The third semester of studies was very exhausting and I needed an instant recovery after handing in all projects and passing the exam session. So my friend from uni and I made quite a spontaneous purchase, we bough plane tickets to Barcelona. It was in Feburary and we wanted to visit some place with much softer and warmer climate than freezing Warsaw. Barcelona it was.
It was my first time in Spain, it was totally new for me. The weather was a bit of a shock for us, as we departed from Warsaw with temperature below zero degrees and arrived to 16 degrees and up. It was a pure pleasure to run around in trainers instead of warm boots and a light raincoat instead of a warm and heavy one.






We stayed in a hostel located in the district of Eixample. The buildings were so beautiful there, rich in ornaments, apparently old but well preserved. We lived relatively near the centre, so instead of taking the underground we walked the streets of Eixample back and forth to the centre and back.










My friend has a friend who lives near Barcelona and studied there. We met him and he was our guide on our second day. He has taken us from Plaza Catalunya down to the harbour, through district Barri Gotic, to the Arc de Triomf. It was a quick "see everything in two hours" tour, but as we didn't have much time it was good. Then he has taken us up to a hill where we went to a restaurant to eat typical catalonian lunch (seafood, snails, patatas bravas... it was really good!) with a pint of Spanish beer. Then we climbed to the top of the hill from where we had an outsanding view of the entire city.

We finished our tour strolling the parc de la Ciutadela and its vicinity at dusk, we ate dinner and headed back to the hostel. Tired but totally satisfied.
















































The third day was a Gaudi tour. At first Parc Guell, then Sagrada Familia, then Casa Mila and Casa Batllo. The weather was marvellous when we visited Guell, warm enough to take off coats and sweaters and sunny. The park itself was amazing, i am full of admiration for Antoni Gaudi's imagination, really, it is impossible to confuse his creations, the mosaics, organic shapes that seem kind of childish. Surreal. Sagrada Familia was one of the most interesting churches I have visited. Extravagant interiors and exteriors. Unfortunately we did not enter Casa Mila or Casa Batllo, we just admired them from the outside.

Late in the evening we decided to go to the beach. Yeah, well, it was about 15 degrees but we still took our shoes off and splashed in the (very cold) water of the sea. I was an 8-year old again.


Barcelona was truly lovely, I want to return there, defnitely.