Traveling on Spanish land

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So much time has passed now that I doubt that this testimony is completely reliable. Well, it is certain that they spent less than two months but already we know that time is relative on Erasmus. It cost me 66 euros with Ryanair to go and come back from Girona. More than 25 euros (return) by bus that takes you from the airport to the centre and vice versa. I always present the numbers first because, I don't know about you but for me it hurts me to read something about a city or a place that I would love and believe that I could do it but then I take into account that my budget makes it impossible; I am not saying that I don't enjoy reading about trips to India or Egypt but I do it whilst I am being conscious of reality.

How I avoided writing this post. Not because I didn't have anything to say, that many anecdotes can be gathered in a week, but because they are so many things that I saw it as an uphill task.

Although I went to meet my Venezuelan friends there it was the first trip (of Erasmus) that I had done alone and I experienced that new feeling of loneliness that can only be transmitted by airports, a feeling that I had not felt from that distant date over there in September, when I travelled to Krakow for the first time. I waited at the boarding gate, sat next to people I didn't know on the plane and then arrived at the airport and saw the couples and families that were reunited, which gave me a feeling that was, at least, strange.

The important thing is that I arrived without any problems - well, only one: the silly thing is that I had never travelled with Ryanair and when they offered paninis and I ordered a ham and cheese one at first without knowing that I would have to pay 30zl (a shirt in H&M) but it doesn't matter. We all make mistakes! I arrived and it rained. It rained when I arrived and all I wanted was to be in Krakow with my friends. I asked where I could buy the ticket to go to Barcelona and I quickly felt the relief of being able to ask things in Spanish, I smiled and said thank you without worrying about the pronunciation. I realized in an instinctive way that thanks to the language I had half way travelled with the security guards, in the bakeries, in the buses... yes, even the Ryanair stewardess said I have a pretty name! On arrival in Barcelona I took a walk to the park, where I had to find Vidal. The park was beautiful and had a load of things to do, but it rained and the ground was made of sand and I had to carry my suitcase by hand to the meeting point. I arrived drenched but marvelled by the beautiful park and Vidal who, of course, was not there. The Zoo that is within the park looked like a very happy field trip for families and even though I don't remember the prices exactly, I can remember that they were quite, quite expensive. Then my friend arrived and we walked towards the Arco del Triunfo and I remember that the thing that I liked the most at that moment was the large promenade that followed, with columns and different things in the ground. I remember that it made me feel free, with a million possibilities in front of me. We continued until Plaza España: I don't understand the hype about this square, if it were not for its good location, it would be just like any other square.

We bought our ticket for the public transport for 10 uses for 10 euros (the first wound) and we headed to Badalona, where we found an Airbnb for 45 euros for 5 days, which is very cheap but also quite far. It was not very comfortable but we only went there to sleep. That night, we went back to Barcelona to meet up with a friend from Venezuela that was living there and knew Barcelona like the palm of her hand. She took us to a place where the Kebabs were delicious and I got to know the streets of the Gothic quarter, which I was in love with for the whole of this trip. We went to the first Venezuelan place of the trip with her, a bar called Kakao, whose owners studied in elemenrary school with my friend, which I did not know before we went. We drank Solera (vintage wine), we listened to Chino and Nacho and they had fairly strong Venezuelan accents - what do I need the "“epa, pana”, “esta vaina está arrechísima”, “verga, brutal”... they are not things that we would usually say but I liked hearing them. We returned home at 2am and waited for Dora and Melany to arrive at the house, which we found was quite complicated due to the time and the metro being closed and a load of inconveniences.

I am not going to talk about my day to day Barcelona trip in case I have to talk about a couple of things that, although they are not interesting for you, I need to write them down. Like that day I went in the metro station that I had searched for for so long in the book - I, Lucrecia Borgia - and that I did not buy because I thought that we would pass by that station lots of times. I have never been back to see it. Or like the other Venezuelan food place that we went to, where I drank a malta (dark beer) and I ate a meat empanada and some baked tequeños (breaded cheese stick or a spear of bread dough with queso blanco in the middle), after so much time longing for the Venezuelan cuisine. Or being with my Venezuelan friends after so much time and laughing together about our misfortunes and sharing private jokes from a million years ago, and getting used to taking care with what I say again because these people understand Spanish and they know more about the Venezuelan situation than my dear Poles.

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Then the attack of nostalgia, I going to see what can interest them. We went out nearly every day; the discos on Barceloneta are something that you have to experience. Although I did not like it too much, the party atmosphere on the beach and not only that, but that feeling of being in the capital of the world, in such a young and vibrant capital, that makes you want to run away, it's a feeling that I've rarely experienced before. We went to your typical tourist places: I loved Park Guell and it is definitely worth paying the entrance fee - although after a certain time the entrance is free, in winter at 6pm and in Spring a little later, at 7:30pm. However, Montjuic seemed to me like a place that it is worth dedicating a whole day to. I didn't do that, of course. If it were not because I was far enough away, I would have gone there to spend the last day, when I was alone. It is huge and it has lots of beautiful corners in which you should spend some time or simply see all of the large path. I didn't go in La Sagrada Familia, but I went to mass in the chapel, Gracias Dora, and I think that it is enough of an experience that you don't need to go inside the building. I would have liked to have gone inside the Cathedral but I arrived late for the free entry time. So I went inside the Nuestra Señora del Mar church and another one there whos name I can't remember and I loved them. They were nothing alike and each one had a strong personality that made me feel like I had gone back in time. My favourite day was when we skipped the congress and the four of us went for a walk in the Barceloneta and played for the first time the Mediterranean sea, it wasn't very sunny but I was in good company and the joy of tourists is contagious. That is another thing that fascinates me about Barcelona, tourists don't have that annoying presence there that identifies us; Barcelona gives the feeling that the city belongs to tourists, so they bring life, embellish it. It must be because the Catalans know that a lot of wealth comes from us but I do not want to enter those seas.

Going back on track, I was alone on the last day and thank god to our friend from Venezuela who is living in Barcelona and last minute agreed that I would spend that time with her and not in a hostel. Her and her husband went to work early and I, at around 9, went to a cafeteria that was nearby and I ate a very big sandwich and a delicious coffee. That gave me energy to walk around nearly all of the Gothic neighbourhood, with its small alleyways and arches and windows and sculptures, until I found a type of Jewish ghetto. Then, I went through Raval, which was supposedly very dangerous - the Venezuelans know about the danger - and it amazed me with beautiful patios. I liked the Gothic area a lot more, with all of its churches and the type of castle where they are guarding the archives of the Crown. However, the thing that I liked the most was being able to walk through them alone, thinking, taking all the time that I needed. Eventually I arrived - miraculously as I wasn't sure where I was - at the small pasta restaurant that our friend has taken us to on the first day. Delicious pasta with pudding and a drink for 6 euros.

And so many other things... the little bars of the Gothic quarter, including the Venezuelan ones and the one with Barbies in the kamasutra positions. One week to do so much and it is impossible to tell you about it all but this was more or less it.