Food Poisoning and Gaudi Houses
We won't go into all the gory details of the food poisoning of course. All that really matters is that I did not get very much sleep and the sleep I did get was not very restful. Plus there was the noisy bed situation. I'm confident it's food poisoning from the paella because I started to not feel well about 2-3 hours after eating it.
After that crappy night, I wouldn't say I was in a good mood for sightseeing. But I felt terrible sitting in our stupid hostel all day so we decided to head out and see what we could see.
As mentioned in the previous blog, Barcelona has two main sections for tourists. There are the Gothic Quarter and Ramblas which are part of the old city, and then there is the Eixample area that was built outside the old city walls. Eixample is known for being a little more trendy and having a grid-like street structure. We made our way over to our first stop, Casa Mila or La Pedrera.
Quick side note: Gaudi is the most famous Barcelona architect and one of the most famous architects in the world. He is known for combining natural, curvy lines with modern architecture. His landmarks are all over the city but his most famous ones are Casa Mila, Park Guell, Casa Battlo, and the Sagrada Familia. We'll talk about all of those buildings at some point.
First up is Casa Mila though. Basically, all of the buildings in the Eixample area are beautiful late 1800s buildings with little terraces and nice windows and they all look similar without being the same. Then there's Casa Mila. The outside is curvy and wavy with crazy iron balconies. When it was being built, the neighbors were not a fan and called it "The Quarry" or La Pedrera as a sort of insult. It was built around 1910 and was built to being a mansion for the Mila family as well as some other residents.
In the high season, you have to reserve your tickets for Casa Mila weeks in advance online. In January, we bought our tickets before leaving our hostel haha. The tickets come with an audio guide that's actually really, really good. It plays atmospheric music and lots of little tidbits of knowledge. The tour starts by taking you inside one of the courtyards. The curved lines and natural shapes are incredible. There's a staircase that is particularly amazing. Then, we took an elevator to the roof. The roof has lots of undulating steps and spires and it's so cool. I felt like walking death (no energy whatsoever) so while beautiful, I didn't enjoy it like I wis I could have.
The tour continued by bringing you into the attic area. Gaudi used lots of new and unique techniques to build his cool buildings. Casa Mila has an amazing bone-like arch structure to support the roof. Then we toured a few apartments and finally ended in the other courtyard. The tour was great and worth visiting. We had originally intended to skip this spot because we were going to get a scooter or go to other places but I'm so so glad we did not.
I forgot to mention this before but we visited the scooter rental place the day before. You have to have and International Driving Permit to rent a scooter. I am an IDIOT and didn't do that before we left even though I was aware of it. It's like $30 and you just have to mail in a form. So dumb that I never did it. Anyway back to the day.
Like I said earlier, I trudged through the tour doing the best I could to focus and enjoy it but I was struggling. Lacey was incredibly patient. She was an angel this whole day. It was fun to have her be a tour guide for us pretty much all day.
We stopped at a Costa Coffee and had some snacks and a drink. I bought some Gatorade which really seemed to help my energy level. Casa Mila is on the main road called Passeig de Garcia. It's a beautiful, wide street filled with lots of high-end stores and fun places to eat. Lacey and I both preferred this to the more closed in Ramblas. The weather was incredible and we very much enjoyed this time.
On the way down the road, we passed by the other main Gaudi house, Casa Battlo. You can go inside and tour it also but we didn't want to (it's cool inside but not as impressive). The outside is the highlight. There are bone and skull features all over the outside including the railings and the windows. At night the outside has spotlights moving around adding a ghoulish air.
We went back to the hostel and I took a nice nap. Lacey, being the rockstar she is, reserved a new very nice, boutique hotel for us in the Eixample area. We said goodbye to our stupid hostel and it's tiny elevator and loud bed.
After resting at the new place (only staying 1 night), we set out to get some food. While walking around, we happened upon a cool street market. One of the stalls was selling Churros and Chocolate. We got some as a snack. Churros and Chocolate are super popular in Spain as breakfast or as a snack. The chocolate is not alike hot chocolate we have in the states, It's more like chocolate sauce (thick). The churros were pretty good and it was fun to eat something and not want to puke.
Tour Guide Lacey brought us back to the Gothic Quarter to go to a cool, cheap place for some wraps. The place was called Teddy's and had excellent reviews. Lacey got a delicious chicken wrap with avocado and honey mustard sauce and pickle. I got a ham and cheese because I didn't trust my stomach. Hers was amazing, mine was fine. We walked around the Ramblas at night to check out the scene and had some gelato. Then, we headed back to our nice, comfy hotel for a great night's rest.
While a kind of tough day for me, it was still a great day. We loved the Eixample neighborhood and walking down the main road. We also really enjoyed the Gaudi houses. There were lows too of course but we try not to focus on those.
After that crappy night, I wouldn't say I was in a good mood for sightseeing. But I felt terrible sitting in our stupid hostel all day so we decided to head out and see what we could see.
As mentioned in the previous blog, Barcelona has two main sections for tourists. There are the Gothic Quarter and Ramblas which are part of the old city, and then there is the Eixample area that was built outside the old city walls. Eixample is known for being a little more trendy and having a grid-like street structure. We made our way over to our first stop, Casa Mila or La Pedrera.
Quick side note: Gaudi is the most famous Barcelona architect and one of the most famous architects in the world. He is known for combining natural, curvy lines with modern architecture. His landmarks are all over the city but his most famous ones are Casa Mila, Park Guell, Casa Battlo, and the Sagrada Familia. We'll talk about all of those buildings at some point.
First up is Casa Mila though. Basically, all of the buildings in the Eixample area are beautiful late 1800s buildings with little terraces and nice windows and they all look similar without being the same. Then there's Casa Mila. The outside is curvy and wavy with crazy iron balconies. When it was being built, the neighbors were not a fan and called it "The Quarry" or La Pedrera as a sort of insult. It was built around 1910 and was built to being a mansion for the Mila family as well as some other residents.
The tour continued by bringing you into the attic area. Gaudi used lots of new and unique techniques to build his cool buildings. Casa Mila has an amazing bone-like arch structure to support the roof. Then we toured a few apartments and finally ended in the other courtyard. The tour was great and worth visiting. We had originally intended to skip this spot because we were going to get a scooter or go to other places but I'm so so glad we did not.
I forgot to mention this before but we visited the scooter rental place the day before. You have to have and International Driving Permit to rent a scooter. I am an IDIOT and didn't do that before we left even though I was aware of it. It's like $30 and you just have to mail in a form. So dumb that I never did it. Anyway back to the day.
Like I said earlier, I trudged through the tour doing the best I could to focus and enjoy it but I was struggling. Lacey was incredibly patient. She was an angel this whole day. It was fun to have her be a tour guide for us pretty much all day.
We stopped at a Costa Coffee and had some snacks and a drink. I bought some Gatorade which really seemed to help my energy level. Casa Mila is on the main road called Passeig de Garcia. It's a beautiful, wide street filled with lots of high-end stores and fun places to eat. Lacey and I both preferred this to the more closed in Ramblas. The weather was incredible and we very much enjoyed this time.
On the way down the road, we passed by the other main Gaudi house, Casa Battlo. You can go inside and tour it also but we didn't want to (it's cool inside but not as impressive). The outside is the highlight. There are bone and skull features all over the outside including the railings and the windows. At night the outside has spotlights moving around adding a ghoulish air.
We went back to the hostel and I took a nice nap. Lacey, being the rockstar she is, reserved a new very nice, boutique hotel for us in the Eixample area. We said goodbye to our stupid hostel and it's tiny elevator and loud bed.
Tour Guide Lacey brought us back to the Gothic Quarter to go to a cool, cheap place for some wraps. The place was called Teddy's and had excellent reviews. Lacey got a delicious chicken wrap with avocado and honey mustard sauce and pickle. I got a ham and cheese because I didn't trust my stomach. Hers was amazing, mine was fine. We walked around the Ramblas at night to check out the scene and had some gelato. Then, we headed back to our nice, comfy hotel for a great night's rest.
While a kind of tough day for me, it was still a great day. We loved the Eixample neighborhood and walking down the main road. We also really enjoyed the Gaudi houses. There were lows too of course but we try not to focus on those.
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