Barcelona Travel Guide for the Day-Tripper

Sorry for taking so long to post again... I appear to be getting out of the habit of writing these, even though I have a lot of stuff to talk about. So,  I will try to catch up with most everything soon, seeing as I wont be doing much these coming weeks since I only have exams (although I do have one last trip before I go home).

After I got back from Morocco, I flew into Barcelona and decided to spend a couple days there. I enjoyed it a lot. The city has so much to see, that I can only hope to be able to go back there again. Instead of telling you about my experiences in the normal way, I am going to give you the Dan Dunbar travel guide to Barcelona:

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Barcelona, Spain... a land filled with enchantment, mystery, and unicorns... if you are prone to hallucinating about such things. However, if you are not able to hallucinate up the perfect vacation to lovely Barcelona, then follow the following tips to get the most out of your time in Cataluña.

Go with a friend. Nothing is more embarrassing than commenting about how beautiful a sculpture is to yourself or repeatedly taking self portraits while posing in front of historical monuments.
Consider staying at a hostel or couchsurfing. Hostels are great places to meet other travelers, and couchsurfing can get you in touch with a local willing to show you around the city. Both are better than sleeping on a bench crying near the Plaza Cataluña. Trust me.

Me taking a sad self-portrait as a couple of French people looked on sadly.

Protect your wallet and purse! Pickpockets tend to not ask before stealing your stuff, so keep your guard up. Guys, put your wallet and such in your front pockets, and walk with your hands in your pockets. Ladies, keep your purse closed and tightly tucked under your arm and in front of you where you can keep an eye on it. Especially be careful on Las Ramblas after dark, as the prostitutes tend to distract while the pickpockets go to work. Hey, at least you can't accuse them of not having good team skills!

Only have a day to see Barcelona? Consider the following tour: start with La Sagrada Familia (an amazing church designed by Antoni Gaudí) and be sure to take the elevator ride to the top, then walk south to the Parc de la Ciutadella (take a picture of the Mammoth statue... don't ask why, just do it) and The Arc de Triomf. Head west to the Barri Gòtic (Gothic Quarter) and consider visiting the Picasso museum. While you are in the Gothic Quarter, visit the Cathedral (say hi to the geese for me), then head over and catch a ride on the metro Line 3 up to the Park Güell to see more work by Gaudí. If you plan things right, all of this can be done in 6-8 hours... depending on how long you spend at each site. You might even have time to eat lunch! I sure did!
When visiting the aforementioned sites, realize that the gift shops inside the sites tend to have better prices than the surrounding kiosks and shops. I think this is because they buy their stuff at the gift shops, then resell them for twice the original price! Also, if you are a student, showing some form of University identification card will net you a better entrance price at most museums in the area.

Sagrada Familia

View from top of Sagrada Familia, and stairs down

The elusive mammoth, and Arc de Triomf

Inside of the Cathedral, and my friend Herbert the goose

Park Güell. Righteous.

Last, but not least, consider learning a bit of Spanish or Catalan. While most people know at least some English, knowing a few words in Spanish can show them that you respect their culture... and knowing a few words in Catalan will make them smile and laugh (only partly because of your pronunciation). A travel phrase book may also come in handy, but realize that stock phrases such as "The chicken was delicious" does not come in handy if you just ate a hamburger.

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Well, there you have it. I also ended up staying at a youth hostel where they go out together every night to bars and clubs. I met some cool Canadians there, as well as some Australians and British people. It was a great place to stay for a couple of nights in Barcelona. More pictures can be seen on my facebook page at the following site: (*WARNING* Contains pictures of possibly drunk Canadians)http://montana.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2038360&l=32ceb&id=43800191 

Next blog, which I will hopefully have up within a week, will highlight my past couple weeks in Valencia. A friend Matt from Great Falls visited me (he was studying abroad in Ireland), and I went to the Port a couple times for some fun. Also, we had our Computer Science department party... but more on all of that later :)