Barcelona – Day 1

Arrived via Ryanair into Girona, which is a small place about an hour's north of Barcelona. Could see the mountains from the plane, and I was surprised to still see so much snow!

Once I got into the city, I scoped out the nearest Metro station and bought a 10-journey transit pass for 6 euros. A few major advantages to buying a transit pass:

- if you're anything like me, you're bound to take the wrong train at least once
- you don't want to keep digging out your wallet and searching for change
- keeps the wallet away from pickpockets and lessens the chance of leaving it somewhere.

I headed over to the Liceu station, which is right in the middle of the buzzing La Ramblas, a street full of hawkers, vendors, living sculptures, and scads and scads o' tourists... Kabul Hostel is conveniently located in Plaça Reial. Man, is that place a zoo! But hey, it was CHEAP. For 18 euros you get a dorm bed, a big locker, breakfast, and free internet! You can't beat that! I'd read that it was really noisy, but I was quite unprepared with how zooish it was. I threw my stuff upstairs, then went down the street to explore.

I found the Sant Josep Bouqueria, this fresh fruit and veg market. Had to buy a papaya, it reminded me of the open-air markets in the Philippines. From there I went north on La Ramblas to Plaça Catalunya to find the Tourist Office, which seemed pretty much like the epicentre where all traffic and transport and people converge. I bought a 2-day Barcelona Card for 20 euros, which gives me free public transport for two consecutive days and discounts ranging from 10-100% on museums, attractions, and restaurants/shops (including the internet place where I am now, which is practically free with the discount).

After the Plaça I headed over to the harbour, Port Vell, but I didn't last too long because I was freezing in the breeze. The thing about this harbour is it's enclosed, so you don't really see the ocean. In fact, I think you have to go much further south to find open beach. It's beautiful, though, and I took some evening shots before calling it a day.