Hola readers from iconic Barcelona. It is currently 10:43pm and we’re getting an early start on this blog because we have an early morning and a very busy day tomorrow so may not get much downtime to write. Today has been a big drive day, but lots has also happened.

Today started with a poor sleep last night (it was so hot and the aircon was not working, also Aimee is sick) and a pretty terrible breakfast. It was the type of continental breakfast that we’re used to in Italy, probably worse. We ate a little bit and then were on the road to our first stop Zaragoza.

This was a 2 hour drive which was kind of nice to drift in and out of sleep on. Our day song is really growing on me (Ronnie). I think I will use it for a video compilation when I get back. I first thought it was lame as hell but now I’m into it.

Zaragoza is famous for the cathedral of our lady of the pillar. It is a pretty important church for Catholicism as it is said to be the first church to be dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Whilst we are not believers, I can appreciate an interesting backstory and a beautiful and grand building.

We walked around inside for about 10 minutes admiring the beauty before we rolled over to a coffee shop and grabbed a decent breakfast – cafe con leche and churros for the win!

We only spent an hour here before we were back on the road for another two hours to a servo that is literally above the highway. Had an uninteresting lunch there and drove another 2 hours before we were finally at our destination Barcelona!

Barcelona is one of them places that everyone loves. It is big, it is beautiful and it is loaded with things to do. It is probably the most famous city in Spain and is a big bucket list item for many people – including us!

We did a coach city tour with Zach showing us the sites and telling us the history about it. He is quite a history buff so it is all interesting stuff! The traffic was hectic, Barcelona is a busy city. We pulled up near the Sagrada Familia which is an enormous and magnificent structure designed by Barcelona’s most famous architect Antoni Gaudi. It is so beautiful…more on that tomorrow though.

We then drove to Plaza de España which is a giant area with a giant roundabout in the middle. There is an old bullring which has been converted to a shopping centre – the restaurant for the included dinner was on top of it.

We rode numerous escalators up and looked at the view which was pretty excellent. Then we sat down at the restaurant for our included dinner. For entree we had a tuna salad which was pretty refreshing. It’s probably the healthiest thing we have had since we got here so it went down nicely with some extra virgin and some balsamic vinegar.

We ordered a Cava Sangria to go with our main. Cava is a Spanish version of champagne, but nicer. It goes excellently in Sangria – tasty!

The main was pork wrapped in chicken with mushroom sauce and little crunchy French fries (like in the packets?) on top of it. It was surprisingly great! The quality of included dinners thus far here have been much better than Italy.

For dessert we had a Spanish classic Creme Catalan. It is pretty much custard with a citrusy/sugary hard layer on the top, kind of like a creme brûlée but with custard? I thought it was great, Aimee doesn’t like custard so she was not a fan, but she is wrong – it was delicious.

After this we took the coach back to the hotel which is pretty nice this time. We noticed outside our hotel room window that there is a carnival happening just down the road. It was loud as hell so it wasn’t hard to notice it, but we decided to head on down there.

It was kind of like the show, but a bit crazier and more alcohol. They had lots of kids rides, lots of food, a few adults rides, lots of bars with girls in skimpy clothing serving cheap cocktails and music everywhere. It was a pretty great atmosphere. We went on a ride that was called a 9D movie. We jumped on it with about 6 little spanish girls. You have 3D glasses on, the seats you are in move and spray you with water and air and touch your ankles with little brushes to make it feel like you’re there. You also have a gun and shoot zombies on the screen and it keeps a tally of the scores. It was pretty fun, the little girls were screaming the whole time, but I was definitely carrying the team as evidenced by the score at the end. It also went for ages – so fun.

We grabbed a chilli empanada, played some of the sideshows and had a shot of some type of alcohol that I couldn’t decipher that cost €1 which was awesome. It was getting pretty late at this point (the carnival finished at about 12:30) and we walked back to the hotel for some sleep as we have a big full day in Barcelona.

Itemised spending

– Breakfast Churros and Coffee – €2

– Bus Snacks – €6

– Servo Lunch – €22

– Dinner drinks – €16

– Carnival rides/drinks/food – €16

– Vending Machine snacks – €4

Total: €66

Way under budget and a great day! Win!

Join us from Barcelona tomorrow!

Ronnie and Aimee