To commemorate my final examination during my semester in Scotland at the University of Glasgow, I treated myself to 8 nights in Spain (Barcelona and Madrid, to be precise). I went on my own, which I was a little bit nervous about — I worried about security, understanding the language and also being lonely. Those happened to be realistic issues, although it all turned out great, and it helped me feel considerably more secure about traveling by myself in the coming years.

Barcelona

I went on Ryanair (a low discount airline) from Glasgow's Prestwick Airport to Barcelona — however in traditional Ryanair fashion we ended up in a secondary airport over an hour's coach ride from the city. I stayed at the Gothic Point hostel, which I finally found after heading the wrong way through Barcelona's Gothic neighborhood and finding the cathedral — a nice surprise. It was beautiful, dark and complex, and regrettably enclosed with scaffolding. Ah, well. After walking through the nave I travelled back outside and eventually came across the hostel, which provided free Internet! I was quite happy (though understandably there was a bit of wait to use the computers). I used this time to research Barcelona travel information.

I started my first entire day of seeing the sights at Park Guell, designed by Barcelona's famous architect Antoni Gaudi. I took the metro to what appeared to be the closest station, but it was still quite a long, walk to get there. My next station was Passeig de Gracia, where there were several more well known Gaudi gems. Casa Batllo was too cool for me to adequately describe (and also too costly for me to enter!). Just down the road was La Pedrera, an apartment building with many curves, wavy lines, light colors, oddly shaped windows, etc. After that I continued along the Gaudi trail to la Sagrada Familia, an mammoth church whose development has been in progress since about 1883 — and it's only a bit over halfway done. Incredible. I initially felt a bit ripped off when I needed to pay 8 euros to get in and then an extra two euros just to go up one of its towers, but then I figured it was helping to maintain the construction. Maybe I'll go back to Barcelona in 30 years or so and see it when it's complete!

After that I headed to Placa Catalunya, where I strolled down La Rambla, Barcelona's most historic street. Lined with trees and shops and street performers of all kinds, it was fun and busy. La Rambla continues down to the statue of Christopher Columbus and the Port Vell, where I sat and relaxed for a bit. Then I went back through Barri Gotic toward my hostel, stopping in a few pretty plazas — particularly Placa Reial, with palm trees and beautiful historic buildings. I also entered into the cathedral. Barri Gotic is a groovy area to get lost, with narrow streets, flowered balconies, wrought-iron railings and traditional street lamps.

The next day I decided to visit Montjuic, where the Olympic Village from the 1992 summer games is located, along with some countryside, a quite average castle/fortress, and Poble Espanyol, a model Spanish town that had some really pretty buildings and lots of artisan crafts.

I made a quick stop at my room to get an umbrella, even though by that point it was sunny again, of course. Then I went on to the Picasso Museum, which wasn't as interesting as I'd wanted. A lot of the things there were very early work. The same can´t be said for the Erotic Museum, which I visited next! Highlights included a six- or seven-foot wooden phallus, some truly mind boggling S&M photos, erotic cards, etc. It was pretty awesome. I left the museum and walked along the port on my way to Parc de Ciutadella, with its giant fountain in the centre. I snapped a quick photo of Barcelona's version of the Arc de Triomphe before heading back to the hostel to research information about Barcelona airport transportation.

The following morning was taken up with my journey to Madrid on Spanair (which in the end was quicker and not much much dearer than travelling by train). It was one of the least tranquil journeys I've ever been on; there was a group of rowdy males somewhere behind me who applauded after the plane landed.