DAY ONE:
The Tour Begins |
Settling Into Spain
“Thou hast seen nothing yet.”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote
My mom and I arrived in Barcelona in the morning on Day 1 of the tour, giving us plenty of time to settle into our lovely hotel right off of Las Ramblas. We did our homework ahead of time and were prepared to guard against pickpockets, but I felt perfectly safe walking Las Ramblas and exploring the immediate neighborhood around our hotel on our own (this exploring basically consisted of me ooohhing and aaahhhing over the incredible architectural details we stumbled across around every turn). Let me tell you: I'm a BIG fan of Catalan modernism (modernisme) architecture. I loved Barcelona from the second I stepped off of the train - colorful, bold, full of life, and overflowing with jaw-dropping architecture every which way I looked. I couldn't soak it all in fast enough!
Since we quickly discovered that Barcelona was not immune to the heat wave striking all across Europe, we gratefully stepped into our air-conditioned hotel close to 5pm for our first orientation meeting of the tour. Our tour group included both Canadians and Americans from all across the United States, and ranged in age from high school to 60s or so - I'd estimate that this is a typical makeup for Rick Steves tours, which tend to be physically active and vigorous in their itineraries (our tour to Spain received the highest possible activity rating on the Rick Steves tour website, if that gives you any indication of how many miles we'd be hiking in the week ahead). An instant after meeting our tour guide Federico García Barroso, I knew that a really, really fun week lay ahead for us. His boundless energy, nonstop enthusiasm, and incredible charisma was nothing short of magnetic; he definitely belongs on the stage! We'd learn later on that this multilingual, multi-talented man was full of surprises in that regard. After an hour of talking, picking our new buddies (a classic technique, à la "buddy system," used by all Rick Steves tours to make sure no one gets left behind), and some ice-breakers with new friends, we set off for an introductory walking tour with Frederico. Highlights included endless amazing architecture, public art, and a stroll past the Obama bar, complete with a life-size mannequin of President Obama right inside the front entrance - a picture of the bar is below. The walk ended at a restaurant overlooking Las Ramblas. Much to our delight, we were treated to a delicious dinner of vegetable paella.....the food was INCREDIBLE. At dinner, my mom and I quickly befriended a couple from New York (who had a daughter around my age back on the East Coast), whose company we'd continue to enjoy for the rest of the trip. We returned to our hotel that night happy, full, and excited for what was to come. Please click on or hover over a photograph below to read more about each photograph in the gallery and to view each photograph in full. |