Downtown Paraiso Hostel Barcelona

It was with mixed feelings that we arrived in Barcelona, Spain on a mid-November Saturday, the 14th and last day of this once-in-a-lifetime cruise. We were sad to be saying farewell to new friends and to crew members who had made our voyage so memorable and so wonderful. It was the conclusion of our second cruise with Oceania, and now that we were members of their official "club," it almost felt like we were saying goodbye (for now) to family. Indeed, some of the crew members were ...

... after so I walked around the city solita. It just so happened to be the equivalent of St. Patrick's day, and the streets were PACKED with people. There was also a big futbol match that day and there were hundreds of drunken English men shouting their heads off and singing throughout the town (I will post the video I took at some point in the next few weeks). I happened upon 2 separate concerts which I enjoyed with the locals before heading to Milk to hang ...

... I loved just walking around Barca & looking up at all the buildings, you can always tell tourists this way as all the locals look at the floor when walking around! If you go you MUST visit Park Guell as it's a complete one off! Ceramic benches, goergeous gardens, Gaudi's very own house & to top all this absolutely stunning views of the whole City, it's very much Hansel & Grettle, fairy tale type place! See the ...

... because you have to think ahead and make sure things are taken care of beforehand because God forbid if you need to buy something from the market around 4 because WHOOPS they are all closed for siesta. Siesta is pretty much a long late lunch break that Spaniards take to break up their work day. Typical schedules run from 9 in the morning until 2 or 3 in the afternoon. They then have siesta for about two hours where they close up and do whatever ...

... La Pedrera apartments with the crazy chimneys and odd-ball facade. I loved every minute of it. His stuff is just so cool that it is hard to put into words but I thought it was the coolest architecture we had seen so far. Considering what we have seen in the last month, that says a lot. After La Pedrera, it was on to his most famous building La Sagrada Familia. The famous half-built church that looks like it is melting into the ground. Again, absolutely ...

... definitely the most unique-looking building I have ever seen, if not beautiful in its own way. It reminded me of something like an elaborate 'melting' sandcastle, if you can imagine something like that! For the rest of the afternoon we sat in a lovely park near the Sagrada and drank some more Sangria, watching the world go by. We figured it would be a good idea to relax today as we were off tomorrow, in the early morning hours, to the party destination of Ibiza.