¡Adios, España!

Is the last day of vacation a total bummer for everyone? For me, it's like the Sunday blues on steroids, especially when I'm staring down the barrel of long travel home and work right around the corner. On our last full day in Spain, we woke up to gray skies and drizzling rain, which also didn't improve our moods. However, we sucked it up and tried to make the most of...

Day 9

 Barcelona -- Madrid, Spain

Highlights: Olympic Museum

Barcelona hosted the 1992 Summer Olympics (the original Dream Team, anyone?), so we made plans to explore the sports facilities in our last few hours in town. Most of the Olympic stadiums, arenas, fields, etc. were built atop Montjuïc, so we took the metro to the base of the hill and rode the funicular to the top. From the station, it was a short walk to the Barcelona Olympic Museum.

For Olympics buffs, this place was an absolute hidden treasure. In addition to memorabilia from the 1992 Games (including the bow and arrow used to light the Olympic cauldron in the Opening Ceremony), the museum also had individual exhibits on the history and evolution of each sport, Olympic and otherwise. There was an impressive display of Olympic torches and an interactive video center where you could watch select clips from every televised Olympics up to 2008. Heaven.

Near the end of the museum, there was an activity center where you could test your reaction time, climb a rock wall, and compete in other physical activities. As you can imagine, Wheat had fun with that. Once we'd had our fill of the museum, we wandered over to the Olympic Stadium to see the Olympic cauldron itself.

Despite the rain, we decided to walk down from Montjuïc and admire the views along the way. At the bottom of the hill, we encountered Las Arenas, a massive former bullfighting ring turned shopping center in 2000. Fun fact: Catalonia (including Barcelona) banned bullfights in 2012, so many of these structures have been converted into concert venues, malls, etc. We killed a couple hours by wandering around the mall, eating lunch, and admiring the expansive 360º views from the rooftop, which is now filled with restaurants and bars. Oh, and we also had our last European gelato of the trip.

By this time, we had to get to the train station, so we headed back to our hotel to pick up our bags. We lugged them through the rain to the metro, then through the metro to the train station. A few hours later, we arrived in Madrid, where we took a cab to our hotel near the airport (Hotel Tach) and found the most delicious gyros and feta fries for dinner. The next morning, we rode the convenient hotel bus to the airport and just like that, our glorious Spanish adventure was over.

If you missed out on any of the fun, here are some links:

Madrid: 1, 2, 3

Toledo: 1

Barcelona: 1, 2, 3, 4

OR...since YouTube is much easier than reading, check out this awesome recap video that Wheat made of our trip. I married up, folks.

Churches, museums, and fountains - oh my!

With the headache of the previous day behind us and a couple bucket list items on the docket, we slept in a bit and woke up with renewed excitement for...

Day 8

Barcelona, Spain

Highlights: La Sagrada Familia, Picasso Museum, Magic Fountain of Montjuïc

Though I'm far from an architecture buff, one of the things I most wanted to do/see while in Spain was La Sagrada Familia, Antoni Gaudí's massive, unfinished church and staple of Barcelona postcards. With tickets (for the right day) in hand, we made our way back to Sagrada Familia and collected our audio guide headsets. After spending some time admiring the Nativity facade (which is unsurprisingly dedicated to the birth of Jesus and looks to me like melting candle wax), we hopped in line to go to the top of one of the towers.

There is an extra fee to visit the top of the church, but it is absolutely worth it. Due to space limitations in the towers, there is timed entry, but that allowed us some privacy while admiring the incredible views of the city. Despite a little acrophobia on Wheat's part, we walked across a small bridge from one tower to the next and were able to view the church's famous spires from a different, up-close vantage point.

You cannot ride the elevator back down, so we took our time winding down the tight spiral staircase to the ground floor. While there, we continued with our audio guide which explained the intricate details of the inside of the church. From the colors in the stained glass to the tall, tree-like vaults that support the roof, we were blown away by the effort and planning that has gone into (and still goes into) building this remarkable worship space. Construction on the church began in 1882 and is supposed to be finished in 2026 to mark the 100-year anniversary of Gaudí's death. We'll see if that happens. Regardless, it was fun to imagine what the church will look like once it's complete.

The gorgeous fusion of faith and nature was apparent in every detail and we spent at least an hour inside, gawking at the ceiling and admiring the enormous pipe organ. The final part of our audio tour took us back outside to admire the opposite exterior, the Passion Facade (which depicts the crucifixion of Christ). Although Gaudí's plans were considered, this much darker, angular side was designed by Josep Maria Subirachs after Gaudí's death and you can clearly see the sharp contrast in style. The third and final side, the Glory Facade, is under construction now, but will depict the resurrection of Christ.

After a quick stop in the basement of the church (which serves as a museum for the construction and the final resting place of Gaudí himself), we had lunch at an overpriced place nearby that seemingly gave us free appetizers (tomato bread), but then charged us for them at the end. These tourist traps are the bane of my existence. We had some time to kill after lunch, so we decided to do another walking tour courtesy of Rick Steves. This time, we explored El Born, a stylish neighborhood with lots of boutiques, restaurants, and night clubs. We stopped in yet another market, saw more Roman ruins, and avoided rain by ducking into little shops along the way.

The Picasso Museum, which is actually housed in a gorgeous medieval palace in La Ribera, offers free admission on Thursday evenings, so we booked tickets a few days in advance. Photography isn't allowed inside, but we spent a couple hours following along with our audio guide and learning about the artist's formative years. None of Picasso's super famous works are displayed in the museum, but we left with a much deeper understanding of his childhood and his early works, including a series of paintings he did recreating and re-imagining Velázquez's Las Meninas.

From the museum, we booked it over to Montjuïc to see the famous Magic Fountains. This 15-minute water and light show set to music is basically Barcelona's version of the Bellagio Fountains, so yeah - you can say I enjoyed it. By this point, we had worked up quite an appetite, so we took the metro to Barceloneta for one last romantic paella dinner near the beach.

It's a rough life, isn't it?

When you lose your phone in Barcelona...

Are Wheat and I the only ones that seem to have one day per extended vacation reserved for a complete nightmare? Seriously, I think every lengthy vacation we've ever taken together has had one day that makes my skin crawl. On our honeymoon, it was the glorious day when my camera broke after toppling out of my backpack in Amsterdam and we spent two hours wandering around in the rain to find a camera store. On our trip to Texas, I thought I was having a heart attack on a particularly sweltering day in Austin. You get the picture...

However, neither of those days hold a candle to the horrors that awaited us on...

Day 7

Barcelona, Spain

Highlights: Park Güell, Barceloneta

The night we arrived in Barcelona, we bought advance tickets online to see Antoni Gaudí's famous church and work in progress, La Sagrada Familia. Our tour didn't start until the afternoon, so we decided to wake up early and make it a full day of Gaudí celebration by exploring whimsical Park Güell first. Rather than take a taxi, we decided to take the metro and then walk to the back of the park. Little did we know, the walk to the park from the metro was like scaling a mountain. The picture below does not do it justice - it was such a steep incline. Although there were some escalators to help along the way, I was huffing and puffing when we finally arrived.

...only to learn that tickets were sold out until late in the afternoon. Park Güell has timed admission, which helps control crowds and allow for a more pleasant experience, but I was more than annoyed with the inconvenience.

Huffing and puffing for a different reason, we decided to purchase tickets for later in the day and head over to Sagrada Familia for an early lunch before our tour. Lunch was pleasant at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant near the church and as we slowly made our way over, we were blown away by the colossal, melting-candle-like exterior.

After a short wait in line, we were kindly informed that the tickets we purchased were actually for the following day. Oops. I have a bit of a flair for the dramatic, so I made sure to remind Wheat at least 50 times how half of our day was completely wasted.

We had some time to kill before returning to Park Güell, so we called upon Rick Steves and his guidebook for another quick walking tour of the Eixample. It took us through a beautiful residential area and a much less crowded market, where we enjoyed more fresh fruit juice and admired the numerous flower vendors. We also saw a couple more of Gaudí's famous modernist buildings - Casa Milà (or La Pedrera) and Casa Batlló.

When it was finally time, we took a cab up to Park Güell (which we were trying to avoid, remember?) and entered the park. The best word I can use to describe this place is enchanting. Wavy benches covered in vibrant mosaics meet strange tunnels built with rock pillars and gorgeous vegetation. A colorful lizard/dragon statue guards a staircase that leads you to breathtaking views of the city below. Part of the famous tiled bench at the top of the park was under construction, but enough was open to be swept away by the vantage point. We spent a couple hours getting lost in the twists and turns and soaking in the beautiful day...and although it hadn't gone exactly to plan, my mood improved dramatically by the time we hailed a cab to leave.

...and this is where the real fun began.

Since I don't activate international cell service when I travel abroad, I usually don't carry my cell phone with me when exploring. However, since we pre-purchased Sagrada Familia tickets, I brought my phone along that day because the tickets were in my email (please keep in mind that we didn't actually need the tickets since we went on the wrong day). Wheat, the saintly husband that he is, carried my phone in his pocket all day, but as we rode in the cab, he handed it to me to see how many steps we had taken. Minutes later, when we hopped out of the cab, I left it sitting in the back seat. We went up to our room, the cab drove away, and then we realized I had left my cell phone...in a cab...in Barcelona...with no phone service.

Cue the panic attack.

Remember my flair for the dramatic? I morphed into the spawn of Satan in two seconds flat. Wheat ran downstairs to ask another cab driver if there was a lost and found number. Did I mention my husband is a saint? He called it repeatedly from our room and didn't get an answer. We spoke to the person at the front desk of our hotel and pleaded for help. I cried and used some choice words.

Finally, Wheat got someone on the phone at the cab company. Since we paid for our fare in cash (instead of a card), the company could not figure out which driver to contact. They told us that at the end of the night, drivers usually do a sweep of their cabs and they would report back if the phone was turned in. This inspired very little confidence. Suddenly, Wheat got the bright idea to try calling my phone, even though the cell service wasn't activated. He tried a few times and on the third attempt, our driver answered. Because the background image on my phone is a picture of us, he remembered who we were and offered to bring it back.

This is what they call "un milagro" in Spain. A miracle.

A couple hours later, this remarkable man actually came back to our hotel to return my phone. We repaid him with a hug and a hefty tip...and decided to ignore the impending phone bill for the international calls.

In utter shock and completely relieved, we decided to leave our phones in the room and head to the beach for a relaxing evening after our hellscape of a day. It turned out to be the exact thing we needed.

When we arrived at Barceloneta (the beach area), a large group of people were swing dancing to oldies and we spent quite a while watching them and enjoying the sea breeze on our faces. Artists were building incredible sand castles (with fire!) for tips while couples strolled by hand-in-hand. We settled on a little restaurant on the beach for tapas (calamari, patatas bravas, and ham croquettes). I put my feet in the Mediterranean for the first time and giggled like a child as a I sank into the sand. It was easily the most romantic night of our entire trip...made all the better by gelato for dessert.

Sometimes I think the universe knows exactly what it's doing - how much you can take and what you need to bounce back. That night with that guy, especially on the heels of that horrible day, just seemed too good to be true.

Barcelona is Love.

I have a tendency to get overwhelmed when I arrive in a new city. The excitement of so many things to see, areas to explore, restaurants to try, and pictures to take nearly bowls me over and before I've even set foot outside, I'm anxious that I won't be able to do everything on my list. Of course, I never do everything on my list, so it's silly to be stressed before I even begin...but I suppose that's life with anxiety.

This unreasonable stress hit me like a ton of bricks on our first full day in Barcelona, so we decided to hit some of the major highlights of the city on...

Day 6

Barcelona, Spain

Highlights: Las Ramblas, La Boqueria, Barcelona Cathedral

Thanks to our trusty Rick Steves guidebook, we had a decent plan of attack for trekking through the city. We started at Plaça de Catalunya, the city's central square and the meeting point between the old city and the newer Eixample district. We wandered around the square, admiring the statues, fountains, sculptures, and ridiculously bold pigeons, before moving along our self-guided tour.

Our first leg of the tour included Barri Gòtic, the oldest section of the city with ruins and buildings that have survived since the Middle Ages. On our way, we passed by Els Quatre Gats, a gorgeous cafe that served as a creative meeting space for most of Barcelona's prominent artists during the modernist period, including Pablo Picasso and Antoni Gaudí. We also noticed some remnants left over from the Catalan celebration (pro-independence rally) the day before.

Els Quatre Gats

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Barri Gòtic was stunning. We spent most of the afternoon transfixed by the architecture, ambling around with eyes up and jaws dropped as local artists played music on nearly every corner. We navigated down narrow alleys and soaked in the atmosphere of outdoor cafes and boutique shops. Wheat was thrilled when we stumbled upon Roman ruins tucked between newer walls and we dodged a soccer game being played by children at recess in the Jewish Quarter. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

The crown jewel of Barri Gòtic, the Barcelona Cathedral, was open for free exploration later in the day, so we decided to skip it for the time being and stop for a lunch of pintxos (essentially tapas on bread). There are tapas restaurants on just about every street, so it took a while for us to finally settle on one. If you ever travel to Barcelona, I highly recommend eating at a traditional pintxos bar because it's an experience in and of itself. These restaurants have long bars lined with plates piled high with all kinds of tapas - meat, cheese, fish, fruit, and veggies on bread prepared hot, cold, sweet, and savory. All of the tapas have a toothpick in them that the waiter uses to calculate your tab at the end of the meal (basically a fixed price per toothpick). We had a blast sampling different ones and going back for more of our favorites.

After lunch, we made our way to Las Ramblas, the city's most famous street. Nestled between two lanes of traffic is a gorgeous pedestrian boulevard flanked on both sides by massive trees. Vendors set up shop on the walkway, selling souvenirs, candy, and flowers while street performers and living statues do their best to earn your spare change. Due to the atrocious terror attack that occurred less than a month before our visit, there was an increased police presence on the street and we also noticed several notes scribbled on trees and benches in remembrance of the victims.

I'll be honest - I could have spent all day on Las Ramblas. Tourists and locals alike congregate in this beautiful space to sip their coffee, peruse the market, and enjoy the sunlight that peeks through the trees. At the beginning of the nearly mile-long street, there is a large water fountain (Font de Canaletes) topped with a lamp post. Rumor has it that if you drink from the ornate fountain, you will return to Barcelona one day. I'll let you guess whether or not we took a sip...

While strolling along Las Ramblas, we ran into my personal highlight of the day - La Boqueria. The city's famous public market is an absolute dream for anyone with a camera. Vibrant colors abound as you pass vendors selling produce, meat, cheese, fish, candy, and everything under the sun. Although it was crowded, we had a blast walking around while sipping freshly squeezed juice and going into sensory overload with all the sights, sounds, and smells of the market. Side note: The old man smiling with his bobblehead likeness below is named Juan and he owns Bar Pinotxo in the market.

Las Ramblas also provided us with Wheat's probable highlight of the day - the NBA Cafe, the world's only official NBA restaurant (for now). We spent longer than I'd like to admit checking out the memorabilia and the wall of jerseys, measuring our hands and feet against the likes of Shaq and LeBron, and playing basketball video games. Of course, there was a particular focus on the Gasol brothers (Pau and Marc), Barcelona's most notable contribution to the NBA.

When I finally pried Wheat away from the video game, we made a quick beeline back to Barcelona Cathedral, which was opening soon for free tours. There was already a line of tourists stretching from the front door when we arrived, but we easily passed the time by marveling at the gorgeous gothic exterior and the massive bubbles being blown by a street performer nearby. The cathedral, like most I've encountered in Europe, was astounding with impressive high ceilings and bell towers. It is dedicated to the one of the city's patron saints - Eulalia - a girl who was martyred at the age of 13 for refusing to say that Jesus was not the son of God. Her tomb lies in the church's crypt and the beautiful cloister now keeps 13 white geese in her honor (and as a rudimentary security system).

From the church, we made our way back to Las Ramblas to finish the trek down to the Mediterranean Sea. The street culminates with a large monument to Christopher Columbus, who reported to Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand in Barcelona after his first trip to the Americas. When we'd had our fill of the water, we hopped on the metro and took it back to our hotel to rest our abused feet. We closed the night with a trip to a local restaurant for another Spanish delicacy, paella.

...because with that amount of walking, haven't you earned that pot of ricey goodness?