Spain - Barcelona
Las Ramblas, the main tourist drag in town
I traveled directly from Chamonix, France down to Barcelona, Spain. It was a 18 hour journey but was broken into two four hour legs and an 8hr night train. Enroute I had stops for a few hours in Lyon and Marseille so I was able to stretch my legs and check out the centers of those cities. I was in Marseille when France knocked Brazil out of the World Cup, a result no one expected... So yeah as you can imagine the Frenchies were out to celebrate in style, awesome! I decided to visit Barcelona after it came so highly rated from other travelers I spoke too. I stayed at a campsite about half an hours bus ride south of Barcelona, it was a bit far out but it had a primo beach only 100m away to make up for it. I was pretty tired the first day I arrived after all the traveling, so I spent the rest of the day bumming round on the beach which was exactly what I needed.
Mercat de la Boqueria a awesome fresh food market packed with delights
The next day I took the bus into town and headed straight for Las Ramblas, the main tourist drag in town. About half way down there was this awesome fresh food market where you could get everything from chocolate to pigs ears and whole skinned rabbits..
Ummm Hungry???
I had just eaten breakfast so I declined, but they had some good cheap watermelons which were very appealing in the 35 degree heat. After the Market I walked around the maze like streets of the Barri Gotic, where it was very easy to get lost (and I did).
Arc de Triomf
I popped out of the maze of streets near the Arc de Triomf, It seems that every good city needs an Arc de Triomf... Not in the same league as the one in Paris but not a bad effort.
There were some pretty flash boats moored in the marina, despite my best efforts I was not invited on board any.
The weird and wonderful Sagrada Familia
The most bizarre church I have any seen, this end was pretty good but the other resembled something from Ghostbusters 2. Like it or hate it, it is a fascinating piece of work and definitely worth a visit. Known as the masterpiece of Antoni Gaudi construction began in 1882 and to date it is only half finished, hence the cranes.. Funding for the project is entirely from donations, so the more money they get the more they build.. Who knows when it will be finished, 2082??
Port Olympic Beach, a popular spot
After hours of walking around in the heat the beach was a pretty good option, it was packed so obviously other people had the same idea.. Barcelona was a cool city, although it was a bit of a shame I could not stay in a central hostel.. The campsite I stayed at (Castelldefels) was not so great, the beach near by was its only asset. Other than that it was packed, dirty and my campsite was right next to the garbage dump. I guess the garbage removal guys were on holiday because when the wind blew the wrong way it was shocking. There were some good people at the campsite though, I had a fun night drinking lots of cheap Spanish wine with 4 frenchies who were hitchhiking on a minimum budget around Spain.
I traveled directly from Chamonix, France down to Barcelona, Spain. It was a 18 hour journey but was broken into two four hour legs and an 8hr night train. Enroute I had stops for a few hours in Lyon and Marseille so I was able to stretch my legs and check out the centers of those cities. I was in Marseille when France knocked Brazil out of the World Cup, a result no one expected... So yeah as you can imagine the Frenchies were out to celebrate in style, awesome! I decided to visit Barcelona after it came so highly rated from other travelers I spoke too. I stayed at a campsite about half an hours bus ride south of Barcelona, it was a bit far out but it had a primo beach only 100m away to make up for it. I was pretty tired the first day I arrived after all the traveling, so I spent the rest of the day bumming round on the beach which was exactly what I needed.
Mercat de la Boqueria a awesome fresh food market packed with delights
The next day I took the bus into town and headed straight for Las Ramblas, the main tourist drag in town. About half way down there was this awesome fresh food market where you could get everything from chocolate to pigs ears and whole skinned rabbits..
Ummm Hungry???
I had just eaten breakfast so I declined, but they had some good cheap watermelons which were very appealing in the 35 degree heat. After the Market I walked around the maze like streets of the Barri Gotic, where it was very easy to get lost (and I did).
Arc de Triomf
I popped out of the maze of streets near the Arc de Triomf, It seems that every good city needs an Arc de Triomf... Not in the same league as the one in Paris but not a bad effort.
There were some pretty flash boats moored in the marina, despite my best efforts I was not invited on board any.
The weird and wonderful Sagrada Familia
The most bizarre church I have any seen, this end was pretty good but the other resembled something from Ghostbusters 2. Like it or hate it, it is a fascinating piece of work and definitely worth a visit. Known as the masterpiece of Antoni Gaudi construction began in 1882 and to date it is only half finished, hence the cranes.. Funding for the project is entirely from donations, so the more money they get the more they build.. Who knows when it will be finished, 2082??
Port Olympic Beach, a popular spot
After hours of walking around in the heat the beach was a pretty good option, it was packed so obviously other people had the same idea.. Barcelona was a cool city, although it was a bit of a shame I could not stay in a central hostel.. The campsite I stayed at (Castelldefels) was not so great, the beach near by was its only asset. Other than that it was packed, dirty and my campsite was right next to the garbage dump. I guess the garbage removal guys were on holiday because when the wind blew the wrong way it was shocking. There were some good people at the campsite though, I had a fun night drinking lots of cheap Spanish wine with 4 frenchies who were hitchhiking on a minimum budget around Spain.
posted by Peter Spencer at 2:57 PM
1 Comments:
Pete, primo jump! Makes the melling bridge look small in comparision!! Sounds like u are having a really good time.
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