BCN Day 4 - Hasta La Vista Barca!

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Friday, 20th March 2015: La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona Beach, Mercat de la Boqueria:
Today was our last day in Barcelona. After a good breakfast, we went down to have our last breakfast in that beautiful hotel. Upstairs again, we packed our suitcases, since we were too exhausted to do it the day before. But it didn’t take too long anyway. At noon, we had to check out, but we were allowed to leave our suitcase in a room behind the lobby, so that we could still spend the day in the city and come to pick up our suitcase later.

My sister and me wanted to see Sagrada Familia, since we still haven’t seen the most famous sight in Barcelona :D My friend Keddy would meet us later, since it wouldn’t be too spectacular for her. But she recommended us to watch it from the Plaza de Gaudi, a little parc behind the church, because there wouldn’t be too many tourists there, and the view would also be better from that parc. We did as she told us. We took the metro to the station Sagrada Familia. As we got out, we were overwhelmed by the amount of tourists bustling around the church and standing on the pavement in front of the Sagrada Familia, taking photos like crazy. We also tried to take photos, but it was difficult, since there were too many people walking in and out of the picture, and the distance was just not far away to get the monument properly on one picture. So my sister and me started walking around to the backside of the church to find the parc. As we walked around it, we saw the line of visitors who were trying to get inside the church. It alsmost went along the whole church! And the entrance fee wasn’t cheap either: 20€! We thought about going in, but after seeing that, we decided against it. If you plan to go inside, you should buy a ticket online which is a bit cheaper and won’t force you to wait in line to get in. The next time I go to Barcelona, I will definitely buy a ticket to go inside. This time it didn’t work out, but this definitely wasn’t the last time in Barcelona. I want to go there again one day.

Anyway, when we found the parc, we felt way calmer. There weren’t nearly as many people as on the front side. And the construction work didn’t block the view of the church. We walked around the park a little bit and took a lot of photos.

Despite the construction works, the view is beautiful with the trees, flowers and the pond. And I really love the little roofs on the left side. They are so cute! So, whatever you do guys, go to that parc for a photo and a lovely view

Have I told you that I’d rather own and live in a yacht than a house :D

That’s how a wild sea looks like <3 Definitely my favorite landscape!

Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay any longer at the beach, since our hair was becoming a huge mess of knots. And the wind was surely making us freeze a little bit. We wanted to sit somehwere near and drink something. Earlier, we walked past a cafe/restaurant which looked quite cute, so we decided to go there for a drink. It is called Maka Maka and sold all kinds of food, mostly burgers. The cocktails sounded good as well, but since it was so cold outside, I didn’t want to drink a cocktail. We thought to drink something warm, but then we saw farm potatoes with parmesan and garlic, and immediately decided to take that to eat. We only ordere one, because we still wanted to eat something at the Mercat. Since a hot drink wouldn’t fit with that, I opted for a strawberry-cucumber smoothie with soy milk, and oh my, when it arrived and I tasted it, it was soooo gooooood!!!! The best smoothie I ever drank! Better than the ones at the Mercat, seriously! Of course it cost a bit more expensive, but it was definitely worth it. The parmesan potatoes were excellent as well. We didn’t want it to end, and ate too fast. In the end, we were sad that it ended so soon :’D

Soooo heavenly!

A good thing was that we could warm ourselves, although we sat outside since the waitress lighted a fire-oven right behind my back :3 After we paid (which took an eternity because they kept us waiting about 10 minutes to bring back the change which was 40€!) I didn’t want to leave because it was so warm there. But we had to hurry up since our friend Keddy was waiting for us at the train station. We met her there and went to the Ramblas again. At the Mercat, we bought our last portions of food to eat in the plane, and also, to bring something for our father and brother. I bought sooo much this time, but still had 20€ left in the end :D

After the Mercat, we set off for our hotel now, to pick up our suitcase. It was quite annoying to walk and drive around with that huge suitcase and my sister and me had huge difficulties :’D But in the end, we made it to the train station to take the train to the airport. We said goodbye to our friend and entered the train.

When we arrived at the airport, we got our boarding passes and searched our gate. The airport in Barcelona is way bigger than the one in Stuttgart, but we soon found it. Unfortunately, our flight had a delay of an hour. And here’s when the scariest departure I have ever experience begins. If you are afraid of flying, you better should stop reading now, guys! Anyway, about 30 minutes after the delay, a lot of people started to come out of the gate we were supposed to go through to board our plane. These people were the passengers who now left the plane we were supposed to be entering later. However, it was odd that they were exiting through the same gate as we were supposed to be entering later. Plus, most of them were looking strained, annoyed, relieved to have finally landed. I noticed this only after we had landed in Stuttgart as well. Why you ask? Well, I will come to that. When we were finally allowed to board the plane, it was 8pm. We should have entered at about 7pm. The first scary thing happened when the plane was still standing still and the pilot was speaking through the loud speakers. As he explained that the delay was due to the bad weather in Barcelona which caused difficulties to land securely, the lights began to flicker violently all of a sudden. Then, before the plane started to drive to the outbound route, a cabin attendant explained us that we would fly with the lights out, to ensure a safe flight. At first, I didn’t think it was strange. I already had a few night flights with turned off lights. But I was getting a bit annoyed when I noticed that the plane was taking way too long to drive to the outbound route. I immediately had to think about the speech of the pilot and the bad weather: Suddenly, I thought it a bad idea to fly at this weather. It was really raining strongly, and the wind was actually so strong that we could see the rain being blown off. Then, after about 20 minutes, the plane found the outbound route and sped up. When it took off, I seriously thought we would crash down! It was shaking from left to right quite violently. My sister was starting to get afraid and grabbed my arm, and I was clutching both of the armrests. I have never had such a flight. In the course of the plane, it was trying to get higher, but every time I felt how the plane had to reduce its height. It was obviously trying to get above this stormy cloud, but it had difficulties winning height with the wind pushing it down and making it more difficult to steer. Usually, I do something during a flight, most often reading. But this time, I was just way too busy with my own mind to concentrate on a book. The seat-belt sign was still blinking after 45 minutes. Usually, it turns off after 10-15 minutes when the plane has took off. I was counting the hours and sometimes closed my eyes to calm down. It was the wors flight I have ever had, and I am a person who flies since her childhood and has never been afraid of it.

Well, we landed at about 10pm in Stuttgart, finally! I was so relieved to see Stuttgart. I didn’t think I would have ever been so relieved :D

What we learned: Never fly in the dark.

Final rating:

Sightseeing: 5/5
Food: 5/5
Shopping: 3,5/5
Clubbing: 4/5
Transportation: 5/5
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Anyway, the story is not finished yet. 4 days after that dreadful flight, news reached us that a Germanwings plane from Barcelona to Düsseldorf crashed into the mountains of the alps. Our plane was also Germanwings. I shivered as goosebumps covered my body. Me and my sister were way too schocked. People kept calling and writing to us, asking if we have already arrived. At first, I was shocked, but then I calmed down after a few days, since the plane was going to Düsseldorf, and we to Stuttgart. Still, after that event, I am feeling a bit afraid when boarding a plane now.
Well, despite of that horrible flight back from Barcelona, the trip was awesome! I would recommend that city to any kind of person, since it has everything for everyone: Good food, a nightlife, shopping possibilities, a beach, and of course the most important, a lot of sightseeing of cultural and historical monuments. Even if our flight was terrible, don’t get misled by my experience; flying is still the safest way of transportation.

I hope you liked my posts. Have any of you ever been to Barcelona? How have you liked it there? Would you go again? And have you ever experienced a horrible flight at which you thought it would crash?

Here to make you happy!