A Little Slice of Spain

Let´s see.... the last time I posted, I was in Montpelier on my way here to Barcelona, no? Ok. I didn´t get to Barcelona on Thursday night until around ten that night, because the train ride was prolonged by three seperate passport checks; two in France, and one in Spain. That was irritating, and it was also the first time I have experienced a passport check while on a train in Europe. That´s something I forgot to mention; I only have two stamps in my passport because when you travel by train you don´t have to go through customs here. It definitely saves me time, but I was looking forward to having a passport full of stamps. Oh well. Anyway, I bought a three day subway pass and made it to my hostel a little before 11 Thursday night. The hostel here is pretty nice - along with including breakfast, as most do, they have free internet and a kitchen for general use (so I got to eat beef stew last night).

Once I was checked in and unpacked, I went out and around the area of my hostel, because I always like to know the area I´m staying in before I go out and about the next day. There´s a really nice little square right next to my hostel that is packed with little restaurants and bars and shops, and they´re all cheap. After I looked at that for awhile, I went toward La Rambla, which is a street in Barcelona that is one of the most poplulated and popular. My hostel is in a little alley between it and another street. On my way to the street I discovered that the alley is not the safest area of Barcelona. I THINK I almost got mugged. I passed this guy and saw him give me the ¨eye,¨ and so I immediately had my guard up. I heard a loud footstep a little to close to me just a few steps later, and so I looked back. I THINK that it was him behind me, but I didn´t geta good look. Once he saw that I was aware of him, he backed off, but kept following me. Fortunately, I entered a more crowded area of the alley where there were a few cops a minute or so later, and when I looked around then he was nowhere to be found. So that was good, but then when I got to La Rambla, which my guidebook lists as a sight that is worth checking out, there were prostitutes all over the place! So I finally just turned around and went to bed.

I decided that Friday was going to be my day off. I got up around 830, ate breakfast, and hung out for a bit before taking a shower and heading out. I put my bathing suit on under my pants instead of my boxers, and went straight to the beach. It´s been completely clear and sunny and beautiful both yesterday and today, with the temperatures around 60 degrees. When I´m in the city and in the shade, and it´s a little windy, the weather is perfect for me to have my jacket on. But out on the beach in the sun, it was just about right for me to lay in the sun in my bathing suit for a few hours. It was quite lovely. I didn´t go swimming, because something told me that the water was going to be rather cold, but there were a bunch of surfers out and they were fun to watch. After that I walked along the beach for awhile, then a little bit in the city, and then went back to my hostel and read for a bit. There´s this Greek guy in my room who is a writer/director back in Greece, and he had bought a fresh baguette and some kind of really good cheese so we chatted for awhile while he shared his food with me. After that, I was inexplicably exhuasted (maybe the sun?) and so I went to bed around 6 last night. Lame, I know, but it felt good.

Today I was up by nine, and out by 11ish. I went around and saw a bunch of the sights: there are a couple of really cool churches that I saw from the outside (I didn´t go inside because it has started to make me angry when churches charge an entrance fee; so I won´t be paying to go into a church except for St. Peter´s in Rome). I also walked around and enjoyed the architecture of the city, walking around for about 5 or 6 hours. Finally, I climbed a MOUNTAIN!! Well, it´s not a REAL mountain, only about 3 or 4 thousand feet (I´m guessing), but they call it a mountain here. Montjuis. I got to the top where there´s this pretty cool old castle, and watched the sunset from there. It was fantastic, and the views all around were breathtaking. I got some good pictures. After that I went back down to the city and called my rents (for the third time this trip) before coming here to blog. I think I´ll go read for a bit back at the hostel before going to bed.

Tomorrow I´m going to catch the 8:45 train to Montpelier, and then find a train from there to Florence. I´ll be in Florence by tomorrow night, and stay there until Wednesday morning. Wednesday I´ll head to Rome. I have about 90 € on me in cash, and thanks to really tight spending I have a little over 1000 dollars left on my credit card. So, in Rome I get to stay in a hotel! Ah, I can´t wait... my own room, with a comfortable bed, real pillows, and privacy; and I won´t be living out of a locker. In eight days from this moment I´ll be in London, about to board the plane to Chicago. I´m really looking forward to Italy (especially Rome) but I´m starting to get weary of my travels. I can´t wait to get home.

Ok, that´s it for now. I´ll probably blog again Tuesday or Wednesday night, from either Florence or Rome. See you then!

-Swag