Day 9: Barcelona

Today is a travel day. Destination, Barcelona. Woot! Oh, Valencia you will always have a special place in my heart. Such an amazing city and blessed with the opportunity to bump into some of the most interesting of characters. Hostel staff have been such angels, allowing me to make international calls to my bank in Edinburgh. Managed to cancel all the stuff I needed to and now I have a new card en route for pick up in Rome. 

The train ride to Barcelona was scenic. It followed the coastline all the way up north so you pass by beautiful beaches, picture perfect ones with the blue skies and huge umbrellas stuck in the sand. Most of my time on the train is spent editing pictures while listening to a travel playlist I concocted. Yuna, a breakout Malaysia singer is constantly on replay. Am currently in love with her sound. 

Upon arrival, I took the metro to the hostel. Great place called Urbanny Hostel which has a gym, swimming pool and everything. The architecture of this hostel is something to look at as well. It has the general quirky trait of many buildings in Barcelona which resonates with the atmosphere of the city. This is one of those places where it is worthwhile reminding yourself to look up every now and then to take in the interesting designs. It is as if back then, the architects were just like 'Screw square buildings, too mainstream. Let's make it oval. Heck let's make a building in the shape of a dragon'. And built it they did. The dragon house is called Casa Batllo or 'The House of Bones'.

I honestly did not do much today. Hardly the type to squeeze as much as possible into one day. I am in fact on a holiday, not a race to tick off famous landmarks on my checklist. The rest of my day was spent strolling aimlessly around town and taking pictures. I visited their local supermarket. There is this huge ass Carefour a ten minute walk from the hostel. You'll find it amusing but I was so fascinated by it. There is a big section for cheese. There's also an entire isle for Jamón which is ham in Spanish. Finally there is a huge area dedicated to the glorious bacon. An entire section! There are different grades of bacon and various sizes. You can have them in strip or you can have them in bits. I was in bacon heaven. I'm definitely heading back to buy some local produce and cook it. 

I went swimming that evening, had a light dinner which consisted of cereal and went to bed early. Excited for the next day as I have this whole route planned out. Well, saying 'route' will be too much of an exaggeration. By route I meant circling stuff on the map that I want to see.