Tourist day out con Kristi :)

Adventure time in Barcelona! Since I was traveling last weekend, and I am going to be traveling next weekend, I thought it would be good if I actually explored Barcelona a bit. Kristi and I woke up and left La Garriga at 11:35am. We got to Barcelona about an hour later and decided our first stop would be La Sagrada Familia. On the train, we got off two stops before we were supposed to, transferred metros and apparently I am a professional at this metro thing (even though I don’t live in Barcelona) because I found all stops just fine. 

 

We arrived at Sagrada Familia and bought our tickets, only to find out our time for the lift is not for another hour and a half. We went inside to explore and take pictures but after we were done, we sat down on one of the pillars outside and played games on our phones until it was our time for the lift. 2:40pm finally came and we went up. In the lift, the guide lets us know we will be walking our way back down. WHAT?! Do you not know I am phobic of heights, woman? Oh dear God. At this point, all I’m thinking is “Gabi, please don’t freak out. Please don’t freak out.” My knees are weak, but I still manage to walk out of the lift. So terrifying to be up this high, but the air is exhilarating and the view..oh the view! 

 

The view is breath-taking. My feet are planted firmly into the ground as I make my way across the small stone bridge. I feel a little better because I am being brave but it’s still scary. I finally cross the bridge and it’s time to go down. The stair case that you walk down is completely closed in by stone walls, but the middle part of it is open. I literally slither down the sides of the stair case walls all the way down. We are OUT! Freeeeeeeddddoooooom! Even though it was terrifying, I’m glad I went because the view is something you don’t want to miss. 

 

Next stop was Montserrat. When we got to this metro stop, the guy we asked for directions with the tickets told us that it would be pointless for us to go now because we’d only have 45 minutes to explore. So we decided to go to Park Gϋell instead. It was gorgeous as well. The walk up the hill is a definite tester of your strength, but once you make it to the top, the entrance to the park is gorgeous. The different colors, the architecture and the different mosaics built into the stone makes you forget you walked all that way up the steep hill. As you enter the park, if you want to see all the way to the sea, you have to walk ALL the way up to the top. Again, this is a test of your strength. Kristi and I went all the way up and the view is astonishing. 

 

From the very top, you see Sagrada Familia and Torre Agbar towering over the city and if you look further, you see the sea which made me giddy. At this point, I promise myself I will see the sea before I leave Barcelona and I don’t care what the weather is like. We explored the park for about an hour and a half, then walked back to our metro stop and went to Placa Catalunya to meet Logan for coffee and some shopping before she goes off to travel for the weekend. Kristi and I came back very happy but very tired on the last train. Overall, the day was amazing. We saw some of the sights, did some shopping and finished souvenir haggling for some of our family and friends back home. 

 

When I came home, I skyped before bed, which finished my amazing day off with a cherry on top.