Yes, this has very little to do with anything ...
The following is based on actual events. Only the names, locations and events have been changed ...
Barcelona was one of the victims of travel disaster number six, in that our stay there was drastically shortened as a result of it. We basically only went there to catch our flight to Venice, but we did get to do and see a few ... well, two ... interesting things while we were there.
As I mentioned towards the end of my last post, the train trip from Granada was twelve hours. Because of the also-mentioned sub-four hours of sleep we’d gotten the night before this trip, we spent the first two or three of it sleeping. This was good because it made the journey seem shorter, but bad because when we awoke the train had stopped, we presumed, for a food break, as no food was available on the train itself.
Because we woke up halfway through this break, we had no idea how long it had been going or how much longer it would last, so we judged it best (despite not having eaten breakfast) to stay on the train and get off at the next break. Little did we know that the train would stay at that platform for another forty-five minutes (with us saying at ten-minute intervals, ‘It must be about to go, surely’), and WOULD NOT BREAK AGAIN TILL WE GOT TO BARCELONA.
Obviously, when we arrived we were ravenous, so we went into the first place we saw – a Maccas – and gorged ourselves.
The next day we checked out of our hostel and went wandering around Barcelona. Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures (except those taken on my phone) of the day's activities due to a bout of HPR we suffered.
One place we went to see was the Sagrada Familia, a modern cathedral that has been under construction since 1882, originally (or near-enough) under the supervision of famous architect Antoni Gaudí, whose idiosyncratic touch is most clearly present in the statues of gigantic fruits and vegetables sitting atop the spires of the structure. Til went in, but I opted to keep my 11.90 thank you very much, my interest in abbeys and cathedrals and churches long too depleted to allow me to spend that much (half the day's budget under travel disaster–incited restrictions).
Besides, we'd already seen a more interesting Gaudí complex that morning for free: Parc Güell. It originated as a purpose-built estate for the wealthy of Barcelona, a playground for the rich. It was, however, too ahead of its time and not a single apartment was sold. Eventually the property was turned over to the city, and it's been a public park ever since. The architecture was freaking amazing – it was so interesting to walk around. Til and I ended settling down somewhere with a picnic and just staying there all day eating and talking in the sun. I know we probably should’ve been seeing more of Barcelona, but I can’t imagine a better one-day experience of the city than that for free. It was a beautiful setting with a beautiful view of the city and the ocean and I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it. If you go to Barcelona, you MUST visit Parc Güell.
Earrings on an umbrella.
The Parc Güell view.
Our flight to Venice left the next morning at 6am, early enough that we couldn’t face having to wake up in a hostel and make our way to the airport. So instead of doing that, we stayed the night there. At first it looked like it was going to be fine. We had a sweet little fort set up in a shadowy corner of the airport where we wouldn’t be disturbed, but unfortunately, we were. By security. The airport had a policy of not allowing people to sleep on the ground, which SUCKED.
I mean, I totally understand why they wouldn’t let people make little beds on the ground in a secluded spot – you could have any homeless person come in there and claim they were waiting for a flight – but to not let flight passengers sleep on the ground right next to the seating area, to wake up people sleeping on the ground RIGHT next to the seats their bags and families are sitting on, or people sleeping UNDER the seats? It’s excessive. What’s the difference?
Luckily I devised a way to sleep comfortably on the chairs. Armrests prevented stretching out along the row, but we were able to pile our bags and jackets onto trolleys, align them with a seat, and stretch out with our heads and shoulders on the seat and our torsos down on the trolleys to get a semi-decent sleep. I highly recommend this tactic if you ever find yourself in the same situation!
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