Brandon O'Brien

Thursday, November 7, 2013 @ 8:13 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 134

Since one of the guys in my dorm room was a crazy loud snorer I put in some of my heavy duty ear plugs last night and slept like a champ. After breakfast I packed a sandwich for lunch and headed down to the beach again.

I got down there and found a spot in the shade on some grass overlooking the beach where I ate lunch and read for a while. For some reason there are flies all over Barcelona. No matter where I go to read or relax outside there are flies constantly landing on me.

Another thing I noticed today was all of the people trying to sell you crap (coconuts, beers, drinks, massages, blankets, etc) when you're relaxing by the beach. It's pretty annoying when you're trying to read or eat and people keep coming up to you asking if you want a massage or to buy a coke. Eventually I just put my headphones in and pretended like I couldn't hear them and eventually they'd move on.

I moved a few spots along the beach to read and alternate between sun and shade. By 3pm I started to head back to the hostel to shower and get some dinner cooking. I still had some chicken and a red pepper left over from last night so before showering I went out and got some more asparagus to make another good meal.

After dinner I've just been working on my computer. I had a few bugs to fix on ClearCheckbook and I also booked the hostels for the rest of my Europe trip! Rather than try to visit a bunch of places in Spain and make the last month of my travels a nightmare of trains and buses, I decided to spend my time in a few places.

After Morocco I fly back to Barcelona where I'll spend 2 nights. After that I'll head down to Valencia for a week. From there I'll take a train to Seville where I'll be for 10 nights. From there I can do easy day trips to several places. Next up I'll head to Cordoba for 6 nights before finally heading to Madrid for the remaining 5 nights of my trip.

I was thinking about trying to head over to Portugal but amazingly enough there are very few trains and buses that go there from Spain. I'd have to take night trains back and forth and rather than deal with that kind of nonsense I decided I'll save Portugal for another trip.

Tags: daily journal, spain, barcelona

Posted from: Spain

Wednesday, November 6, 2013 @ 9:06 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 133

Not much to report today. I didn't set an alarm and woke up pretty late (9:45am). I got news that Callie isn't going to be able to make it to Morocco due to some medical reasons which is a shame. I ended up doing some last minute hotel booking and found an extremely highly rated hotel in Tangier for not much more than I pay for some hostels. I'll be staying there for the week instead of trying to head farther south to Marrakech.

After lunch I went down to the beach to have some beer and relax. It was a perfect day with no wind and hardly any clouds. I found a spot in the shade and read for a while before coming back to the hostel. On the way back I stopped and picked up some bread, cheese, wine and chorizo since a bunch of us were planning on going up to Montjuic to watch the sunset tonight.

Everyone ended up kinda doing their own thing so we didn't end up going up to the mountain for sunset so I just hung out at the hostel before getting hungry for dinner. The stuff I bought for the picnic didn't really sound like a full dinner so I went out and got some chicken, asparagus and a red pepper and made another concoction with all of that and the spice mix I'm still carrying around from Italy. I had some of the bread and wine and it ended up being a really nice dinner.

I talked with some of the people I was going to do the picnic with after eating and I think they're all planning on going out bar crawling. I'm not really feeling that so I'll just stay here tonight. The hostel is also completely filled up tonight since apparently a hostel around the corner shut down and there's a big football game here tonight.

I'm trying to figure out how I want to spend the last month of my trip when I get back from Morocco. I'm debating whether I should spend more time in Barcelona before heading down to Valencia and then Seville. I'm pretty much of the mindset now that spending more time in one place is the way to go but I do want to see more of Spain than just Barcelona and Madrid (where I'm flying home from).

Tags: daily journal, spain, barcelona

Posted from: Spain

Tuesday, November 5, 2013 @ 7:54 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 132

Since the internet was down most of yesterday and all night I stayed up late talking with some other travelers about all of our adventures, our favorite places, suggestions, etc. I ended up in bed around 12:30 and got up some time around 8:45.

I took the morning slow again. After eating the wifi was still down so I went out to a park nearby where I found the city of Barcelona has a free wifi hotspot. I checked some email then picked up some more bread for lunch and toast since the bread I had started to go bad.

After lunch I started the hike up to Park Guell. It's a giant park up on a big hill that Gaudi designed back in the early 1900's. A large portion of the park is free to enter but the area with some of the most iconic sculptures and buildings require an 8 euro fee which I didn't want to pay. The paid area was filled with other tourists and tour groups and the free area was pretty open.

I walked around and admired some of the crazy designs and read in the park for a bit. There were people trying to sell cheap souvenirs all over the place which was a bit of a shame since it seemed like there were more of them than there were actual visitors enjoying the park.

I hung out there for a couple hours before starting back to the hostel. The walk back was all downhill which was nice. I wanted some more asparagus or some green beans to go with dinner but it was siesta time so most of the markets were closed. I saw one big veggie market but they didn't have any green beans or asparagus.

For dinner I went out and got some kind of pizza bread and ate it with peas and corn. When I bought the pizza I was able to do it in Spanish, but there were no prices listed for anything. I was assuming it would be about 3 euros for the piece so I had that change ready. The lady said cinco (5) and for some reason my brain forgot all the Spanish I knew and I thought she said 3. After a quick confusion session I figured it out and went on my way. I was doing so well too!

I bought some wine so I'll probably drink some of it tonight and read some more. Tomorrow's weather looks like it'll be the best all week so I'm planning on doing another beach day.

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Tags: daily journal, spain, barcelona

Posted from: Spain

Monday, November 4, 2013 @ 12:45 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 131

The forecast was calling for rain and overcast skies today so I wasn’t really planning on doing much. After eating breakfast I went out to the grocery to pick up a few things and then I got rained on so I came back to the hostel.

Rather than deal with crappy weather I just stayed at the hostel where I worked and read the majority of the day. One of the nice things about being in one place for more than a few days is you don’t really feel bad about not spending the entire day out exploring the city.

It’s weird how as a traveler you feel the need to constantly be out exploring even when back home you have days where you don’t really do anything and you don’t feel bad about it. When you’re in an exciting city half way across the world you also feel like you need to be out experiencing the culture and seeing the sights. Taking a day off is a strange feeling but it’s necessary.

For dinner I didn’t really feel like cooking tonight so I went out for a stuffed pita then bought a bottle of wine for the night. I read for a while then talked with some other travelers. The hostel made some tapas and several of us sat around a big table enjoying them. My favorite was some kind of potato cake made with eggs. Basically you cut up some potatoes into cubes, fry them, smash them and then scramble some eggs and mix it together and cook it over low heat. You can mix in chorizo, chicken or whatever else sounds good.

The internet died again at the hostel which is turning into quite the pain. I just ended up reading and talking with other travelers since the internet was down until this morning.

Tags: daily journal, spain, barcelona

Posted from: Spain

Sunday, November 3, 2013 @ 8:02 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 130

The weather was calling for a chance of rain all day but when I got up it was nice and sunny out. I ate breakfast and then hung out at the hostel until lunch. After eating I headed out to go see some of Gaudi's buildings in Barcelona. There are two of them not too far away so I headed over there.

Being a Sunday afternoon the streets were pretty empty which was nice. Most of the shops were closed for the day aside from the streetside cafes where people were eating. I went up Passeig de Gracia and saw Casa Batilo and La Pedrera. I think I liked Casa Batilo better since it was more colorful and a little more wildly decorated.

After checking those buildings out I was debating going up to Park Guell which has a lot more of Gaudi's designs but I figured it would be a madhouse on Sunday. Instead I headed west toward Plaza Espana and the National Palace. It was a bit of a walk to get there but Barcelona is really good about having tree lined pedestrian friendly streets.

The plaza was packed full of people in costumes. At first I didn't know what was going on and figured it might be a late Halloween party or something but then I started seeing signs for a comicon style event. I was pretty shocked at how many people were actually waiting to get into the big convention center.

From there I walked south through some really nice gardens and fountains to a great view at the steps of the National Palace. The palace is pretty close to Montjuic where I was taking photos the other day and had a similar, although not as elevated, view. I took some photos then walked around a bit more with the intention of seeing the Telefonica tower.

It's a pretty crazy looking tower and I didn't realize I was so close to it the other day when I was up on Montjuic. It was only a short walk from the palace so I went over and took some photos. At first I thought you could go up to the top but after looking at it more I realized it's just a crazy looking tower without any kind of viewing deck up there.

The area with the tower is where the 1992 Summer Olympics were held and now it's a big open area where people were playing frisbee or lounging around enjoying the weather. The weather was starting to look a little shaky so I decided to head back into town.

I took some cross streets that brought me through some nice small streets filled with tapas bars and cafes and finally dumped out on the busy tourist street La Rambla. It was packed with tourists so I cut over into the Gothic quarter and cut around until making it back to the hostel. All said and done I walked around 9.5 miles today. I wasn't really expecting that long of a walk but it felt good to be out in the nice weather. Back at the hostel I read for a little while before getting overtaken with hunger.

I'm not sure if it's because my breakfasts and lunches aren't substantial enough or if it's all the walking I'm doing, but I've been getting really hungry at night so I eat dinner early, but then when it's time for bed I'm hungry again. I wanted to keep that from happening so I made a huge dinner with chicken, pasta, asparagus and bread. It turned out really good and I'm really digging the asparagus/pasta combination lately.

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Tags: daily journal, spain, barcelona

Posted from: Spain

Saturday, November 2, 2013 @ 7:41 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 129

I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do today and figured since it was Saturday and a nice day all of the main tourist sites would be packed. What better excuse to spend another day at the beach? I changed into some shorts and made the little journey down to the shore.

I went a little farther north than where I was yesterday and saw an area where bicyclists were playing some sort of hockey game. It was pretty impressive to see them using sticks to hit a ball around all while staying on their bikes. It was some sort of tournament that attracted quite a few onlookers.

After watching that for a bit I found some steps by the sand and read for a while. After a few hours I decided it was time to get a beer. There are a lot of little huts along the beach that are filled with people so I figured the beers had to be cheap. Nope. I checked it out and a beer was 7 euros. Instead of paying crazy prices I walked south to where I was yesterday and went into a little market and bought two beers for 2.20 euros total. I found a wifi hotspot and drank the beers while watching the ocean.

After finishing the beers I read for a little while longer before it started to cool down and I came back to the hostel. This morning before going to the beach I ran out and did some grocery shopping and picked up some chicken for dinner. I had some broccoli and half a red pepper that some people didn't want so I mixed all of that together and cooked it with some garlic and the spice mix I've been carrying around since Italy. It came out really good.

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Tags: daily journal, barcelona, spain

Posted from: Spain

Friday, November 1, 2013 @ 11:20 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 128

The Halloween party at the hostel was pretty good last night. They had some free snacks and gave everyone a free shot. I had bought a liter of beer at the grocery for 1.35 euros and drank that at the party. Some people were playing card games so I joined in for a few rounds. By the time it got to midnight I decided to head up and try to get some sleep. I had done quite a bit of walking during the day and then when you add in the booze I was pretty tired.

I didn't set an alarm this morning and was pretty shocked when I actually slept in until around 9:45. Unfortunately when I woke up the internet was down so I couldn't check email, weather or any of my normal morning routine. I had some toast and then hung around in the hostel until after lunch. Internet was still down so I figured I'd go to the beach and read for the afternoon to get some fresh air and check out that part of town.

As soon as I was leaving the internet started working again so I took a few minutes to very quickly answer a few emails before setting out. I walked down a really nice palm tree lined pedestrian area past the Arc de Triomf toward the Barcelona Zoo. Near there I cut around the train station and followed the big promenade near the marina to the beach.

Along the way there were a row of street vendors selling random food. I saw some 3 for €5 empanadas so I got one with chicken, one with beef and one with bacon and cheese. They were all really good but I think I liked the bacon and cheese one the best. I had finished them by the time I got to the beach.

Today was some sort of government holiday so a lot of the shops were closed down and people were out enjoying the amazing weather. It felt a lot like walking around the Manhattan Beach area of LA. People at beach side cafes enjoying drinks and food as well as tons of people out walking the big wide sidewalks along the beach.

I stopped a few times to read some of my Game of Thrones book. There were a few open wifi hotspots provided by the city of Barcelona so I stopped a few times to quickly use it. It was a bit too chilly to want to get out and walk through the sand barefoot but there were a lot of people chilling on the beach and even a few crazy people in the water swimming.

I walked up and down most of the big stretch of beach and all said and done ended up walking a little over 6 miles round trip from the hostel. It started to cool down a bit so I came back to the hostel and showered. I found an onion and a chili pepper in the free food section so I quietly stowed them away in my bag to use for dinner. I ended up using those plus some garlic and pasta for dinner. It turned out pretty good and filled me up nicely.

It's Friday night and the big groups of partiers are starting to show up unfortunately. That, plus the internet still being down since I returned from the beach made me decide to head up to the room to read a bit and watch some shows I had downloaded to my computer earlier in the week.

They seem to have fixed the internet problem so I'm trying to quickly upload all my photos and blog post as well as answer emails in case it goes down again.

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Tags: daily journal, spain, barcelona

Posted from: Spain

Thursday, October 31, 2013 @ 7:21 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 127

Today I wanted to do some more exploring of Barcelona so I walked up to Montjuic castle which had great views of the entire city. It was about a 3 mile walk there and took about an hour which wasn't too bad. The entire hill side is one giant park with great views of the ocean and the city.

I brought lunch and ate it while looking over the city and then walked around the castle a bit more. It wasn't too busy up there until I left when a bunch of school groups all seemed to show up around the same time. I was trying to figure out what to do next and saw the Sagrada Familia out in the distance so I decided to check it out later.

On the way back I stopped in the Boqueria market and got a calzone that I'd eat for dinner and dropped it off at the hostel on my way to the Sagrada Familia. I wasn't planning on going in the church but instead wanted to see the exterior today. It was about a 15 minute walk from the hostel through some cool busy streets.

Unfortunately the church was under some heavy construction and was covered in scaffolding, netting and construction equipment. I'm thinking about going in later in the week but don't want to pay 12 euros if the interior is going to be all covered like the exterior is.

Back at the hostel I read for a bit and played around on the computer before heating up the calzone for dinner. The hostel is having a Halloween party tonight at 8 so I'll check it out and see what it's like. with a couple hours to go it seems like it might be a good turnout so I'll hang around and see.

My photos are taking a while to upload so I'll add them to the post later tonight or tomorrow morning.

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Tags: daily journal, barcelona, spain

Posted from: Spain

Wednesday, October 30, 2013 @ 8:15 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 126

It was overcast all day and a bit on the chilly side but at least it wasn't raining. I got up, ate breakfast, had some coffee, read Game of Thrones for a little bit then got ready for the free walking tour that starts at the hostel every day.

The tour guide was a little late and then we walked to a few other hostels to pick up some more people for the tour. When we got to the final meeting place the group of people split among two tour guides and we went on our way through the city.

I'm assuming each tour guide does their own customized tour since we didn't see the other group the entire time. Our tour guide was originally from Brazil but has been living in Barcelona for the last 12 years. Her tour took us through the old Roman areas of the city as well as the Gothic quarter and she told us a lot of history about Catalan and how the region is working to become independent from Spain.

We also got to see where Christopher Columbus met with the Queen of Spain when he brought back items from the new world. Next to the old royal palace was where the inquisitors from the Spanish Inquisition passed judgement on people. I had no idea that they sat so high up above the peasants and normal folk as a way to impose a sense of power over them. You literally have to look straight up about 50 feet to see where they sat in a very ornate wooden balcony.

After that we saw some more sections of the old Roman wall as well as where the shore used to be during those times (a lot higher up than it is currently). Apparently a lot of the old gothic looking buildings in the city were built in the 1880's and are a complete facade to the original look of the churches. Many of the important buildings were also moved piece by piece from around the city into the gothic quarter. Some of this process lead to mishaps when it came to reassembly and arches didn't get completed or they were put in the wrong place (see one of the photos below).

We ended up at a bar down by the port where they gave cheap beers to people on the tour. I sat with a couple other people from my hostel and we sampled some tapas over beer. On the way back to the hostel we walked back up La Rambla and stopped in the Boqueria market again. One of the guys bought a full fish, mushrooms and some other veggies.

Once back at the hostel I worked for a while and read a little bit before making dinner. This hostel has free pasta, garlic and oils so I made some more pasta with garlic, red pepper, jamon iberico with some bread and wine.

Since I booked several more nights here before heading to Morocco I'm just going to take tomorrow easy. I'll probably head out and walk around town but don't really feel the need to get up at the crack of dawn to start the day. That's what I love about having more than a week in one place... the lack of feeling pressured to be out and about at every second of daylight.

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Tags: daily journal, spain, barcelona

Posted from: Spain

Tuesday, October 29, 2013 @ 8:26 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 125

The weather was a bit crappy today so I wasn't really in too much of a rush, plus all the traveling yesterday wore me out. I got up, ate and then hung out at the hostel through lunch. The rain stopped for a while so after I ate I went out to explore a little bit of Barcelona.

There's a big main pedestrian area called La Rambla that's lined with shops, markets, cafes and restaurants. Some other travelers at the hostel told me about a giant market called La Boqueria that's full of meat, fruit, veggies, tapas, cheese and just about any other food you can think of. It was one of the best markets I've ever been to.

I walked around for a bit and got some clementines, some iberico ham and bread for dinner tonight. I also got a cup of fruit to eat while at the market. The prices of everything there was amazing and the fruit and veggies looked so much better than what you can get at the grocery. I'm planning on going back throughout the week to eat lunch there since there were so many different food stands there with delicious looking snacks and meals.

After strolling through the market I went down to the Placa Reial and ate a clementine before heading back to the hostel. It started raining a bit so I've spent the rest of the day at the hostel. It took me 4 months but I finally found a copy of Game of Thrones at the hostel book exchange and have started reading that.

For dinner I made some pasta with fresh cherry tomatoes, garlic and some of the ham I bought. It tasted amazing and it's something I'll probably make more throughout the week. The garlic, ham and tomatoes lightly fried in sunflower oil made a great topping for the pasta.

After dinner I booked my travel to Morocco as well as a few more nights here at the hostel since I'll be flying to and from Morocco from Barcelona. The flights were pretty cheap and they're direct which is nice. Callie and I will meet in Tangier then we'll catch a night train down to Marrakech where we'll spend a few nights before heading back up to Tangier for a night.

Tomorrow I'm going to check out the free walking tour that the hostel puts on. It's a two and a half hour tour that goes through the history and culture behind Barcelona. It's supposed to be a little on the cooler side but at least it's not supposed to be raining.

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Tags: daily journal, spain, barcelona

Posted from: Spain