A 4-hour flight to Frankfurt, a 50 minute layover and another one and half hour flight and I landed in Barcelona. An hour later I found my hostel, tucked away in a remote corner of Plaza Real off Las Ramblas. I checked in, threw my pack in the locker and ventured back out for the first thing I do in a new city: aimless wandering.
I did a lot of walking around. At least it was a lot for the first day of my vacation. My legs decided it was enough for the day and I went back to the hostel. I was tired and sleepy. I decided to shower, eat and hit the sack.

I got out of the shower to see a number of towel-wrapped young women drying their hair in front of the sink mirror. Remember how I said I was tired and hungry? I have mistakenly went into the ladies room. There was a tense moment as they all stopped whatever they were doing and glared at me. I smiled dumbly and waited for a reaction. They simaltaneously burst into a crazy fit of laughter. I ran out mumbling apologies and red-faced. At least they had a sense of humor.

The next day I teamed up with a group of guidebook-toting backpackers to go and check out the sights around Barcelona. One girl had a guidebook the size of an encyclopedia volume, heavy as a brick. I thought it might also come in handy for clubbing tourist hasslers. She had to stop every ten meter to “check our bearings” in the guidebook map.

I went to see Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia, which is a pretty amazing piece of architecture. The thing is monolithic and the pictures don’t do it justice. They started on it in the 1880s, and it is yet to be finished. There was heavy construction and renovation work going on. Just look at the number of cranes in the picture below. Its a UNESCO World Heritage site.

More of Gaudi’s stuff…

Near the harbour area in Barcelona..

Another day in Barcelona, more walking around and met up with a friend. It was time to head to Nice.