Spring Break Part #2 - Spain

Fun Fact: the bathrooms in Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport actually close after a certain time. Josh and I spent an uncomfortable night in the airport, in preparation for our early flight. Finally, after hours of restless napping in various locations (dictated by floor cleaning machines, construction, and gate openings), we made it on the plane to Madrid.

My visit to Madrid is all a blur to me now. I remember arriving and thinking that the city was beautiful. We went to some art museum that had lots of fabulous Picasso, spent far too long lingering at a record shop, and sat down to a leisurely dinner of paella. About two hours later, my dinner was revisited, beginning my 36 hour stint of food poisoning. I know that in my semi-conscious state, the only thing I found pleasant was the music and tap dancing on the street that I could hear drifting through my window.That was the end of Madrid.

When I was finally able to get out of bed, we hopped a bus to Barcelona. Eight and a half cramped hours later, we actually arrived in Barcelona. I hadn’t eaten in two days, so our first priority was food. We settled on a little tapas restaurant where we had, what Josh proclaimed was the best meal he’d had yet in Europe. Then, we headed back up to the hostel and met up with my friend Justin and a friend he came with. We spent the night in the packed hostel bar, watching the Barcelona vs. Madrid soccer match. I was whole heartedly rooting for Barcelona, based on their food, but sadly, they lost.

The next day, all of us got up early and went to Gaudi’s famous church, La Sagrada Familia. It was absolutely amazing.

Not being able to get enough Gaudi, we made our next stop Park Guell. It offered a spectacular view of the city and a glorious fusion of architecture and nature. While we were there, we also visited Gaudi’s house museum. 

Next, we walked around Las Ramblas, just taking in all of the sight – vendors, street performers, tacky tourists, etc. 

At this point, it was time for Josh to go back to France, but I stayed behind with Justin. Most of the city was closed that evening, because it was holy week, but we found a café to hang out in until it was time to call it a night.

On my last day in Spain, we made a quick stop at the Museu de la Xocolata. It was filled with loads of impressive chocolate sculptures depicting everything from cartoon characters to famous works of art. Unfortunately, I had to rush my way through, so I could catch a taxi to my hostel, to catch a bus to the airport, to catch my plane back to Dublin, to take a bus to Limerick, to take another bus to campus.

It’s good to be home.

For more photos of Spain, click this link: Spring Break Part #2 - Spain