Spring Break 2020 looks a little different this year. Not only will this be my first spring break outside of North America, but it’ll also be the first one without my family or my golf clubs!
Well actually, I should say, first trip in a while at least, that I’m not hauling the sticks along. It tends to be a common theme for my dad and I to fly somewhere warm with our clubs and golf. Frankly, after a long Iowa winter, it’s hard to not bring them along.
However, even if golf isn’t on the menu this spring break, I’m not overly upset. As I write this in the aisle seat of my hour-long Iberia flight to Spain’s capital, Madrid, I’m pretty full of excitement.
I departed from the coastal land of Barcelona after four nights and three solid days, and I’m content moving on. Barcelona, set on the eastern coast of Spain, was quite a fun place to visit, but I’m ready to see other places and continue this adventure. The temperature hovered around the mid 60‘s, so jeans and a light jacket was comfortable. I stayed in central Barcelona, just a couple blocks down from La Sagrada Familia, at Hotel 1988, and the location worked out well. It was pretty much right in the middle of everything, close to a few different tube stations, and near a lot of different restaurants.
Instead of going on this trip with my family, like I’m used to, I’m with four other girls from my program, and they stayed just down the street from me in an AirB&B. This group has been a lot of fun, we’re all pretty adventurous and want to do fun things, so it’s worked well! Three of them will be joining me on my trip to Madrid and then two of them will be joining me in Lisbon, Portugal.
During this trip, we saw the basilica, La Sagrada Familia, Park Güell, Casa Batlló, Castell de Montjüic, and the Balearic Sea! The sea was probably my favorite, it’s been a while since I’ve been on a beach, so when Sunday rolled around, most of our time was spent there.
One of our taxi drivers said Barcelona is best in the fall, as it’s just a tad cold for the beach during this time of the season, and I would agree. However, even though it wasn’t the hottest, we stayed busy sightseeing and still had a lot of fun.
My favorite restaurant of Barcelona was Parking Pizza, a really modern pizza place we went to on Sunday night.
The most fun thing I did was getting to ride around on someone’s Segway.
The most disappointing part about Barcelona (and it’s probably just a Spanish thing), is their breakfast. It’s all just a bunch of bread and hardly anything else. So mornings have been a little hard as I‘m constantly searching for something that’ll fill me up, but I’ll probably survive.
One thing unique to Spain is their Churros. They originated in Spain, so accordingly, they’re absolutely delicious.
That‘s all I’ve got for now, but I’ll be back next week to fill you guys in on the rest of my spring break!
¡Adios!