man oh man, it took a good hour uploading these photos in which i...
- cook/ate instant noodles.- did the dishes.
- watched an episode of big bang theory.
-__-"
it's almost 4am and i'm knackered but since the photos are up...i'll keep it short & sweet.
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getting to barcelona was supposed to take about 6 or so hours from the wine region, give or take about two hours for service stops, our ETA was 5pm thereabouts.
well.
we got to our hostel at 4am, making it a grand total of 20 consecutive hours on the bus.
the massive delay was caused by forest fires at the borders of both countries and it wrecked havoc on traffic that day.
even way before reaching the exit border of france, the traffic on the highway was literally at a standstill that drivers and passengers could exit their cars and have a smoke/bitch about the whole situation to other drivers.
i remembered thinking "after 6 hours of traffic SURELY we're in spain already?" then we'd pass by a signboard written in french, mocking my unspoken thoughts.
-__-"
bus drivers in europe are required to stop to rest every 3 hours of driving but because the roads are extremely winding and there's only one lane going in each direction, nuno couldn't stop and had to keep driving, racking up a shit load of hours on his log.
the airconditioning started going kaput quite early in the night so everyone on the coach was pretty much just breathing stale, warm air.
for me, and possibly a good amount of people, my immune system just took a dive to hell la.
all the oxygen sharing meant that we were breathing in other sick people's germs and carbon dioxide & i caught the violent version of a contiki cough which lasted until after i came back from europe - a good two months, not even kidding.
nuno had to stop whenever possible so that our lungs can stock up on fresh, crisp air because it was so warm on the bus it really did feel like an oven.
in the end, we managed to check in at about 4am and just like that, our 2 nights in barcelona came down to just one night.
we were all so fucking exhausted that we stumbled upstairs, took turns for a shower and just passed out from a long day on the bus.
our walking tour scheduled at 8am got pushed back to 10am because hannah decided we should all sleep in for abit. bless her.
we couldn't use the bus from all the racked up hours so 40 odd people took the bus down to barcelona town.
in awe of the beautiful architecture.
one of the many basilicas.
dents on the walls are caused by bullets o___O
gothic quarters.
the streets in barcelona are really charming.
think old school buildings, narrow walkways that sell the most random things which then branch out into a huge plaza lined with zaras and h&ms.
there's so much to take in it's like a massive visual fiesta, i loved it :)
la rambla markets.
after hannah give us the green light to go about ourselves, everyone headed straight to the markets to grab lunch.
britt, bridget & i headed straight for a freshly squeezed fruit juice and it was so refreshing. best thing, ONLY ONE EURO.
god i love europe.
we walked around the markets for a bit but decided to get lunch after britt almost threw up at the sight/stench at the raw food section hahahaha.
we walked further down la rambla and randomly picked a restaurant that served tapas and sangria.
food was alright, the jug of sangria was horrible :(
the best sangria i've ever had was definitely the one in madrid - i had about 3 liters even though i was tipsy because it was so yummyyyy :D
but back to barcelona. after a somewhat mediocre lunch, we went back to the main area and shopped :D
went a bit crazy in zara because zara is from spain and all that ;)
honestly though, i bought something from a zara in every different city it's fucking crazy but i love it because for stuff that i contemplated not buying, i'd buy it in the next city HAHAHA.
momma noticed this too when the credit card statement came but surprisingly didn't nag me because she'd anticipated me to shop MORE.
say whut.
anywayyyy, after contributing to spain's economy which is going to the shits, we met up with the rest and hopped on the bus for a quick driving tour of barcelona.
from memory, i remember seeing the gaudi's casa balto, olympic stadium, some bull fighting stadium, some tower...
memory obviously cannot make it :(
barcelona's take on the arc of triumph | random church?
we went to some hilltop (i dunno la so long ago liao -_-) and saw the entire city from up high and everyone had a sneaky sangria that hannah&nuno bought for us, as a token of gratification for being awesome when shit hit the fan ie the 20 hour on the bus episode.
juliana | B.
after taking photos & sculling sangria, we went to see gaudi's sagrada familia.
britt and i were babbling away with hannah and i asked her how long more do we have to walk because the streets smelled like pee wtf.
we were at a traffic light and hannah just smiled and nudged me to look up and that was when everyone followed suit, going:
"WOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW......"
prior to the trip, i knew how the sagrada familia looked like but i never thought it was so big and grand!
when hannah told us we'll be going to see gaudi's sagrada, she also mentioned that we would all definitely be in awe and that, we did.
it took us a good 5 minutes to take it all in because it truly is a breathtaking masterpiece.
antonio gaudi's sagrada familia.
gaudi passed away before he managed to complete his masterpiece and now, the government/builders/architects are continuing his efforts, just winging it and going by 'feel'.
the estimated time for completion is scheduled to be in 2026 to make 100 years since the death of gaudi.
a pity really. imagine what would it be like if he did finish what he started. wow.
gelato! :D
hannah saw me with my second gelato in a span of 4 hours: "....and we're not even in italy yet."
good lord the gelati is italy is out of this world.
i had 9 scoops in one day. shut up.
after a big day of sightseeing, we had another optional activity planned out, a traditional flamenco dance which we had to be more dressed up for.
the guys had the coach and us girls went up to a proper bathroom to change etc.
lisa | bec c. | britt | B | juliana | bridget | vaughan.
so the show was pretty boring... :\
so flamenco is a pretty intense kinda dance.
think very kancheong music and a lot of foot stomping/clapping.
anyway, britt, diluz, lisa and i were practically dying with boredom so we ditched like half the show and started partying at the bar instead.
ralph got us girls like 3 rounds of drinks :)
this is barcelona's version of vodka lemonade.
when hannah told us earlier "when you order a vodka lemonade in spain, you'll get vodka and lemonade." which totally made zero sense then because here i thought, is that not right? if i ordered a vodka lemonade, of course i'm getting vodka and lemonade, they can't give me gin and tonic or something entirely different.
welp! it all makes sense now wtf.
in that tall glass is vodka just by itself.
needless to say, the first couple of sips were KILLER since we couldn't pour too much lemonade into the already somewhat full glass.
it took me 4 glasses of vodka and lemonade plus 3 shots of tequila before i got tipsy :D
getting there...
after the show, we headed to dinner at port olympic.
sangria, paella...pretty yum :)
bridget & hollie | britt & i.
i wanted to head out to the clubs but nobody in my then circle wanted to so i didn't T___T
that all changed after i properly met dilz and lisa hallelujah! :P those ones don't need no organised night outs also will go out wan - MY TYPE!
so after dinner, we headed back to the hotel, packed/did laundry etc.
holy hell this entry took an hour and a half -__-"
so tireddddd!
next up: french riviera!
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