After a late night of photo organizing and editing, I took it easy and slept in. There was nowhere in particular to be at no certain time. It was nice. I headed to the Gothic Quarter on my own in the late afternoon, while Megan stayed to get some extra rest. As soon as I stepped out of the metro on that side of town, I was in awe. With the beautiful architecture and facades and narrow winding allies. I began to walk aimlessly, allowing myself to get lost in the maze. As I finished buying some postcards from an Indian man, he told me a few days in Barcelona was not enough. I would have to come back for a month, but could stay at his house instead of paying for a hotel. I turned around to leave and saw to two familiar faces. It was the couple I had sat next to on the flight to Barcelona, Kirsten and Jeff from San Diego! It was crazy that they had found me, although my hair and height does help me stand out a little I guess. I walked around with them for a bit chatting about our first impressions of the city.
My next plan of action was to meet up with Megan at Casa Batllo, a masterpiece of Antoni Gaudi, and a remodel of previously built house, redesigned by him in 1904. I didn’t know much about Gaudi or his style of architecture before heading to Spain, but as soon as I saw this house I was amazed. So unlike anything I had ever seen, it is only identifiable as Modernisme or Art Nouveau in the broadest sense. I won’t go into detail describing the building, but it was incredible! So many thought out details, from the functionality to the appearance of light and colour. After our audio tour, we headed back to the Gothic Quarter and from there, La Verde Umbria for pizza with Megan’s friends Malte and Theresa as well as a few others. There were at least 20 different topping combinations and the more options, the harder it is for me to decide! I didn’t go with the 10-cheese pizza (yes that was an option), but the one I did go for was delicious! It was a thin crust pizza with just the right amount of crispiness. After some good laughs and conversation we made a group decision to go for gelato just around the corner. Despite already being stuffed, it’s apparently some of the best in Barcelona so I couldn’t miss out. The coconut and passion fruit combination I got was worth every bite! We called it a night there and headed back to the hostel.
