Barcelona!

Ok so we spent 8 days in Spain for our winter break and we just got back yesterday. We visited Barceolona, Ibiza, and Madrid and I figure I will break this up by city, so here it goes!

We took the night bus to Barcelona which was.... miserable. There was absolutely no chance of sleeping the entire ride because the bus driver drove like a madman. We took a "break" at a rest stop. It lasted an hour. It was just so miserable, and then we finally got into Barcelona and it was 5am, so there are people haggling us because they are just getting back from the bars and everyone is drunk and we're just four American girls with suitcases looking for our hostel. Luckily there was someone at the hostel to check us in, and the staff there ended up being very nice and the hostel itself was fantastic- definitely my favorite one so far.

Barcelona in general was kind of disappointing. I find the Gaudi and Dali architecture to be really weird and kind of creepy. The city was more modern than I thought it would be, and it didn't feel as Spanish as I had pictured in my mind. We ate dinner at a tapas bar (which is basically miniture size portions of things and you get a few of them) and got royally ripped off when we ordered sangria. I figured it would be cheap because we're in Spain, land of Sangria, but when we got the bill it was 38 euro. Such a joke. So it was annoying to continually get ripped off. I feel like we're past that stage now, but there are different scams in every country.

The markets in Barcelona are amazing. There is so much food (and I'm sure a lot of pickpockets too) and it's all very cheap. We bought a head of cauliflower for 1 euro. It was nice to eat a vegetable for once (don't tell my mom I said that!).

We also took a cable car ride up to the top of a mountain/hill that overlooked the whole city and that was very nice.

Marley's 21st birthday was while we were in Barcelona and we took her to a bar called Chupitos that does a lot of entertainment drinks. They have the Finding Nemo (they put an M&M in the shot in some whipped cream and you have to find it before you drink it), Harry Potter (lots of flaming involved), a Boy Scout (you roast a marshmallow on the countertop that they set on fire, put the marshmallow in your shot, then drink). We got to the end, and decided to go for a big one for her, so we got her the Viking. She was blindfolded while they put a viking hat on her and the bartender proceeded to beat her helmet with a club while she drank. It was absolutely hilarious, and people all over the bar were doing drinks like this, so it was a pretty crazy atmosphere. I put up an epic photo of Marley, just for your benefit haha.

All in all, Barcelona was cool, but I don't think I would go back unless I was with someone that knew the city very well and could show me the cool things that are away from touristy areas. And I certainly will not be taking the night bus again.