Barcelona and Budget Airlines

Our trip to Barcelona was three nights, a taste of Tapas and Spanish (or rather, Catalonian) culture, and a great hostel experience. But our trip OUT of Barcelona with budget airline Ryanair was a different experience altogether. But more on that later.

We flew into Barcelona with Esyjet, and other than the fact the pilots looked they were barely older than us, we got there safely. We stayed at a hostel called Sant Jordi Sagrada Familia, which is part of a chain of hostels in Barcelona. It was the best hostel we had stayed in so far! The place looked brand new, the hostel had a skateboard theme, with boards on the walls, a half pipe in the common room as decoration, along with heaps of bean bags and a massive screen in the room. Accommodation in Spain is much cheaper as well- we paid €19 for a 4 bed dorm in a little apartment with our own kitchen and bathrooms shared with the others in the apartment, whereas in Venice we paid about €35 a night for a pretty basic 5 bed dorm (and that was the cheapest we could find!). So with that as our home for the next three nights, we got to meet some fun people (mostly Australians, of course), and have a nice place to come home to each day. 

Here's what we got up to:

1. FREE walking tour

Without a doubt, the thing I enjoyed most was a free walking tour we did through the Old Gothic Quarter of Barcelona. Our guide was a 20-something Irish expat who took us with a group through the winding streets for 2.5 hours. The Gothic quarter (Barri Gotic in Spanish) is named because this area is home to all of the distinctive Gothic-style architecture in Barcelona, and the streets around this area are like a maze. And immediately once we were there, we were glad that we had taken the tour because there was no way we would ever been able to appreciate what you were actually seeing without someone to point out which bits were relevant. She showed us a place that used to be a taxidermist, where Salvador Dali famously brought in 200,000 ants asking for them to be stuffed for a project he was working on. Surprisingly, they said no, so the next day he brought them a rhinoceros instead!

Mike was also lucky enough to be picked to act as someone called 'Wilfred the Hairy' (I wonder why), so he was begrudgingly in the spotlight for the tour as well:

Mike, the star of the tour

A sculpture of the real Wilfred the Hairy (aka Mike)

Wedding Crashers during our tour

The Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia (Catedral de la Santa Cruz y Santa Eulalia) and the surrounding streets were one of the most interesting stories though, and definitely something you couldn't appreciate without the guide. From our guidebook, I had learnt that the Cathedral was famous because there are always 13 geese in the courtyard, but I didn't know why. We found out this is a sign of purity to honour a girl named Eulalia, who at the age of 13 suffered martyrdom in Roman times. Christians were being persecuted for their beliefs at the time and because she refused to change them, she tortured in 13 different ways (one type to signify each year of her life). The final straw was quite gruesome to hear about- the girl was put in a barrel full of broken glass and rolled down a lane way 13 times. We actually saw the spot where this happened and it was quite vivid with the guide's description. So when we later saw the geese in the church, we actually had a whole understanding of what they were representing, and realised that they don't just put geese in churches over here for decoration.

We also found out a lot about the way Catalonia (the region of Spain where Barcelona is) considers itself as being a separate country from the rest of Spain. They have their own flag, dialect, foods, and even do things different just to show they are not like Spain- for example, they banned bullfighting in Catalonia just to be different! So it turns out we actually hadn't REALLY been in Spain yet after all. And just because we have the world's best timing, the annual celebration day for the people of Catalonia started exactly ONE DAY after we left. Just our luck. But in the lead up to this event, we did get to see them make some Castellers (human castles) which was amazing to watch. I think one photo in particular just sums up the craziness of this tradition: the ambulance parked next to these 7-8 storey human towers.

Tower going up...

And tower falling down

Itś ok, they have ambulances so it´s perfectly safe

Oh and another fun fact we learnt- the Spanish don't believe in Santa Claus, but something completely different.... A log. The log is named Tio de Nadal and it wears a Santa hat and everything. Check it out.

And kids in Australia question whether Santa Claus is real..

On Christmas eve, the log is wrapped in a blanket, and the children sing a song basically asking the log to 'empty' its insides and 'deliver' their presents. Yes, Spanish kids believe presents come from the poo of a log. As if that's not crazy enough, after the singing is done, they then beat the log with a stick, to give a laxative effect and help the presents ease on out. That has got to be one of the most bizarre things I have ever heard.

2. A TASTE OF TAPAS
After coming from France, where we didn't eat out at a single restaurant because none of the food looked particularly exciting (or cheap), Spain is heaven. Our hostel recommended this little local-loved tapas joint nearby, and it was so good we made two return visits. So far we have worked out that a)Spanish food is deliciously bad for you, and b) they love their eggs, potatoes and jamon (ham) over here. So much so that at lunch time one day, it seemed everybody at this place was ordering this dish which was a massive pile of French fries, topped with a runny egg and fried ham.

We have managed to steer clear of that, but so far I have fallen in love with their calamares fritos over here (tastiest batter ever!), and Mike found this thing called Bomba, which was a meat ball with a crispy outside (kind of like Arancini), topped with this spicy sauce and aioli. And they also do some pretty amazing things with mushrooms over here, which means I officially love Spanish food. Sadly we haven't been able to track down any churros yet though.. Guess that will have to wait until we hit the 'real Spain'.

3.GAUDI
Barcelona is very well known for the fact it is the playground of Gothic Architect Gaudi, and a visit wouldn't have been complete without checking out some of his works.

My favourites were:

Park Guell: complete with a house that looked like a gingerbread house, and an overall feeling that we were walking through the set of Jurassic Park.

Sagrada Familia: 'church of the sacred family', which began construction in 1883 and is STILL yet to be completed. Current estimates put the date of completion between 2015-2020. I couldn't believe that they are still spending money on finishing it, rather than just leaving it as a tourist attraction of a work Gaudi 'almost completed'.

 4. LA RAMBLA

The extremely crowded main street of Barcelona, and a pickpocket's delight. We were told from people in Nice to basically expect to lose something while you are in Barcelona, but I am happy to say we came away unscathed. Busy doesn't even begin to describe this street, and it has a mix of a cool, artsy vibe with street artists and performers vs a feeling like someone might mug you if you take your eyes off your bag for one second.

There's a big food market off this street, with locals eating Tapas right from the stalls. Some things weren't so tempting though, try and guess which one:

One of the things about Spanish culture though is that people seem to spend a lot of time on the streets, which explains why La Rambla is such a traffic jam of people. But in other parts of Barcelona, you could see peole playing table tennis, or big bands busking with laid back music, or in the case this one park we visited: a mixture of guitar playing,rollerblading, picnicing and even some yoga. They really have a good culture in the outdoors that was really nice to be a part of.

5. MAGIC FOUNTAIN OF MONTJUÍC
A giant fountain with lights and water flying up in time with music, creating an extravagant (and free!) show every half hour, four nights a week. I think the music and lights were added before Barcelona hosted the 1992 Olympics and it seems like a strange tourist attraction for Spain (there was nothing particularly Spanish about it, not even the music). Regardless, it is awesome.

 6. NIGHT LIFE
We sampled the infamous Barcelona club scene one night with people from the hostel, and it was crazy compared to Newcastle: the clubs don't start getting busy until 2am, and it wasn't uncommon to see people in the hostel getting back at 11am. We were thankfully home before sunrise, but not until we had paid €25 to get into this one club Razzamatazz that was the biggest place I have ever been. We got lost trying to find our way out of this place, and for 'some reason' (definitely not alcohol) I forgot which country we were in and ended up going asking the bouncers in Italian where the 'uscita' (exit) was. Maybe I fooled them that I was actually from Italy??

And the budget airline....

Our time in Barcelona ended with a flight with the budget airline Ryanair to get to Seville. Buses from Barcelona to Seville took about 16 hours and were roughly the same price as a flight, and we had the option of either Ryanair or Vueling. After a few people in Mike's family had told us stories about Vueling being a terrible airline and losing luggage, we thought we were safer going with Ryanair. We soon learnt why the flight seemed so cheap..

The online booking system was a labyrinth, I was lucky to get out of there alive without accidentally payimg for all the extras they tack on. The actual flights were only €37, which seemed like a win. Then came fuel levy (€5), admin fee (€14), checked baggage (charged per weight, so I was glad we are both under 15kg and could get away with paying the 'cheaper' amount of €55 euro), and then the sneakiest part- web check in fee of €13, despite the fact web check in was compulsory and you had no other way. After making my way through the website and unchecking all the 'extras' boxes which they automatically charge unless you untick them, I thought that was the worst of it. Turns out you have to confirm your flights online and print boarding passes before, otherwise they charge €60 to print tickets at the airport. Luckily we had a printer at the hostel, otherwise that would have been a verrrry expensive flight.

We should have realised that the booking system was a sign of things to come. We trekked our way from our hostel and three trains and a slight panic that we were going to miss check in for our flight later, we had arrived at the airport. The flight was meant to leave at 7.15pm, but half an hour later we were still on the runway. I chuckled because the in flight magazine was bragging that Ryanair was 'Europe's number one on-time airline'. Eventually we made it into the air, and then the flight basically became one big advertisement, with announcements in Spanish and English every 5 minutes: phone cards, bus tours, duty free, self promotion- it was definitely not a peaceful flight.

But the best bit of all was when we landed- a slow clap started and the plane seemed to break out in applause, amd Mike and I were wondering why. Was it rare for a plane to land safely in Spain? Then some music with trumpets played through the plane and a voice came on, congratulating us that we had arrived on time with Ryanair. It was the most bizarre thing, and we actually couldn't help but cracking up at the sight of it. We exited the plane for a long walk of shame across the tarmac (think the length of Williamtown's walk, and then triple it), and we arrived in the Andalucian capital of Seville. Home for the next 3 nights!