BarcelonaBarcelona

Published on October 2, 2019 ⋅ 4min read

The landscape stretches out before us like a rumpled blanket in all directions, the rugged hills turning to fingers of exposed rock as they reach for the sky. We stand atop one such rock, with a spectacular view over the Spanish countryside. Winding roads run in rivulets below, feeding the thriving city on the horizon like rivers flowing into the ocean. A light breeze keeps us cool, yet wary of the sheer drop on all sides, as we tread cautiously on the crumbling stone. Sweat pours from both of us, but the arduous climb was worth the view...

Our first night in Barcelona was horrendous. We arrived later than expected. Of course, we flew Ryanair, what more can I say? Fortunately, the hostel was a mere half an hour from the airport, so we managed to reach it before midnight. Unfortunately, apart from the ease of access to the airport, the hostel's location was less than ideal. It was right next to a fairly busy one way road, and I swear that traffic in Barcelona is louder than that in Berlin. Perhaps it's the type of stone, or the proximity of the buildings to the road, but boy was everything loud. It really didn't help that Katharina had a headache since we'd been on the plane... We were placed in a dorm room with the only windows facing the street. We were also dismayed to find that we couldn't turn on the aircon... And with 85% humidity and 27 degree temperatures, the room was so stuffy we could not sleep without the window open. But as we discovered, we couldn't sleep with the window open either! Throw in a late guest arrival (yes, even later than us!) and some loud, drunken people stumbling into the hostel in the wee hours... Needless to say, it was a fairly sleepless night.

The morning of the first day we spent trying to catch up on some sleep after going for a breakfast walk to the supermarket to get some fresh air. Later in the afternoon we took the metro to the downtown city and explored the city parks and beach. By early evening we were struggling a bit with our sleep deprivation, so we called it a day and desperately hoped for a better second night...

Well, it turned out the air conditioning wasn't broken. The remote was kept locked up in reception so they could better control when it was on. However, the active receptionist didn't have a key to access the drawer where it was locked, so we had to wait until 10pm for the next receptionist to start their shift... so much for an early night! By 11pm, we had the aircon going and could finally close the windows and shut out some of the noise. It wasn't completely silent, but it made enough of a difference that we were able to sleep for most of the remaining hours of the night.

Our second day we took the train to Montserrat, to visit the monastery on top of the mountain and hike to the summit. We awoke feeling (reasonably) refreshed and by 10:30am we were at the base of the mountain. It turned out to be a very popular tourist destination and we spent almost an hour queuing for the gondola up the mountainside. Thankfully, we were one of the first off the train, as the queue extended much further behind us within a few minutes of joining it! The monastery was swathed in cloud, and while we waited, we watched as it slowly dissipated. The gondola, built back in 1930, was 1.3km long and climbed about 650m in altitude. Once we were actually on it, we ascended rapidly; the journey only lasted about 5 minutes.

Tourists swarmed the monastery. Neither of us had much interest in going into the museum, nor particularly wanted to mingle with the crowd, so we decided to hike to the summit, Sant Jeroni, some 1236m high. The hike took us about 2 hours. Under the scorching sun, we were thoroughly dripping with sweat. For a brief stretch, we were walking through a forest, but most of the hike was on an exposed trail. At the summit, we stopped for lunch. We'd brought some bread and snacks with us and took shelter from the sun and the wind behind a rock, while still able to look out over the countryside. After reaching the summit, we did the only natural thing; we hiked back down! This time we took an alternative track which took us to the top of a funicular (cable car). We had thought to use that to return to the monastery, but when we found out it cost 9€/person one-way we decided to just walk for another 40min instead! My first hike of my trip was a success. We hiked for a decent 4 hours, with some substantial elevation gain, which will be good preparation for the bigger hikes to come!

Our final day we once again spent the morning relaxing, resting our weary legs from the day before. But of course, no day of travelling is complete without some walking, so we took a bus to the base of Montjuïc and walked up to visit the Castell. The castle afforded us some great views out over the sprawling city and the harbour. We sat atop the castle walls and let time pass us by as we looked out over the sea, the sun setting behind the hills, casting brilliant golden light over the bustling city. With the castle soon closing, we walked back down the hill, towards the city and the Gothic Quarter. We grabbed a quick meal to fill our grumbling stomachs and casually strolled through the winding alleys of the old city. Golden lantern lights cast long shadows in the narrow alleys as we meandered towards the citadel. We chanced upon a street musician playing the harp nearby and lingered for some time, enjoying the music in the warmth of the evening.

We sat outside the citadel for some time, content once again to watch the world pass by. For all the exciting moments while travelling, some of the most enjoyable are those peaceful ones where you just sit down, relax, and don't move.

Today we returned to the airport early in the morning. I said goodbye to Katharina, as she went through security to return to Berlin, while I had to go to a different terminal to check in. We won't see each other again until early December, in New Zealand; our next adventure together.

For now, I fly to Santiago, where I'll meet my Dad and begin the South American phase of my trip... Time to try learn some Spanish!