Barcelona: a long-awaited vacation to Spain

Barcelona: a long-awaited vacation to Spain

I've long wanted to arrange a trip to Spain not based on the principle of "I flew to one city, saw the main sights and flew back", but rather a short trip around the country to feel the difference between the cities. In the end, I chose a routeBarcelona – Valencia – Madrid, and now, remembering this trip, I think it was a very good option: first the sea, architecture and a bit of chaos, then a calm Valencia with orange trees, and finally a big, noisy and completely immodest Madrid. However, I expected that in a few days I would become a person who knows how to travel with light hand luggage, but in the end I dragged a suitcase through the Spanish streets with the expression of a person who personally quarreled with luggage.

Barcelona – the beginning of the journey

I arrived in Barcelona with the feeling that I had already seen the city a thousand times in photographs, so it would be difficult to surprise me. Of course, Spain decided to quickly explain to me how wrong I was. It was worth going outside, walking a few blocks and seeing the first unusual facades, balconies, palm trees and cafes, as it became clear that the photos did not convey this feeling of the city at all, which at the same time seems very familiar and completely new.

I decided to spend the first day just walking, because after the road I didn't want to run a marathon around the sights. 

I walked around the Gothic Quarter, looked into small shops, sat in a cafe with coffee and a croissant, and periodically opened the map on my phone to figure out where I was at all. At some point, I realized that for twenty minutes I had been going completely the wrong way, but I decided not to get upset, because it is these random walks that often become the most pleasant memories.

Expectation and reality

Catholic Church of Sagrada Familia

Without the Redemptive Sagrada Familia (Sagrada Familia) my trip to Barcelona was not complete. I saw hundreds of photos, so I expected about the same impression that arises when viewing a beautiful postcard, but in reality the scale of the building turned out to be completely different. You stand next to it, look up and realize that Gaudi clearly did not adhere to the principle of "the main thing is not to complicate things," because there are so many details, lines and unusual shapes that the eyes literally do not know what to cling to first.

I also left Park Guell on the itinerary, although before the trip I thought that maybe once would be enough. On the spot, it quickly became clear that Barcelona was not very interested in my plans to save energy at all, because after the next climb I was already talking to myself exclusively mentally and dreaming of cool water. But then, when I stopped and looked at the city from above, all my indignation disappeared, and I decided again that Spain was beautiful, and my legs would somehow survive this vacation.

When things don't go according to plan

The most interesting thing about traveling does not begin when everything goes according to a pre-arranged schedule, but when life slightly interferes with the route. For example, one day I got so carried away with a walk that I returned to the hotel in the evening and found that the phone was almost empty, and I safely left the charger in the room in another bag. It seems like a small thing, but when you are in an unfamiliar city and you are used to constantly checking maps, schedules and tickets, suddenly the remaining ten percent of the battery begins to be perceived as a national treasure.

In the evening, I just decided to put my phone away and go for a walk without it, because Barcelona will not disappear from this. I went outside again, found a small cafe, ordered dinner, and for the first time that day I stopped thinking about how many kilometers I had already walked. It was probably then that I finally realized that traveling is not a competition in terms of the number of attractions, but an opportunity to at least sometimes take my time.