A trip to Barcelona- Part 1

Hi everyone!
It’s been a while since I wrote my last post, but I promise it was because I didn’t have time and not because I didn’t want to. Besides the time factor, I was also with a creativity block and all this stress accumulated, so (although in-between many assignments) our residential trip to Barcelona came at the right time.

If you don’t know already, my course at UCB- International Tourism Management– organises a residential trip to somewhere outside the UK once a year and this year we went to Spain. The aim after the trip is to have an assignment related to the destination, so you have the perfect combination of theory and practice.
Although I’ve been to Barcelona before, it was good to go to a place where it still feels like summer!

I’ll let you know everything about my trip in this post, even the not so pleasant ending.

Fortunately, there are direct flights from Birmingham to Barcelona (in case you might be interested in going there) so we didn’t have to travel all the way to London or Manchester. The flight out was last week on the 24th of October and we stayed until the 27th.
To be honest, the first night was one of my favourites. Our lecturers booked a tapas walking tour so we were basically walking around, getting to know the city but we would stop to eat tapas on the way! I think is a brilliant concept, and I was doing two of my favourite things: wandering around different places and eating.
I loved the first place we stopped in, on a hidden alley that restaurant was busy, people were talking loudly, the architecture was rustic and the food was delicious. I know it sounds weird but that’s how the Spain I know really is, so for me a fancy place wouldn’t please me. When I think of travelling somewhere I think about the culture and the locals, and that’s what I want to be surrounded by. I totally respect who thinks otherwise, but why travel to a different country to have the same lifestyle you have in your own country?
While you think about that just appreciate these photos of the amazing tapas we had:

And look how cool the layout was:

Yes, the table was really tiny but I just wanted to have a great time with my friends while enjoying the food.

To end the tour we popped in to another typical place and had churros with melted chocolate, I mean did you really try the best of Spain if you go there and don’t have churros?

The next day we had a trip to Girona and Figueres which are nearby towns. Girona was definitely my favourite, it was such a beautiful place with a lively environment and you could feel the history as you walked around the narrow streets. The cathedral was lovely as well as the colourful houses by the river.

We returned to Barcelona in the evening and it was time for dinner. There’s literally a restaurant in every corner of the city, however we were a big group so it was difficult to decide where to have dinner. We spent more than an hour looking for a place and when we finally decided on one, we had to wait for a table to be available for us. Our patience was running low, and when half an hour later we were still waiting to be seated, although the waiter told us it would be 5 to 10 minutes, we decided to leave.
As an act of despair, we decided to enter in the first place that served paella (something I had been craving all day) and looked really nice both on the outside and inside. The paella was delicious, but little did I know what was coming next.
As you already have so much to read, I’ll explain everything (including the new most embarrassing moments of my life) in a separate post so stay tuned!!
Beijinhos
Maria