PackMulin' Our Way Through in 21 Hours
and the clock ticks...
The early city-goer beats the crowds. With a decision to stay in Malta, we cut our Spain experience short (again) We hope we will do Spain properly in the future. For today tho, we had 21 hours to do what we do best in a city.......and we gave it the full Pack Pule effort. We always enjoy a city but we certainly don't always feel the need to pull it apart, often a hit-and-run is fine for us.
Barcelona was our final launch pad before our 3 month stay in South Africa. It was our last bit of the comfortable EU zone before hitting a continent totally new to us. We were ready for the challenge.
Out of this experience, we discovered a PMA tip.
Hit the busy cities early, very early specifically on Sunday morning and you don't have to worry about people, lines, or being pickpocketed. We were nearly the only people on the streets until after 9 am.
YES, alone in the Barcelona underground. The subway all to ourselves. The only problem was no coffee at this hour.
No, a lot of the stores, tourist shops, and vendors are not open but you get a much different glimpse of a city when it is shut down and totally quiet.
Super crazy info. Barcelona is one of the most tourist-laden cities in all of Europe. Overtourism is negatively impacting the locals and taxing resources in the inner city. They are actively encouraging tourists to visit other Spanish cities instead.
OK-Lets get this out of the way. GAUDI. What is it? 9 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Barcelona (impressive number) and Gaudi is one of them. Honestly, we really didn't get it. It certainly is dramatic, in-your-face and out-of-place architecture, but why all the fuss? I am currently reading a book to understand this Catholic artist better to hopefully get it so I have more info to fully appreciate it.
I guess we didn't even cross the street to get a good photo.The city was waking up by this time.
La Sagrada Famila (phot below with our selfie) is taking longer to complete than the Egyptian pyramids, come on already!
We checked it off. Palm Tree lined avenues, cobblestone streets, superior parks, funky ass architecture, olive bread, tapas, gothic quarter, the beach and sunshine. It was our second stop in Barscolena and neither time have we taken the opportunity to make it wholeheartedly. Our first stop here in 2018 we didn't even get out of the airport because we couldn't find an affordable place to stay so we went to Portugal instead.
Spain, I am sorry we have not traveled you with sincere intent. We will put you on our back-to-list for sure.
Yup, we hit um.....over 10 miles on foot but not enough for a full description or blog dialogue. We will not even pretend to show you how to see Barscolena because quite honestly, I am not sure anyone really travels like we do? We really would not have it any other way tho, thank goodness we are not making a living off our travels.
*Beach *Gothic Quarter *Sagrada Familia *Tapas *Las Rambles*Ciutadella Park*Market Area*Subway/Busses*Gaudi Buildings*Windy Streets*
Comments