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Brandon O'Brien

Travel and Adventure Journal

I wanted a place to journal all my travels and adventures around the world. I always enjoy going back and reflecting on my past travels and getting to relive them through my words and photos.

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A long walk in Barcelona

A long walk in Barcelona

Sunday, November 3, 2013 @ 8:02 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 130

The weather was calling for a chance of rain all day but when I got up it was nice and sunny out. I ate breakfast and then hung out at the hostel until lunch. After eating I headed out to go see some of Gaudi's buildings in Barcelona. There are two of them not too far away so I headed over there.

Being a Sunday afternoon the streets were pretty empty which was nice. Most of the shops were closed for the day aside from the streetside cafes where people were eating. I went up Passeig de Gracia and saw Casa Batilo and La Pedrera. I think I liked Casa Batilo better since it was more colorful and a little more wildly decorated.

After checking those buildings out I was debating going up to Park Guell which has a lot more of Gaudi's designs but I figured it would be a madhouse on Sunday. Instead I headed west toward Plaza Espana and the National Palace. It was a bit of a walk to get there but Barcelona is really good about having tree lined pedestrian friendly streets.

The plaza was packed full of people in costumes. At first I didn't know what was going on and figured it might be a late Halloween party or something but then I started seeing signs for a comicon style event. I was pretty shocked at how many people were actually waiting to get into the big convention center.

From there I walked south through some really nice gardens and fountains to a great view at the steps of the National Palace. The palace is pretty close to Montjuic where I was taking photos the other day and had a similar, although not as elevated, view. I took some photos then walked around a bit more with the intention of seeing the Telefonica tower.

It's a pretty crazy looking tower and I didn't realize I was so close to it the other day when I was up on Montjuic. It was only a short walk from the palace so I went over and took some photos. At first I thought you could go up to the top but after looking at it more I realized it's just a crazy looking tower without any kind of viewing deck up there.

The area with the tower is where the 1992 Summer Olympics were held and now it's a big open area where people were playing frisbee or lounging around enjoying the weather. The weather was starting to look a little shaky so I decided to head back into town.

I took some cross streets that brought me through some nice small streets filled with tapas bars and cafes and finally dumped out on the busy tourist street La Rambla. It was packed with tourists so I cut over into the Gothic quarter and cut around until making it back to the hostel. All said and done I walked around 9.5 miles today. I wasn't really expecting that long of a walk but it felt good to be out in the nice weather. Back at the hostel I read for a little while before getting overtaken with hunger.

I'm not sure if it's because my breakfasts and lunches aren't substantial enough or if it's all the walking I'm doing, but I've been getting really hungry at night so I eat dinner early, but then when it's time for bed I'm hungry again. I wanted to keep that from happening so I made a huge dinner with chicken, pasta, asparagus and bread. It turned out really good and I'm really digging the asparagus/pasta combination lately.

Teaser photos:

Casa Batilo in Barcelona
Casa Batilo in Barcelona
La Pedrera (Casa Mila)
La Pedrera (Casa Mila)
Telefonica Tower
Telefonica Tower
National Palace
National Palace

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Tags: daily journal, spain, barcelona

Posted from: Spain