Barthelona

Monday, April 12

We woke up Monday morning to the sounds of dishes clanging - turns out our room is right next to the hostel’s kitchen and breakfast was wrapping up. Time to wake up and get some food! Our moms were quick on their feet to grab croissants and coffee while Katie and Rachael, who move a bit slower, started to get ready. Rachael had heard about the **Fat Tire Bike Tour in Barcelona and had researched it the night before. Turns out they have a tour that started at 11am. It was already 10, so it was time to get moving! We were out the door by 10:30 and started to make our way to the tour’s meeting point. We got there around 11:15, just in time to find some members of the tour testing their bikes before the tour started. They were able to point us in the right direction so we ran and got some bikes then began the tour.

Our guide’s name was Buddha and he was great. The first stop on our tour was Placa St. Jaume which has two important Spanish government buildings. We hit lots of important spots in Barcelona including Sagrada Familia, el Parc de la Ciutadella, the cathedral, the historical museum of Barcelona and much more! The tour also included a lunch stop at a neat restaurant on the beach that served some delish sangria. Good times!

What was great about the bike tour was that there weren’t too many hills and the stretches between each stop were spaced out just enough so that you never felt like you were working too hard. Our tour started to wrap up just as we started to feel a couple of rain drops. Our timing was perfect!

After the tour, Buddha (who is trained to be a chef, not a bike tour guide) pointed us toward a great produce market a few blocks from the Fat Tire shop. When we got there, we went a little nuts snapping photos, but everything was so beautiful! There were all sorts of fruits, vegetables, breads, meats, cheeses, and much, much more!

We browsed for awhile but then found a booth selling all sorts of chocolates that became our downfall. Katie and Joy filled a plastic bag with their chocolate selection and Rachael and Marty soon followed suit. Not long later, one of us (not quite sure which) had the brilliant idea to buy some things to go with wine that could be our dinner that night. We ended up with quite a spread, including bread, two types of cheese, pineapple, strawberries, garlic and some wine we’d picked up during our travels. Another popular thing at the food market were the fruit vendors selling all sorts of wonderful fresh juice smoothie thingies. We all had to try one so we went on our way, browsing stalls and vendors, smoothies in hand. It was a blast! After our bike tour and shopping escapades, we were a little tired, so we headed back to the hostel to drop off our things and rest a bit.

At this point, we still didn’t know exactly how we would be traveling to Granada the following day so we decided it might be a good idea to run to the train station and figure out what our options were. Turns out, Spain’s big! We thought it might be a 6 or 7 hour train ride, but it was 11! Basically, our only option was to take a night train from Barcelona to Granada the following evening. It wasn’t very expensive and we’d sleep on the train so that saved us the money we would have spent on a hostel so we booked it right then. There were only 4 beds left on the whole train so we were just in time! We weren’t able to all be in the same room because, well, beggars can’t be choosers, so we figured we’d just try and sweet-talk whoever was in our rooms so that we could be closer together. We weren’t sure about making it to Gibraltar or Morocco the following day but decided we’d ask when we got to Granada and if we could, we’d go but if not, there’s plenty to do and see in Granada!

After getting our transportation smoothed out, we were excited to basically have a whole other full day in Barcelona. There were still a few things on our list to see! So, we headed back to the hostel, ate our delicious fresh meal from the produce market and went to bed shortly thereafter.

XOXO J&K&M&R

**For those curious, yes, the Fat Tire Bike Tour and the amazing Fort Collins brewed beer are related - the bike tour came first. The guy who started the beer in Colorado did one of their bike tours in Europe and named the beer after the tour company. We are sad to report that there was no Fat Tire beer waiting for us in Barcelona’s fridge, or at any of the Fat Tire tour locations and that there are no Fat Tire Bike Tours in the States because of an agreement between the two organizations. Don’t worry - we plan on writing a letter to complain, because if there is anything that this world needs more of, it’s Fat Tire Ale and bikes.