Accommodation

Carrer de la Marina, 57 Barcelona, Catalunya 08005

This was one of the cheapest and cleanest rooms we ever had on our travels. And the owner,Gabri,is very friendly, and works at the airport’s control station how cool is that. I definitely recommend this airbnb house to anyone dropping by in Barcelona. This place is cheap, as Gabri just wanted to make new friends and share travelling experiences, rather than making money out of airbnb.

The house had air-conditioning in our room, a living room with a balcony view, including a view of Torre Agbar. I felt at home right away because it was modern and the buildings felt similar to those back home, like I’m in a normal Singapore HDB house. By this time, I was fasting, so it really hit home a little bit.

Location-wise, it is near the beach and we could actually play in the sea because the waves were calm. It is about a 15 minutes walk to the city-centre and is also near the bus terminal, so pretty convenient to have chosen this place because we had to travel to the next city using an overnight bus from that bus terminal.

We actually talked the most on various topics in this place as compared to the other places. I remembered he was asking us about Singapore and talked about his origins. (He is from some little village in Spain.) He calls himself a Catalonian. So, we used Google maps to take a closer look at his hometown, and when it was time to show our little red dot on the map, he couldn’t believe how small SG was when he expected something a lot bigger considering the economy that we have, and just, laughed. (Nope, sorry bro didn’t live up to that expectation)

Other than that, Cherrybelly and I had dinner by the balcony and relaxed and just talked about history itself and how we are actually doing this travel thing together. Romantic, huh.

We also talked with Gabri about our schools, graduation, graduation trips, where we were going to travel to next and the sports we play. It was interesting to find out that he didn’t know about floorball. (I liked the idea of cultural differences, which really makes life a bit more interesting.)

Though he does play a lot of basketball, as a forward. It’s quite funny to see how Asians really seem to be a lot smaller in size than Europeans. I felt that he already looked abnormally big and tall of at least 1.8m. In SG, he would already have been a giant and be the star centre in basketball. But here in Spain, he is considered too small to play as a center as there are many players bigger than him. We look like freaking midgets to them.

I also found out that his idol is RICKY RUBIO. I was so happy I fangirled right in front of him whoops. (people in SG thinks he is useless. but…is it I love him still??) He has been watching Rubio since young and omgosh finally someone understands me!!!!

Another cultural difference that I discovered was that the Europeans don’t know anything about the different races. To them, Asian = Chinese. Gabri couldn’t understand our accents, especially when Cheryl and I were talking to one another. He could register Cheryl’s Chinese accent, but he couldn’t figure out mine.He doesn’t know the existence of Malays aka me. The Malay race is not common in Europe surprisingly. (So am I seen as exotic?! We’ll never know.)

Attractions

I honestly learnt a lot from their free walking tours. Barcelona actually has a lot of history behind all those parties and pickpocketing.I learnt it was founded by the Greeks, then the Romans, then Italy invaded them followed by Spain. They also told us the story of how the king here married the neighbour’s princess so that they were able to expand their reach even to Greece. (Such power!!!) The man in power during the 30s to 70s was Franco and the Catalonians actually voted for independence. However, Madrid doesn’t approve therefore they are still part of Spain. So during the walking tour, the guide actually showed us signs of resistance like how they will put the Catalonia’s national flag instead of Spain in public view. :O (In SG, I think we will probably receive some jail time or fine if we were to ever do that.)

There were also remnants of bomb explosions in significant locations where the walls have holes in it because of the explosions. We were also introduced to the Spanish civil war and WWII.

I think I always had a secret history buff in me which made me really appreciate the places I am seeing and at the same time imagined how it was like living in that context. Made me appreciate these experiences a lot more because you understand how it started out.

Guell is the Man (REASONS FOR IT BELOW)

On the second day, we went for the Gaudi tour and it was really eye opening. His works are amaaaaazing and i would never have thought his creations were possible. I think he is a genius. And because of that we also bought tickets to enter Park Guell which was SUPER AMAZING BECAUSE the structures were out of this world. However, we did not manage to visit Camp Nou (not a football fan so there were no regrets), but if you are a football fan, it is something you should not miss.

There was also this super steep hill that we had to travel to get to the park Guell but it also diverges to another hill which is probably the highest part of Barcelona, showing us Barcelona with a 360 aerial view of the place, which was pretty dope.

But, we made it.

Food & Shopping

Spain is really famous for saffron. It was the first time I actually heard of saffron being used as an ingredient in cooking.We also went for a paella cooking class! So fun, met many nice people and cooked great food. (BUT I COULDN’T EAT THE PAELLA IN THE END CAUSE THEY ADDED WHITE WINE IN IT:(((( but the chef did make me a separate, special meal for me yay)

There was one time we also talked to this juggling busker which was pretty interesting because I think it takes a lot of focus to actually be balancing on a ball and juggle different things. At the same time, he was talking to us, telling us about what he does as a living, how he is loving Barcelona, and how he thought Singapore is in China?!?! People really need to get their facts right sometimes. But it was fun, correcting him about where SG was.

Overall, even our airbnb owner said to be careful of pickpockets. They are famous for it because it is true. So amidst all the love you have for the city, you still have to be alert. But thank goodness, this was one of the cities we had no troubles with. :’)

 

Most of the Photo Credits goes to: Cherrybelly