In 2017, feeling low and needing perspective, I took a trip to Barcelona. I had an online friend who was kind enough to offer a place for me to stay, as well as show me around.
It was a great trip overall. I had originally meant to meet up with two friends--one in Spain and another in Poland. The Poland part of the trip didn't work out, unfortunately. But that didn't stop me from having a great time in Barcelona.
I brought my fixed gear bike with me. I chose this bike specifically because it has very little componentry and doesn't weigh much. This ended up being a great choice for such a well-designed city. Nearly the entire city is easily accessible by bicycle. I did have to buy a different pair of bars there, though. Navigating the tourists and crowds with wide messenger risers wasn't the best experience.
My friend took my all around and showed me so many of his favorite spots and gave me great stories about everything. He was a great tour guide.
During my visit, the annual Festa Major de Gràcia that takes place in the small streets and alleyways of the Gràcia neighborhood was happening. My friend knew people who were setting up, so we got a sneak peek into the festival.
After seeing the setup, I was excited to see the outcome of all the hardwork. The festival is worked on by the residents of the neighborhood as well as volunteers.
The days and nights really blur together when you're an American in Spain. I was used to waking up at 8 AM and going about my day, then winding down for the night and sleeping at around midnight. He would often wake up much later, or the same time and take a nap mid-day, and stay up past 3 AM. On a day where we planned to be awake together for the bulk of the day, he took me on a longer trip that required a train ride: Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya.
Hell of a museum.
The next day, he took me to my favorite museum to this day: Museu Marítim de Barcelona.
I unforunately didn't get a lot of photos at this museum--but that's not because I wasn't interested in the subject or exhibits, it's because I found all of it so fascinating. I want to go back every time I'm in Barcelona. After those two days full of walking around museums, it was time for some general loafing.
After a day just relaxing and riding around slowly, we went to the Gràcia Festival.
On our way back, we ran into trouble. We were on La Rambla and a terrorist attack happened. Of course at the time, we had no idea it was a terrorist attack. We just heard screams and saw the police brandishing their weapons. After some rubbernecking we were ordered to seek shelter. We had our bikes and rode and rode until a man standing outside of a church waved us in.
It was difficult to feel normal after this happened. We decided the next day it might be best to take a little road trip out of the city to help us feel better.
We went to Sitges for some tourist fun and spent that evening in another tourist spot.
On my last day there, we did some relaxing and he took me to a few more spots.
