Spain - Barcelona - Take One: Have You Seen The Fountain Show?!

I passed my remaining days in Rome at a fantastic camping village just an hour's commute outside the city center with some great girls (Ania from South Africa and Jayde from Queensland) in an air conditioned bungalow with a pool, hot tub and bar on site. Great way to relax and recharge after my whirlwind tour of Italy, excepting the one party night where I somehow stayed up chatting with other travelers in the parking lot until 6am after the toga party. That made for a rough next day.

Ah, but now I am in Spain... Ole! A lot of people Ive met have asked why I haven't got the UK, France or the Netherlands on my itinerary, but I just can't squeeze everything in. Also, the UK is SO expensive. Or so my reasoning went, since this was before I looked at hostel prices in Barcelona, which are a lot for crap dorms. The concern was moot in the end since I scored big time and my godmother's holiday in Spain coincided with my arrival in Barcelona, so I was thankfully able to crash with her and her friends at the fabulous Le Meridien 5 star hotel off Las Ramblas.

Now this is the first time around in Barcelona, since I'm due back there in four days (camped out in Girona for the next little while) to meet up with my friend Rob from Australia, and then again later in September to join Margaux, the most recent travel buddy to join on my world tour, before going to Germany. So in fact, there will be three passes through this city in all, hence my sidetrip to Girona this week.

Barcelona is great... a very young city, the word vibrant comes to mind. Marie, Marcus, Lenny and Bonnie were fantastic hosts. We went out for tapas and Clara my first night there to a great restaurant called Ciutat Condal on Las Ramblas. Clara is a bit like a beer lemonade but not sweet - so refreshing in the continuing European heat wave. And Las Ramblas makes for great people-watching with street performers ranging from flamenco dancers to Alien to Pharaohs to breakdancers.

It also makes for great pickpocketing though, so keep an eye on your stuff, folks! One ride on the metro ended very unhappily with one of our wallets being stolen right out of the purse being carried after a bump and run (not mine, thankfully). The creeps managed to charge over $1000 in the half hour it took us to get the hotel to call and cancel the credit card (thankfully not responsible for those charges either). Lesson learned... I already am a bit paranoid with my things but I'm even more vigilant now. They were BOLD.

We also wandered down Las Ramblas to the artisan tents and the Mirador, a very impressive statue of Colombus on the waterfront, and a bit into La Boqueria, the famous fresh market which I will definitely devote more time and fruit-eating appetite towards on my next pass through town, which will be shared with the Gaudi sites around the city.

The definite highlight however was the night music and light show at the fountains in Montjuic. I can't really describe how amazing it was - definitely one of those big moments of the trip - better than fireworks.



For anyone who ever comes to Barcelona, this is a must-see!