Barcelona: Day 1

Yippee! May is the best month because there are TWO public holidays which means we get TWO long weekends! Yaaaaaay! This time around, I joined an asian tour group (aka my friends) and made my way to Barcelona.

Advice for future travelers to Barcelona. Unless you like spending 90mins on a bus from Girona or Reuss airport to Barcelona city, avoid Ryanair at all costs. Yeah the flight was cheap, but I will never be able to buy back my time on the bus. Nothing eventful happened on the bus and that was why people shouldn't take it! Oh, and also the coach bus tickets need to be bought inside the terminal with cash only. Take my tip, it will save you much pain. But for all you unfortunate souls who end up at Girona, check out Barcelona Bus for timetable info.

J and I took earlier flights than the others and arrived at different airports, but made our own way to the hotel with no problems. I hadn't managed to navigate Barcelona yet, opting for a taxi to transport me from the bus terminal to the hotel. Jade had managed to traverse the metro system and knew the location of the nearest train station to the hotel. Unfortunately, as the equation goes, J + Me = Dumbass.

The others jetted in about 2 hours after us. I followed J to explore our surroundings (without a useful version of a map) and find a restaurant to park ourselves while waiting for the others to arrive. Confusion and much walking around in circles resulted as neither of us were able to provide suitable directions and a map location to the other party. A cloud of anger confronted me once our paths finally met and lunch was eaten in an air of restrained fury.

Quite funny now, but not funny then. Hahahahaha....

Minature blunt axes to cut our pizzas. Mmmmmm.... croquettes.

Aftewards we took in a few sights, going to check out Catalunya Square (Placa de Catalunya). Ice cream stop mandatory!

We had a wander down La Rambla, which I was advised was a bit seedy but I must be somewhat seedy because I thought it was fine. Girls being girls, we decided that we wanted to shop. We minced our way around Avinguda Diagonal and Passeig de Gràcia - Barcelona's version of the Champs Elysees. Quite a lovely Catalonian take on the tree-lined avenue but with waaay more shops!

This one's for you, Moo. Don't it look like the Champs?

Admist the retail therapy-break, we managed to fit in a peek at some Gaudi architecture.
Outside the La Casa Batlló. We didn't go in, too much shopping to be done. Kt deciding that walking down the street was not her game.

La Pedrera. By now it was getting too dark and we were getting a bit grumpy. Uber-cool Gaudi stuff though.

The problem with the Spanish is their eating regime. Dinner is late and many restaurants don't open for business until 8pm. We were all starving by the time we got El Cangrejo Loco to Port Olympic. It was getting a bit chilly too.

My entree - The Crazy Mussels as per the menu listing. They don't look that crazy to me.

Mmmmm ... paella.

Dessert.... how can I go past a Rasperry Creme Brulee. I can't remember the actual Spanish name.

The waiter was lovely and rather amused to be serving our Hong Kong Triad, so to appease us, gave us complimentary shots of some sort of alcohol. It didn't taste that great.

The view of Port Olympic.

We taxied it back to our hotel and collapsed into bed. Early morning flights suck!