‘Cause we in Barcelonaaa
Barcelona has always been a dream of mine to visit since I was in the 6th grade when Cheetah Girls 2 (shot in Barcelona) premiered. Having only been there for what felt like a day (weekend) was well worth the trip!
In 2018, people were chatting in our Italian-based au pair WhatsApp group about potential trips and someone mentioned Barcelona. Without thinking about it, I hopped on and made sure to be apart of that travel group. Overtime, people had to cancel here and there. My now, friend, Heather and I scheduled for October, which was perfect. I knew I would be able to budget my money accordingly in Italy until the trip. As an au pair, you have to learn to *ballin’ hand gesture* ball on a budget, but we won’t get into that now.
—
Heather arrived in Barcelona a day before I did. When I was an au pair, I didn’t have the luxury of having Fridays off completely, however, I am thankful I was able to take a half day to travel. Heather was a gem, she sent me very detailed instructions on where to go once I arrived.
“I took the A1 airport bus to Plaça España. Then I hopped on the H12 bus, which was about a two minute walk. But if you want, you can take the A1 bus to the last stop, Plaça Catalunya, and it’s about a 20 minute walk. The A1 is €5.90 and the other bus is €2.20.”
This was so helpful! It wasn’t raining, the A1 pulled up just in time as I made it downstairs to the buses, so it was perfect timing and I was eager for the walk as well. The easiest and cheapest route it was! I took the A1 to the last stop, which happened to be the city center and walked to meet Heather at her hostel, Be Dream Hostel.
—
Tickets for the bus were purchased at the booth located at the stop or aboard the bus itself. Both cash and credit cards were accepted. The driver also confirmed the last stop, which made me feel good as everything was going according to plan.
Next, I needed to find WiFi like A$AP Rocky! My host family gave me a WiFi modem to have normally, however, it only had service in Italy. I found a McDonald’s nearby and headed in to absorb the wonderful A/C while I messaged Heather to begin my offline Google Maps toward her hostel. Once I arrived, I dropped my things off at her place because my hostel was located outside the city center, hence ballin’ on a budget. Listen it was cheap, okay. We spent the rest of the evening exploring the city center and figuring out the metro.
Sagrada Família
We began our touristy adventures on Saturday. Heather bought our tickets online beforehand from tickets.sagradafamilia.org, which cost €12 per ticket. I was very excited, like I could not believe I was in Spain about to enter one of the most iconic basilica’s in the world. Sadly, it was under restoration, so a bit of the aesthetic threw me off, but obviously I didn’t care once I entered.
—
It was amazin’! The architecture of this place is insane! Barcelona is a unique city because their architecture is odd, it’s uniquely round if that makes sense. Inspiration courtesy of Gaudí, I guess. I typically dislike colorful stain glass windows in churches, but these were so vibrant! I didn’t feel like I was in just any old washed up church, I was in the mf’n Sagrada Família!
Park Güell
After the Sagrada Família, we had lunch at a small restaurant across the street. Of course, I needed some sangria. When in Spain, well… YOU KNOW. Then we made our way towards Park Güell and the Gaudí House-Museum, or Casa Museu Gaudí. Park Güell is an actual park… I thought the landscape only consisted of the scenic view. It was nice because I learned my lesson of exploring the whole day and wearing the same clothes in Genoa. Ha!
So, I wore a bodysuit underneath my t-shirt.
The park was beautiful. Very picturesque. I had a fun time, of course. Then we went over to the scenic view where I had an epic and well deserved Cheetah Girls moment. An ode to Strut, the best song on the soundtrack! The view definitely looked how it appears in movies.
—
You need a ticket to visit the scenic view section. We bought them ahead of time for a total of €7.50. Only a certain amount of people are allowed in the area at a time. I’m not sure if it’s normally this way, but to be fair there was construction going on. Also, this happened…
I’m not sure who in the world these three women thought I was. It was weird and I was thrown completely off guard, but I’m glad to have filled their happy hearts as a celeb for the day!
Not to mention, I had an America’s Next Top Model moment. One of my favorite seasons actually where CariDee and Melrose “acted” their way to the title. It was exciting to watch as a kid and fun to relive in person, as an adult. We pretty much ended our Saturday here in Park Güell. Afterwards, we headed for dinner and walked around the city center.
Heather’s hostel hosted a night of all-you-can-drink sangria, which was fun. I said my goodbyes to Heather that night as she was leaving early on Sunday. I chose not to explore much on Sunday as I would have had to lug around all of my stuff with me because my flight left later in the day.
—
Someday I will go back because I hear the nightlife is something to live for, the beach is nice, and I’d like to go to an FC Barcelona game now that I have my top touristy things out of the way!
Related Posts
A Roman Thanksgiving
Happy Turkey Day! When I was an au pair, I had to spend Thanksgiving away…
November 26, 2020
Gallery: Mykonos
A round of shoutouts shall we? We shall! I made amazing and lifelong friends from…
October 31, 2020
Ruth Daley | 7th Dec 20
I love this!!! I felt like I was there!! The pictures were awesome!! And I wonder who those ladies thought you were for real… 😂😂