27 October 07 - Barcelona Day 1

In the blink of an eye, almost 3 months have passed since I arrived in Grenoble and the mid-term break's here! This holiday is a week-long vacation commemorating All Saints Day (Toussaints) and so... Hola España!

We took a train to Geneva, from where we flew to Barcelona via Easyjet. Presenting my awesome travel partners: Letch, Jem and Andi!

To get to the city centre from the airport (a 30 minute drive away), we had to take a shuttle bus called the aerobus (costs 3.90€)

The hostel at which we were to be staying for 4 days was called Mambo Tango (what a hip sounding name haha) and I'd recommend it to anyone who's planning to head to Barcelona! The location, price, cleanliness and service was excellent. There's even free internet access and a cosy room to chill out in in the basement.

Since it was already rather late by the time we deposited our luggage in our room, we couldn't do much sight-seeing so just decided to head out to catch the musical fountain of Montjuïc, located near the Plaça d'Espanya.

It's been awhile since I last watched a performance of the musical fountain in Sentosa so I can't really draw a comparison between the two. All I can say is that I was riveted by the impeccably synchronised music to the changing display in the multitudes of colour.





And there we were, dancing to the music, taking photos of our silhouettes (above left: Jem; above right: Letch) against the colourful backdrop and just soaking in the lively atmosphere - there were hundreds of tourists and locals dispersed across the various vantage points.


It's also the place for romance.


left: The Spanish steps (nah they're not really called that haha). They lead to the Palau Nacional, which houses a museum of gothic and medieval art.
right: Plaça d'Espanya and the fountain of Montjuïc at night.

It was almost 10 pm when we finished with the fountain! Cold and hungry, we picked one of the first eating places that we found. They didn't have anymore of the spanish specialities so we got this:

quite pathetic but it served its purpose.


Jem and beer go hand-in-hand!

It's so refreshing to finally arrive at somewhere with a nightlife! In typical big-city fashion, people stay out and shops stay opened till late! Out of the cities I've visited so far, Barcelona is the one with the most vitality and life, even more so than Amsterdam!