset to be seen. 
-Grateful for taking some time to FaceTime a few folks despite forgetting its Labor Day back home. I’m imagining I would have been BBQing with the fam and visiting some of my bests if I were home. 

September 4

Leaving for Zürich with an ambitious an 22 hour bus ride ahead was dreadful yet invigorating as well knowing we would arrive to a home for ten days. Little did we know, the station where our layover was from midnight until 2am was less than ideal, and the second bus was horribly full and a rough ride. Needless to say, we were not capable of sleeping but maybe an hour. 

-Despite wanting to stay in bed with a dreary morning, we knocked out another workout at our favorite park, going to a higher lookout to scope out city views. 
-Foods prepped and our huge bags were ready to lug down to the bus station again. It felt like a we had just arrived, but a whirlwind adventure for the weekend proved beautiful.
-Oh traveling on buses - you never know what you’ll get. Our first bus at least had extra seats, so we each got our own row. The plugs worked! As did WiFi, but no working bathroom on board leaving me to surely not want to drink water.
-The second bus was nearly full when we got on at 2am. I felt horrible for the girl I had to kindly smile at and sit with, taking up some of her leg space. The bus seemed old, extremely bumpy, no WiFi, no plug, and no sleep.
-Arriving at sunrise through Switzerland is breathtaking, and despite being exhausted, knowing we were going home and could nap, and later figure out where to explore this beautiful place was so comforting. 

It never ceases to amaze me how much we are capable of seeing, doing, experiencing, and learning each day we are away. The challenges continue to vary, but our gratefulness seems to exponentially grow. Now, time to embrace Switzerland, keep learning and researching, and maybe check out he IT jobs here ;) 

Adios España!