Barcelona - Day 1

We flew into the Barcelona airport late, especially after finding how to get to our hosts house, then taking the bus and subway to get there. We were welcomed with open arms into the home of our Couchsurfing hosts Oscar and Vanessa. They had dinner on the stove almost ready and a room of our own waiting for us. They even treated us to Spanish wine. We were already really liking the city.

We were especially grateful to Oscar and Vanessa because a few days before, we were about to give up on Couchsurfing in Barcelona. We had contacted many people but had not gotten any positive responses if any response at all. We put a small plea on the Barcelona message board and booked a hostel the next day after not hearing anything. But Oscar saw our message and told us he could help us out. We were able to cancel the hostel just in time.

The next day we met up with friend Ted Trager and his girlfriend Melissa, who have been traveling around Europe for awhile, they were not able to find a Couchsurfing host but ended up in a really good hostel. We decided to start the day off at Park Guell. This park was designed by Gaudi and had lots of cool areas to explore and enjoy.

It almost felt like an amusement park.

I'm on the ball.

Ted enjoying the sun.

Sarah on the bridge.

Amazing rock work.

Lots of people enjoying the park. Most of this area is held up by pillars.

Tile mosaics for days.

Its hard to get a "normal" picture of Ted and Melissa.
This one isn't bad.

The dragon

From the park, we walked a few blocks to the Hospital Sant Pau. They were doing a lot of renovating while we were there. Some areas are still in use today.

We kind of had to sneak in, but we didn't bother anybody.

A short walk down the street brought us to the Sagrada Familia. Also designed by Antoni Gaudi, it has been under construction since 1882. It is not expected to be done until at least 2026.
This is one thing we were definitely willing to pay money to get inside.

This picture is of the passion fascade.

The doors

The height was staggering

The pillars are designed to resemble trees

Miles of scaffolding!

Lots of natural light.

Like a forest canopy

We were then tempted to pay a little bit more to ride the lift up one of the towers.
The line wasn't too long and it was way worth it.

Looks complicated

The cranes were whipping around objects the whole time.

Cute girl

It was super windy at the top

We decided to take the endless stairs down

The nativity fascade. Very Gaudi.

After we had our fill of the Sagrada Familia we continued to walk towards down town. We made it nearly all the way across town to the Arch of Triumph and rested our tired legs until the lights were turned on.

We walked around the most touristy nightlify area called La Rambla for awhile. On one of the side streets, Melissa was very happy to come across the same store her and Ted had found the night before. It was full of anything circus, clown, magic, and costume.

Ted was a little intimidated.

We ended the night eating dinner at the only vegan restaurant in Spain. Melissa is a vegan so she has been having a hard time with the mostly pork and eggs Spanish diet. It was Sarah and my first experience at such a place but we enjoyed it. The "milk"shakes were especially good.

After dinner we walked our tired legs to the metro and went "home" to our couchsurfers after a full day. We were so glad to have a nice bed waiting for us and crashed almost immediately.