Day 6, Barcelona, Spain (Wednesday, August 13)

Once again we found ourselves up at 4:00 a.m. to get to the airport on time. We were lucky this morning with catching the right trains and buses which put us 30 minutes ahead of our original plan we had made the night before. Which ended up being perfect because it took forever to get passed security. But we made it through and onto our plane for a two hour flight. I didn't sleep at all. I attempted to, but the seats didn't recline so that made it pretty much impossible for me to sleep.

We got to Barcelona and had a little bit of a struggle figuring out which train to take and which ticket to buy. None of us speak Spanish nor have anyone of us been here before. So it became a little adventure. Really it was an adventure the entire day. But we eventually figured it out and took a train to one station and then a taxi from there to our hostel. 

We got to the hostel earlier than the check-in time so the lady let us leave our bags there while we went to find some lunch. Right across from our hostel is this mall so we walked around for a bit before settling on a little sandwich place. 

After we finished, we went back to the hostel to check-in and get our stuff situated in our room. This time we only have a room for eight. Which means only four strangers we have to deal with. 

We went downstairs to the common room area to use the wifi and figure out what we were going to do. We ended up booking a tour for a cathedral later in the day and decided to just head out to explore the city. 

We got to the metro station and once again had to figure out the system and which ticket would be best to buy. We momentarily got sidetracked marveled at this huge vending machine. 

Crazy, right? We bought our metro tickets and randomly chose a stop to get off and this is what we see:

Pretty spectacular view! We knew we had to go see that castle looking place in the background. It just kept getting bigger and more exquisite as we got nearer. 

We made it up to the top and found out it is a Natural Museum of Art.

You had to pay to get in so we just walked around up top and enjoyed the view of Barcelona. 

Once we had our fill of this place, and not to mention a billion pictures, we decided we would make a stop at the beach before our tour started. 

When we got off of the metro, we spotted a ton of street statues? I don't know what they're called. But they were cool. I can't imagine doing that all day!

We didn't make it too far towards the beach because we realized we were short on time. We knew we'd be back since that is in our plan for tomorrow so it wasn't a big deal.

We almost didn't make it to our tour time. We ended up on a wrong train and then at a station in which the train we needed was closed for construction. So we just walked the rest of the way.

The tour was for the Basilica de la Sagrada Familia. 

It is an amazing structure. I think it looks like it's melting. Construction started back in 1882 and still won't be completed until about 2026. Not sure why, we only had an audio tour and it didn't say. Unless it did and I wasn't paying attention.. 

Inside was very pretty. There are so many stain glass windows so it's super colorful.

Once we finished, we were all starving. We walked the streets and ended up at this Asian food place. We were so ready for food and to be able to sit down. Our feet and legs were killing by this point. 

The food, though very small portions, was pretty good. I was impressed because I didn't have too high of expectations for it. Once we finished, we made our way back to the hostel.

When we got there, others had checked into our room and actually moved Liz's stuff off her bed onto another. The room also smells like wine. There is an empty bottle in the garbage. So that's going to make for an interesting night. 

Once again, it was another great day. It was filled with a ton of walking around and my feet are killing me. Luckily tomorrow the plan is to relax at the beach for a bit before heading to our next stop. I could use a day of slower pace and not a lot of walking. 

Tomorrow: Marseille, France!