Sweet times in Spain

Hello everyone,

After a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG train trip, with lots of changes, we finally made it to Barcelona. Once we'd found the hostel (which did prove to be quite a challenge), we dumped our bags as quickly as we could so we could head out and explore! Barcelona is an amazing city, bursting with life and bustling with activity. There is so much happening, particularly on the main pedestrian walk way, Las Ramblas. Stalls, artisits, street performers, street statues, amazing food and drink and lots of action.

We headed out that night to do a Spanish cooking course, which was loads of fun. We learnt how to make sangria, tapas and paella, switched stories with other travellers, ate some amazing food and had a fabulous time!

Over the next few days we explored Barcelona before heading to Madrid, another city full of life. Both Mel and I absolutely loved Spain, it's such a vibrant country. I'll let the photos tell the story :)

Enjoy,
Love Sarah xxx

Learning how to make the paella from our expert chef

The delicious seafood paella we enjoyed for dinner. I have the recipe so I can try it out at home - you're all welcome for dinner :)

One of the many street statues on Las Ramblas

There were so many!

The food markets - full of fruit, lollies, nuts, fish stalls, drink stands and other Spanish treats. Pretty good spot to find some lunch :)

Everything was really fresh!

Gaudi architecture at the Gaudi park in Barcelona

Katie, Mel and I in front of the Magic Fountain - was really magic to watch it -a light, sound and water show - pretty spectacular!

We met Katie at a walking tour in the morning and we spent a few days hanging out together

Part of the magic

And more magic :)

One of the smaller fountains

Gaudi architecture by night

Another city, another subway - getting pretty used to this way of getting around :) Haven't had to put petrol in a car for months!!

Overlooking Barcelona city

Lauren's sports store - in Barcelona!

Vermut - a drink we found in Madrid. Very hard to explain the taste; kind of a citrus spirit I think.... it's absolutely delicious! If only I could get it in Australia :)

Some tapas - on our first night in Madrid Mel and I had tapas for dinner and then we headed off to a few little tapas bars. In lots of places you get a free tapas when you order a drink, pretty cool system

Enjoying our tapas

Police in Madrid hang out in groups - you see this during the day and also during the evening. It seems as though they never have any work - plenty of time to stand around and chat!!

Some street missionaries we saw in one of the main squares. They showed us how to get to a church on Sunday, which was really cool

In one of the local tapas bars - no tourists here, apart from us :)

Notice my haircut?

In between our tapas dinner and exploring the centre of Madrid we came across a hairdresser that was open even though it was 8:00pm. The prices were incredibly reasonable compared to the prices I'd seen in other countries, so I made the most of it and had a long overdue haircut. It was a very interesting experience, to say the least. Obviously my Spanish is limited to one or two words... the hairdresser I had was a guy and his English was limited to one or two words. He was MOST unhappy that I expected a haircut even though I couldn't speak Spanish... I used lots of pointing and hand gestures to explain what I wanted (only a trim!) and he did understand but he still was not happy! He proceeded to yank my hair in every direction, cutting it as quickly as possible, spending an awfully large amount of time checking himself out in the mirror in between using his scissors. Despite the fact that he was distracted by his own (apparent) beauty, he managed to cut my hair in well less than 10 minutes. Definitely an experience I won't forget and one that will need a fair bit of correcting when I get back home! Gave me a very good laugh :)

The three very friendly men who run the tapas bar, El Schotis. We had a drink here, then went off exploring before coming back for another drink - this is the coolest tapas bar we found! The men were so pleased to see us back that we were greeted with a big kiss from the man in the centre, I think he was stoked to see two travelling girls in his tapas bar :)

Far, far, far too any people are sporting this fashion tragedy in Europe this summer....

A street performer in Madrid - he is literally hanging in thin air! Unreal! There must be wooden boards involved there somewhere...

We watched a flamenco show called Carmen, which was fantastic! Here I am practising my skills. They must be pretty good coz you can't even see my knee brace in this shot! Super stoked with that :)

The dancers - unfortunately no photography during the show...

And then Europhil - that's for you bro! No idea what this company does....

This means that I've found a Sarah's snack bar in Brussels, Stuart's Fish and Chips in Portree, Lauren's Sports in Barcelona, Europhil in Madrid and Heys Shoe Shop in Leek - that's quite a collection!! Still on the look out for John and Rose :)