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 :)

Africa

Yeah, that is right... from April 29 to May 3 I was in AFRICA!!! Specifically, I was visiting friends in Rabat, Morocco. While some parts of the trip were confusing, I really enjoyed my stay. While I was there, I got to meet with 4 Moroccan girls who studied abroad at MSU... Laila, Sanaa, Ikrame, and Houssna.

So, I arrived in Morocco, and was supposed to call my friend Laila, who would pick me up when I got to Rabat. However, I couldn't figure out how to use the pay phones in the airport... grrr. I had to take a train into Casablanca city, then change trains to get to Rabat. However, once in Casablanca the trains were not very well marked... so I ended up missing 3 trains into Rabat while wandering around the train station looking for some English speaking help... which I found out doesn't exists much in Morocco (everyone speaks mainly French and Arabic). A very friendly Moroccan guy helped me out, even though he spoke no English. He helped me figure out the payphone, and figure out which train to get on. Language barriers can be overcome is the moral of this story.

When I arrived in Rabat, Laila was there waiting for me... and was wearing an MSU shirt and sweatpants. I am sure I had the biggest smile on my face when I saw her there decked out in MSU's finest clothing :) She took me back to her place, where I met her boyfriend Badr. He is a really cool guy, and we both have a lot of similar interests, so I really enjoyed meeting him. Laila made me my first meal in Morocco... and it was some of the best turkey I have ever eaten.

Yummy! More please!

That evening, I met up with another friend Sanaa. I went with her and her boyfriend Abdul to a place called Oudaias. We first went through a market street filled with all sorts of interesting Moroccan goods and crafts. I wish I had bought something, but I didn't feel comfortable stopping in the crowded street. Then we arrived at Oudaias, which is a 12th century or so fortified city on the hill. We drank some Moroccan tea there, and then sat and watched the sun set over the Atlantic Ocean. It was quite a sight.

 Crowded market street.

Oudaias from the outside.

 Sunset on the Atlantic, a new film by Steven Spielberg.

The next day I was on my own. All the girls had to work, so Laila gave me the names of places to visit. I ended up visiting Chellah, a necropolis and botanical garden (what a combination!), the Mausoleum of Mohammed V and the Hassan Tower, as well as a small Palace where wedding parties meet and some government sessions take place.

Chellah was interesting, as it had both Moroccan and Roman influences. The gardens were quite nice too, as there were plants from literally all around the world. Also, there were more than 40 cats and many more storks living there... which was cool, but a bit scary at times as well. :)

Chellah!

The Mausoleum and Hassan Tower were interesting to visit. Sadly, I did not have time to go inside the Mausoleum, but I did get some good pictures of the outside of it. While I was there, I was grabbed by 4 girls who proceeded to put Henna on my arm (Henna is a type of non-permanent tattoo). They then tried to talk me into paying them 10 euros for it! I ended up finally giving them 4 euros, which is way much more than I should have... but at least they finally left me alone.

Hassan tower and a fountain thingy.

Henna-d!

The palace was interesting because each room was designed differently. All had intricate patterns on the doors and ceilings... and when you went upstairs, there was a great view of the entire city.

I am king!

After the palace, I met up with Laila, Ikrame, Sanaa, and one of Laila's friends from work. I ate a really good shish kebab, and we were able to relax and chat for a while. After lunch, I went with Ikrame to her work. We talked for a good long while, and then I went downstairs to use the computer lab.

Lunch time... good thing I had my friends to translate the menu!

That night, Laila and her boyfriend took me out with some of their friends to a Mexican bar/restaurant. It had a very relaxing atmosphere, and I had a lot of fun that night just talking with their friends.

The next day was International Labor day, so the girls didn't have work. Sanaa, Ikrame, and Ikrame's younger sister took me to the beach. While we didn't go swimming or anything, it was a lot of fun to relax on the sand and overlook the Atlantic Ocean. That night I ended up staying in a hotel, since none of the girls could host me. It was a nice hotel though, and was only 50 euros for the night. I was able to sit back and watch some TV, and I did a little walking up and down the main street.

Sanaa, Ikrame, and Ikrame's sister (Fadwa?)

 

The next day I met up for lunch with Ikrame, wandered the streets a little more, and just took the day easy. I even saw two fights in the street, both in front of McDonalds. Apparently, the golden arches make Moroccans quite hostile. I met up with Houssna, Sanaa and Ikrame at a Cafe to talk. That night, Ikrame's family allowed me to stay at their place. Her mother made a really good Moroccan soup for dinner... which I hope to get to eat again in the future :). Ikrame's brother Mehdi then took me out to play pool with some of his English speaking friends. One of his friends had even studied in Spain, so he knew some Spanish too! 

Sanaa, Houssna, and me

Moroccan meal!

 Mehdi, Ikrame's brother, showing extreme happiness.

I had to wake up early the next morning to catch a train to the airport. I got maybe 2 hours of sleep that night, but I was able to catch up a bit on the plane to Spain.

As I look back on my time in Morocco, I have an incredible urge to go back and visit it as soon as I can. There is so much culture and history there, and the people there are so nice. Plus, I need to take a picture with Laila... I spent more time with her than any of my other friends there, yet I still never took a picture of her during my entire trip!

Well, that is all for now, as this blog entry is a little long. Next time, I will talk about my time in Barcelona, Spain! I was there for 2 days after I got back from Morocco, and I got to see some amazing sights. Have a great week everyone, and see you back here soon!

What happened last weekend!

Ok, I was going to talk about last weekend and Fallas, but I cannot get both to fit in a reasonable amount of writing. In the next few weeks, I will just make a new post only about Fallas... it will be worth reading, trust me! So for now, I will just talk about my experiences from the last week.

Last Friday night (as in April 20th), I was invited to a party on the beach. Jessica and Robert, the German guy I roomed with in Gandia, told me about it. When I first got there, it was just me, Robert, and Maria (Roberts roommate). Then, Jessica came. "Hmmm..." I thought, "Four people is not a very happenin' party." Then, some Spaniards showed up, followed by some French. Once we were about ten strong, we headed towards the sea and sat down on the cool night sand. We sat in a nice circle, and talked amongst each other and in small groups. I don't know when it  happened, but suddenly, or group was growing very large very fast. And suddenly, a bonfire appeared right next to us. So, I stood up and hung out by the fire since it was getting a bit chilly.

Smaller group at beginning.

Valentino, myself, and Jessica... aren't we so cute?!?!

The fire would be the end of the big party. After a  while, a group of police showed up and told us we couldn't have a fire on the beach. They also told us we shouldn't be partying in this area of the beach because there is a hospital right across the street, and we might be disturbing the patients. The police (overall) acted quite reasonably, and the ones I saw were very calm about the situation (although I heard stories of some not so calm policemen). The police put out the fire, and sent us all packing.

 Bonfire!!!

After the fire... and after the cops... so many people without a party...

Jessica wanted to go home at that point, so I decided to walk her back to her place. After walking her home, I returned to the beach to find some of the group had gone into a club nearby, while others were going to walk South a bit. I went with the Southward group. We ended up spending most of the time just chatting on the sidewalk, instead of actually walking anywhere. It was getting late (actually, early, since it was around 4-5 am), so we decided to start heading back. We passed by the Hotel Las Arenas, a 5 star hotel on the beach... and 3 of the guys decided to have a little fun by jumping the fence. However, they also decided to exit the fenced area right in front of the security guards. Some police came, and two of them (I don't know where the third managed to escape to) calmly talked to the police and guards while the rest of us looked on with amusement and a bit of sympathy. In the end, they just took down the fence-jumpers names and let them go with a warning, which we all felt was a good thing.

 Jumping the fence... into unknown enemy territory...

To sum up the night, there was a party on the beach, a bonfire, fence-jumping, and two run-ins with the law. Overall, an exciting night.

Saturday night I went over to Miranda's (Sweden) flat for a belated birthday party. I was one of the first to show up, so it was just us talking casually for a while. Jessica showed up next, so the casual conversation continued. I met two of Miranda's Swedish friends who were visiting for the weekend, and it was fun chatting with them. I think it was two hours later that the majority of people showed up... and by that time I was getting tired. I also don't like parties in apartments with too many people... I am not claustrophobic typically, but in these cases I get uncomfortable. Jessica told me she was going to leave, so I decided to head out at the same time. The rest of the group was going to go out to the clubs soon for dancing and drinking, and I didn't want another late night.

Miranda's party. Her two Swedish friends are on the right.

Well, that sums up the last week. The rest of the week involved boring schoolwork and such. So what is coming up this week? I will tell you! I am going to Morocco!!! I became friends at MSU with several Moroccan foreign exchange students. They were involved in a two year exchange program with MSU, and they graduated last May. I am really looking forward to seeing them in their home country. After that, I will spend two days bumming around Barcelona. I will be in a hostel close to the city center, so it will be easy to walk to many of the more popular tourist sites. The next update wont be until at least next Sunday, so don't worry checking until then. Have a good next week everyone! I know I will :)