So Friday morning I flew with Vueling at daft o'clock from ALC-BCN. I'd heard horror stories about Vueling and they were canny accurate. Mainly that Spaniards don't know how to queue properly. I hate to stereotype but VENGA CHICOS. I slept through the flight itself, waking up to my very first landing with musical accompaniment. It was so odd. This Spanish singer just kept repeating "it don't matter what I do" and all I could think was, "it bloody does pal, please stop singing". Getting off the plane was fine and then I realised how big Barcelona airport is. I think it's probably one of the biggest I've ever been in. Georgia and I had arranged to meet at the stop for the Aerobus so after a few communication difficulties, we were reunited!
Oh it is ridiculous how much I'd missed that lassy. The last time we'd seen each other was when she visited Alicante back in October and it was just so nice to see a UEA LCS pal. And future housemate!! So excited for The Fortress. I digress.
We got on the Aerobus for 5,90€ which dropped us basically in the centre of Barça, in the Plaça de Espanya. We then caught the metro (first in the wrong direction) to Universitat, to check into our hostel. We stayed in a TOC, which Georgia has reviewed on her blog so go read that. For never having stayed in a hostel before, this was amazing and totally not what I was expecting. It was so friendly, welcoming, and modern! The bedroom was immaculate and the beds were so so comfy. I thoroughly recommend a TOC if you're travelling. I think they have them in Madrid and Sevilla too.
After dumping our stuff and recharging our batteries a little, we decided to go on a wander for food. With no specific place in mind, we just turned left and kept walking until we saw somewhere nice to eat. I can't remember what the name of the place was but it was next to some civic centre I think. I went for a pizza tropical (ham & pineapple) with some crispy chicken on the side, whilst Georgia got a Four Seasons and calamari. When on holiday! We spent lunch just catching up and chatting and giggling and then decided to get the map out to somewhat plan where we wanted to go. Man, I love being a tourist with an A2 size map.
We decided to head to Parc Ciutadella, which was so so beautiful. So instagrammable. An adjective that was used by the pair of us multiple times over the weekend. I ended up posting over 50 photos so look out for those in this post!
After wandering around the parc after two cans of coke costing 5€(!!) we headed up to the 'arc de triomf' before getting the metro back to the hostel. We had a quick shower each and then started our journey towards the main event and the whole reason behind this trip.
See, I'm sure you remember but back in November, my all time favourite man, Mr Robbie Williams announced a tour of cities he'd not played for ages. Which included cities in Spain. There was no way I was missing it so I booked two tickets to the Barcelona show. I'm so glad I picked Barça over Madrid but he rated us 10/10 on the forum and Madrid only 7/10. So ha!
So off we went, trying to find the Palau Sant Jordi (which I have affectionately nicknamed the Geordie Palace in my incorrect translation), picking up some fellow lost Robbie fans along the way. We passed 'the Magic Fountain' up by Montjuïc hil which was so so fab but I was too distracted by my excitement.
We finally made it and got through the queue and found our seats WHICH WERE AMAZING. I had nobody sat next to me and had a barrier instead, so I could lean over that in an effort to get mere millimetres closer to Señor Williams. Didn't work but whatever.
His support act was a Swedish trio of sisters called Baskery who were definitely odd but who Georgia and I instantly fell in love with. Who can't love a band with 'shut the cat flap' as one of their lyrics? Then the wait began. Oh man I just felt sick waiting for him. It was my tenth show and I still get the nervous excitement butterflies.
I'm not going to review the show song by song, 1 because you can find that elsewhere online and 2 because I can't remember it song by song, I just remember two hours of uninterrupted joy. I know people think it's daft that I go to his shows multiple times and pay daft amounts of money but those two hours where I think of nothing else are so so so worth it. I genuinely think it was one of the best times I've ever seen him - the only show that tops it is my first solo show, at Leeds O2 Academy. But Barcelona is a very very close second. The setlist was fab, the venue was massive but intimate and the crowd were amazing. So loud and interactive and appreciative! I get such a sense of pride when I can see the audience is doing Rob and the band proud, because I've been in some bad crowds and it really does affect the atmosphere of a show. This tour is named 'Let Me Entertain You' and boy does he. I expect nothing less. I was so pleased that Georgia enjoyed it though. I bought the tickets and invited along my Mam first and then my Nana and they both turned it down. Fools. So I thought Georgia would enjoy a trip to Barcelona and maybe endure me screaming during the show but she had fun! There is no denying that the man is a showman and I think I converted her ;) Slowly recruiting people to join me in the pit queues for the next tour. Anyway I'll stop gushing about him. Basically he was perfect and that show will always have a special place in my heart.
I'd not really planned anything that I wanted to do in the city because to be honest, all I could think about in the lead up was the gig, so Georgia was the brains behind Saturday! We had breakfast in the hostel and then headed up to Park Güell. I was so so excited to go because basically one of my favourite films is called 'L'auberge Espagnole' and it's about a student on his erasmus year in Barcelona and there are multiple points in the film where he visits this Park and basically I just wanted to pretend to be Xavier up in the mosiac tile. The park was so much more than I'd anticipated though. I just thought it was those iconic tiled benches but there was so much to look at and walk around and I absolutely loved it. I probably could have spent all day there.
After buying some daft postcards in the gift shop, we left and tried heading for the centre of the city so kind of just walked back down a hill in the vague direction. Realising we were actually starving, we decided to stop for food at the first place we saw, which was called Restaurante Alaska or something like that. We settled on getting a few tapas and got the most amazing patatas bravas, tortilla de patatas, chorizos fritos and then some more calamari for Georgia. It tasted beaut and then we enjoyed an hour or two of sobremesa ie the best thing about Spain. You can sit on the table for ages without being hounded out or guilted into buying more. I love Spain. After sitting in the beautiful sunshine for a while, we decided to head to La Sagrada Familia. When I first saw it I was just stunned, it is phenomenal. We decided against the 20€ admission because technically it's not even finished (lol will it ever be) and to be fair there was more than enough to look at on the outside. Such an amazing piece of architecture. How someone can imagine that in their heads is unreal.
After that we decided to go down to the beach to chill a little bit. We had to take a a metro and then a tram which was almost identical to the system in Alicante which made me feel like home. Once on the beach, I got a supertwister ice lolly and it was lush. The beach wasn't exactly La Playa del Postiguet of Alicante but I'm a coastal bairn and just being by the sea is good enough for me.
We headed home to recharge our batteries, both literal (too much instagramming) and mental (too much Barça love). I had a shower and got locked in the shower and escaped from the shower just as a man came into the room to rescue me from the shower. Mega awks. Oh well.
We decided to head down the fancy street for dinner and almost ended up in rubbish places like a Turkish kebab shop and a make your own tapas buffet and 100 montaditos but finally settled on a place called 'Brown 33' which was so so nice. I reckon the guy wasn't expecting us to be one of his best tables of the night. It was a canny fancy place and I bet he thought we'd just get water and an 8€ pizza. Nah pal. You're dealing with two chicas who appreciate good food and are willing to spend the moolah. We each ordered a Long Island Iced Tea and the big massive amazing steak. Oh god. TO. DIE. FOR. I would have married that steak except I ate it first. We also treated ourselves to puddings because when in Rome and that. Except Barcelona. I got the cheesecake and Georgia got the crème brûlée and it was just all so beaut. Which made it embarrassing that we underpaid our lovely waiter because I forgot how to do maths whilst under the influence. Oops. My cocktail had lots of spirits in and I'd not had a drink since Christmas! Oh well.
We headed back to go to sleep ready for an early wake up call. I had to be on the bus around half 9 so we got up early to have a wander but with the clocks changing I had around 4 hours sleep. Not ideal. After a lovely early morning we didn't have a teary goodbye because that's just not the lasses we are. Well I am weepy quite often but I kept it together haha. Security through BCN airport was fine and then I headed to my gate, the first one there and ready for about 40 minutes. Such a pro flyer. The flight was fine other than the guy in front of me potentially having a heart attack upon landing so I hope he's okay!
I was home by 2pm and sunbathing on the beach with Toz and (Liverpool) Georgia, a most perfect way to end the weekend.
The thing about Barcelona is, just being there felt like home. Immediately after stepping off the bus, I knew this was a good place for me. I just kept walking around going "oh my god I love it here" and making plans to end up working/studying/being a hobo there. It's just so so so beautiful. It's a big city with plenty going on but still feels relaxed and chill and spaced out. Paris always scared me because of its narrow streets and swarms of tourists but Barcelona is the one. I'm scared of public transport but the metro was fine and easy even for me to navigate. Nothing was really that expensive (other than those cokes in Ciutadella!) and I don't know, I can just picture myself living there. The only real issue is Catalan but it's close to Spanish and I can kind of understand it when it's written down, I just need to learn the sounds I think. I wish Barcelona had been one of our erasmus exchange options but I know it wasn't because of the heavy presence of Catalan in the city. Oh well.
This weekend just had all the things I like: a city that feels like home, relaxing, good food, beautiful weather, amazing company, and a Robbie Williams show. Can't ask for anything more can I?
Rob is performing there again in July so if I can scrape funds together I might head off because it just feels like home. Anyone wanna come?
Ugh I have major post-Robbie/Barcelona sadness. Such an amazing weekend. So much love and thanks to the beautiful Georgia for agreeing to meet me there and putting up with my Robbie nerves and just being an all round fabulous travel companion. Let's go back next weekend?
Until next time, hasta luego.
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