How not to enjoy beautiful Barcelona...

In order to have a less than stellar stay in this bustling and beautiful city, it is important to first get some kind of chronic stomach/intestinal problem for the week leading up to the trip, which doesn´t want to go away. Then arrive late at night to a filthy hotel just off Las Ramblas where you, having no other options, are forced to pay considerably more than the booked price for your room. The room should lack any and all kinds of air conditioning, save for a smallish window facing the tiny back courtyard. This ensures that while you sweat away in your tiny room, the you´ll not only be kept awake by the drunken shouting of sunburnt Brits, but by the loud whirling of all the other air conditioners keeping everyone else cool.

Spend the next day still fighting the galloping trots, blow a shit load (pardon the punage) on an excellent meal of paella con arroz negró and then hop in the Med for about 4 hours to cool off, after visiting El Barrio Gotico and a couple of museums. Go out drinking later. Get lost. Wake up with a screaming hangover a few minutes before check out time, then spend the day wondering around the Botanical Gardens and other tourist attractions (not La Sagra Familia unfortunately, have to hit that on my way home) with 20 kilos of backpack strapped to your dehydrated sweaty self until you can catch a bus to Logrono at 22:00.

This is not to say that there were not highlights. Meeting Lauren and Raffa (my drinking buddies) was a treat, the beach and the Med were more fun than I´ve had in a long time (and not just because of all the bronzed perky breasts, not that they didn´t help elevate my mood), and just bumming around Barcelona was actually an experience in and off itself. And the food!

ahhhhhhh........yummmmmm....the fooodddddddddd....

Any meal that can make you forget five or six days of stomach troubles is beyond orgasmic.

Basically, I was on my own in a country where I barely speak any of the language, without a guide or partner in ignorance.

I would have been a totally different trip if I was with a freind.

Like I now. Safely and happily esconced in Iñaki´s family´s appartment, full of wonderful lunch and looking foward to an afternoon of sangria and movies to pass the heat of the day, followed by sitting in the park and a good dinner, perhaps with some pintxos and fresh cider inbetween.

Víva fucking España!

I´ll post the pics in a day or two.