The Beach! You’d Think I Would Have Learned My Lesson

We arrived on the night train from Geneva this morning shortly after 9 am and went straight (I shouldn’t say straight because whenever we get to a new city our path to our first destination is anything but linear) to our hostel Mambo Tango. After settling in we got our swimsuits on and headed straight to the beach! The hostel owners Totti and Marina are awesome, they told us what beach we should go to and which beaches to avoid because of pick-pockets and whatnot. We decided not to take the subway to the beach and instead walked the entire way so we could see Barcelona. Barcelona is very pretty and (unlike Geneva, see previous post) has that “it” quality that immediately strikes you.

On our way to the beach we passed by the statue of Christopher Colombus, Las Ramblas, and a lot of palm trees! We had to walk along the beach for a while to get to the place where we were told was less crowded and less touristy, but we didn’t mind because we got to take in the views and get a little exercise. One thing we had noticed along away, and had been forewarned about prior to our trip, was the… “free-er” nature of a lot of beach goers when it came to their attire. We thought there would be a lot of speedos and that maybe I’d be out of place because of my swim trunks, little did we know that Erica who decided to keep her top on was the one who was in the minority. This trend held true pretty much every so we just had to bite the bullet and pick a spot. After settling in we had lunch: sandwiches, chips, oranges…it was all pretty good. The big mistake of the day came when I asked Erica if I should put sunscreen on….her reply? “No I think we’ll be alright.” Well needless to say, despite how much we enjoyed our time at the beach, after over 4 hours of Barcelona sun…we’s was burnt, especially me. You’d think after my experience in France I would have learned…I’ll catch on sooner or later.

After the Beach we went to Las Ramblas, Barcelona’s main avenue full of shops and markets leading up to Catalunya Square, the city’s main square. We stopped at a fruit market and picked up some fruit, which I was actually able to (sort of) order in Spanish. Tonight we hung out with some of the other people at the hostel. We just went to a local bar/restaurant/not sure called Mantra; the atmosphere felt pretty “Spanish” and it was a good time of conversing with other people from all over the world who are doing the same thing as us…people from: Florida, New York, Canada, Europe, and even Australia.

Hasta manana.