Our group traveling to Barcelona met up at 6 am in Tymitz Square (on the 5th deck) to leave the ship and catch a cab to the airport in Jerez, which is about 45 minutes away. We pulled ourselves together at this early hour and made it to the airport with time to spare. We got some lovely airport food for breakfast and sat in the food court which had no air conditioning. I felt fine but Thomas was struggling and had to fan himself. He was also signing while fanning himself with his boarding pass so he reminded me of a big Baptist lady in church in the deep south. We finally got to check in and go through security about 40 minutes before our flight. Its really strange that you cant just check in when you get there, there is a certain time to begin checking in and a different time to go through security. Maybe because Jerez is such a small airport? The flight was fine, I tried to sleep most of the way.
Upon our arrival to Barcelona we made our way to the train station to attempt to navigate the public transportation system. We managed to follow some SAS kids who knew more Spanish than us so we made it on the train safely. It took a while but we finally made our transfers successfully and got off in the middle of the city in Plaza Catalunya. We walked down the famous street Las Ramblas, which is where our hostel is. There is a middle section with the street on either side where vendors, performers, and tons of shoppers and tourists crowd in together with the outdoor dining of the tapas bars that are so popular here. We took our time looking at everything on the street as we searched for Kabul Hostel in Plaza Real. We finally found it and checked in to our 10 person dorm room. There are 5 bunk beds in the room and each person gets a locker. All the doors and lockers are opened with a special magnetic key fob that we each got when we checked in. It even opens the front door to the hostel, much like a swipe card at usual hotels.
After checking in a seeing all the amenities of the hostel we went out in search of our 2 pm lunch. Some of us headed to Casa Joan Restaurant. I shared chicken paella with Sarah C. who is from outside Dallas. It was great for my first or many authentic Spanish meals. After our leisurely lunch we walked through the open market and saw fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, seafood, nuts, candies, and traditional meals. I saw so many items that I had never even seen or heard of before. Everything looked so good and it was hard not to buy some of everything. We did some shopping at the boutiques in the area and went to H&M even though they have that in every major city in the U.S. On the way back to the hostel, Harry, Katie and I ran into some SAS kids who invited us to the apartment they were renting down the street. We got some ice cream (which was amazing mint chocolate chip) and went to check out their place. The people across the way from them are growing weed that you can see from the window. Other than the possibility of drug dealing neighbors it seemed like a nice place! We chatted with them for a little then headed back to the hostel to get ready for dinner. We went to a place called Amatxu where I shared chicken paella with Tara. It was the same meal as my lunch but I really like paella and I like comparing the different flavors at different restaurants.
After dinner we had some drinks at happy hour at the hostel. We met some kids from Arkansas, Martin and Miles, who are just backpacking around Europe for the summer and played some card games with them. Marty is in the Air Force Reserve and just returned from a tour in Qitar. (sp?) The game was really entertaining and we were laughing louder than any other group in the room. That was about the time someone changed the tv channel so we could watch the news about Michael Jackson’s death. We didn’t believe it at first and a couple people were really upset. It seems so crazy because as strange as he is, he is such an icon and universally recognized. Also kind of strange is that Farrah Faucet died either the same day or the night before and she too was especially famous.
After we all paid tribute to the King of Pop we headed to the club called Razzmatazz. Its three stories tall with 10 different themed rooms. The hostel had worked out a deal that it would be free for the people staying there that night. We headed out about 1:45 am in cabs and found what was the sketchiest place I have seen so far. It was down a dark alley and there was only one bartender for about 150 hostel kids. We stayed for about 20 minutes and then caught a cab back to the hostel and went to sleep. It was neat to say I’ve been there but I don’t know if I would go back. On a regular night the cover charge is 25 euros which is more than my bed at the hostel with breakfast and dinner included! It was definitely an interesting experience but kind of a failure at the same time.
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The U.S. soccer team beat the Spanish soccer team 2-0 Wednesday night!
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I didn’t know you needed to bring a towel to a hostel so I had to shake dry after my shower. Good thing to know before the next one in Rome!
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