Barthelonaaa!

Barcelona was calling us, and was received with a big smile as we finally felt sun on our backs and had a bed to call our own. I had mish and the gang for two days before they all split and went off their separate ways, so we made the most of it! We headed straight for the famous food markets, and they did not disappoint. Carts were piles high with fresh fruit and vegetables, lollies, chocolates, nuts, meat, fish, and of course cured meats and cheeses Spain is famous for. I couldn't walk past the fresh produce without purchasing every vegetable I could see and a fresh strawberry and banana juice, delicious! We ended up buying some steak to go with the pile of veggies and salad and had a healthy feast, my tummy was very happy with me after days of sangria and crappy stoke food. After a good feed and a makeover we headed to the rooftop to start drinking before hitting the allegedly incredible Barcelona nightlife. The vibe was good and we joined in on drinking games before heading to the 2 euro shot bar. 300 different shots and every one was only 2 euro. I picked 3- the Harry Potter, the Willy Wonka and a marshmallow. Harry potter looked bad but tasted great, willy Wonka looked fab with a swirl of whipped cream and a chocolate flake but tasted foul and the marshmallow was definitely number one. The bar was lit on fire, you roasted your marshmallow over the flaming bar, did your shot and had a gooey toasted marshmallow as a chaser. Perfect! 3 was enough to kick off the night and it was absolutely packed in the bar so we left for fresh air and headed off down Las Ramblas looking for our next stop. The street is filled with promoters heckling you, trying to entice you into their establishment, but one deal actually took our fancy. Free entry and a free drink. If it sucked, we got a free drink and could leave, if it was good, even better! We crossed the road and went in and the gamble paid off, the music was amazing and once again my inner Beyonce was out to play, probably the best dancing I had ever done, if I do say so myself. Unfortunately the boys wanted to go somewhere else, so my vibe was killed and I sadly left. The next club again was free entry which cushioned the blow slightly, but it was nowhere as fun as the first place. Still, everyone was reluctant to change places again so we stayed here until 3. I was bored and sober and soon realised I was one of three white people in the room (there were three of us) and the music has progressively changed into heavy gangster rap, this was definitely our cue to leave. We decided to check out the top store before leaving for good and were pleasantly surprised, old school classics were pumping, so we danced the night away until 5.30 when I was exhausted!

No one was feeling too energetic after our late night so we decided to have a beach day and soak up some rays while napping. Tanning and catching up on sleep, I'm great at multitasking. Mish had been raving about this tapas restaurant for days and according to the others, an entire month, so we decided to head there for a farewell dinner before we all parted ways the following morning. The restaurant did live up to expectations. I enjoyed a mini paella, patatas Bravas and a serve of succulent grilled vegetables, the only complaint possible was the price tag. I paid 27 euro and I didn't even have a drink.  We were all feeling a bit sorry for our wallets and ourselves but we still decided to go and check out a local festival the receptionist at our hostel told us about. We arrived to a little kids fair and laughed it off, she clearly underestimated our age and interests by about 10 years but it was cute nevertheless. We wandered through the strip of rides and candy stalls until we saw a big crowd of people under the bridge ahead of us. We headed down to check it out and this was quite clearly what she was referring to, looks like we had underestimated her. It turned out to be amazing, it seemed as though we were the only tourists there. There were plastic dragons which were filled with fireworks and when lit, spun around shooting out fireworks and sparks in every direction. In Australia OH&S would definitely have killed this but in Spain getting a few minor burns is all part of the fun. We followed the numerous dragons as they paraded through the streets, stopping for a pyrotechnic display at every intersection until they reached the final destination, a square packed with locals. It soon became clear the dragons and their 'teams' of lighters, dancers, and musicians now competed and the show was truly spectacular. It wasn't the fireworks themselves but the close proximity in which you could watch them unfold, I was hit by a few sparks but was distracted from the pain by witnessing about 40 people, some of them young children run into the middle of the fray covered head to toe but merely in everyday clothes, I was shocked but they emerged grinning and only smelling slightly of burnt hair. After the fire show, there was other nothing else in the festival that could even attempt to impress us so we headed home.

Once again I was alone, everyone had left, Mish was heading back home to Aus, em was off to Italy to meet up with Zo and after a visit to the famous Sagrada familia with me in the morning, Luke to had set off for Greece. I went on a walking tour to be a standard tourist and by the time I'd returned I had discovered some new friends from home, alessia and emma, only two floors below me in my hostel. After a chat and a catch up we soon realised we were on exactly the same page with travelling. We wanted home cooked meals, a LOT of good, but cheap food, chocolate was a necessity, not a luxury and with the ground rules set our next 4 days together were fantastic. We went to food market every day and marvelled at the wide selection of foods whilst drinking an incredible freshly squeezed juice, we hired bikes and rode along the beach front, we checked out parc guell and the magic fountain, we partied- a lot, and of course we drank- even more. We were the perfect travel companions and before long we had planned for the girls to join Chloe and I in San Sebastián for a few days