Barcelona...again!

I know, I know, we were just there in February! I never really considered going to Spain for a holiday and here I am going twice in 4 months! Our friends that we visited in February were married last weekend. Wes and I were on our own for a lot of this trip, so it was a totally different experience than the last time. For example, the taxi driver attempted to scam us when he took us to our hotel. I say attempted, because I don't think he figured on me calling my friends to set him straight. Yeah, I wasn't lying when I told you I had local friends! Idiot. Other highlights were the naked man we saw riding his bike (as you do), and the prostitutes sitting on chairs in the middle of nowhere waiting for truckers to ride by. I couldn't work out what they do with the chair when they find a customer to pick them up.

Since we were just there in February, we didn't feel pressured to go to lots of museums and touristy places. We were able to wander around and just enjoy the city. The one thing we didn't bank on for this trip was the ash cloud. We got out of Dublin with no problem and mistakenly thought we were home free. We were originally scheduled to fly back on Monday morning, but ended up getting stuck there until late Wednesday night. I know, stuck isn't the best word, but I was really worried about our cat! Since we were only supposed to be gone for about 4 days we didn't have anyone checking on her. Thankfully, I had the foresight to see if Wes' work colleague who lives close by would take a set of keys just in case. Once I knew the cat was okay, I was able to enjoy the few extra days we had!

Here are some highlights from the trip:

Last time we were in Barcelona, Wes' one request of something to do was to go to Camp Nou, home of the FC Barcelona. We didn't have time on that trip, so it was the first thing we did on this one. It was actually a pretty cool place, even if they didn't tour you through the home team's changing rooms. They're supposed to be pretty swish and would have been cool to see. On Sunday night Barça played Real Valladolid for their division title at Camp Nou. We weren't able to get tickets, but we were in the city for a portion of the match. It was crazy and only got crazier after we left, so I'm glad we didn't stick around. Football fans are lunatics.

Gemma and Oscar's wedding was on Saturday and oh my god was it beautiful. I've never been to a Catalan wedding and I'm pretty certain I'll never get to another one. The wedding was held at an old estate outside of Barcelona. Here is a picture from the ceremony. They had a bunch of friends read testimonials about the couple and this is one of Oscar's sisters giving hers. Two of the people did theirs in English which was really nice!

Here is the gorgeous couple! I managed to pull myself away from the 23 different types of appetizers to snap this picture.

When they arrived for the reception there was much swinging of the napkins. I enjoy a rowdy crowd, so I got into this!

I did manage to pull myself away from the six course dinner to snap this picture of the sun setting over the Pyrenees. This was my view for the whole evening. Awesome. In typical Spanish fashion, the wedding went on until 2am, then they had booked a club in town to go for an addition 3 hours. Ummm....I wish I could say we were cool enough to go to the club. I used up all my energy waving around that napkin.

The next day we wandered down to the seaside. There were a lot of pale people on the beach working on their tans!

This was the day we were meant to be going back to Dublin. Fortunately for us, this is also the day the weather really warmed up. Prior to this it was cooler and on Friday it had even rained. After rechecking into our hotel, we just wandered around the waterfront area, then ended up having dinner with Gemma and Oscar. We went to a tapas place and I jammed so much food in my gullet that I was still digesting it 12 hours later. Mental note: Don't eat at a place where they just keep bringing you more food on a toothpick...especially when you have friends that insist you try everything. Holy crap. I think I gained 5 lbs just in that meal! Also as a side note, Barcelona isn't the best place for vegetarians. They do love their meats and sausages! This is actually a common sight in restaurants and cafes:

Gemma and Oscar had booked a trip to a seaside town up north for a group of Americans (who also happened to be former coworkers of mine) on Tuesday. Since we were now in Barcelona on Tuesday we were able to go along. This is where getting stuck was a blessing in disguise. It was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.

The first stop was Figueres (okay, this isn't the beautiful area) to go to the Salvador Dali museum. Right, I'm not going to mince words. The man was a freak. Yes, if he were alive he would tell me that's because I'm just not intelligent enough to 'get' him. I don't care. He was a total weirdo. This was one of my favorites:

Soft Self Portrait with Grilled Bacon

You read that right. I couldn't make that one up if I tried. There was also a portrait of his wife with lamb chops balancing on her shoulder. Yeah. It was certainly an entertaining museum! 

Also, if you're in the market for packs of tissues or tanning bed glasses, I know where you can pick some up. How handy to be able to get them in the same place!

After we left Figures we were going to go just outside of Cadaqués to visit Dali's apartment. Unfortunately, we needed to prebook a tour, so we just had a wander around a bit. The man might have been crazy, but he sure picked a beautiful place to live!

After this stop off we went to lunch at a restaurant in Cap de Creus, which is very close to the French border.

This is where things started to get all crazy gorgeous. The restaurant was located in the middle of a natural park so the views were A-MAZ-ING!!!

Yes, we had sunscreen on and still managed some red noses!

After lunch we went back to the actual town of Cadaqués so we could go to the beach there and wander around the town a bit. We both dipped our feet into the Mediterranean.

Then we wandered up the hill to catch the view:

It was a very full day and we both said it was well worth the extra time Aer Lingus made us spend in Spain! Our quick weekend in Barcelona turned into a proper week long holiday. The stupid ash cloud has managed to get ONE thing right! Thanks Eyjafjallajokul!