Day 10: Beach Day!

Today was the latest we've started our day the whole time we've been in Europe. Didn't leave the hostel til after 1PM, and then first went somewhere to eat lunch. We found a nice restaurant called La Flauta that was highly recommended, and it was really good! We had an assortment of tapas there, and Stephanie and Wesley tried a bottle of cabernet sauvignon (but I don't like red wine so I just ordered orange juice!). My favorite plate was fried baby squid! Although Stephanie was sad because she was expecting calamari rings haha.

Assorted tapas!

After lunch, we headed over to Casa Batlló. Admission was super pricy (16.30 for a student ticket!) but at least it came with audioguides! (Since the house is privately owned, it doesn't receive funding from the government so all of its maintenance funds comes thru ticket sales and the like) This apartment is smaller and less famous than La Pedrera, but I actually liked it more, because it was more colorful and more detailed!

 Beautiful interior of Casa Batlló

Afterwards, we headed over to the Boqueria off of Las Ramblas, which is a huge outdoor market. We got fruit juice (I had a refreshing kiwi juice!) and fruit before heading to the beach! Wesley figured it would make more sense to take the metro to a farther beach, so it would be less crowded/touristy, so we did just that, and wound up at Nova Mar Bella. It wasn't crowded at all, and the water was so blue! Unfortunately, it was pretty windy, so it wasn't warm enough for me to swim :( (Wesley and Stephanie did tho! I'm just a wuss.... haha) But since we had started so late in the day, we didn't actually leave the beach til after 8PM, and didn't get back to the hostel until 9. (It's so weird, sunset in Europe is actually around 9PM!)

 

First time at the beach! (In Europe)

For dinner, we just wanted something fast and nearby, so ended up going to a creperie near our hostel. Got a spinach and tomato crepe because I was dying for veggies. I must say, despite eating good food, I'm a little worried about how well-balanced my diet will be this trip... >.<

Wesley was too tired, and Stephanie's ankle was hurting, so we didn't end up going out tonight :( Which is good, because we'll have time to pack and get an early start to our last half-day in Barcelona tomorrow!