Travelogue :  Backpacking (Western) Europe

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We ended up staying in Barcelona for the lengthiest stay of our backpacking trip (a total of 4 days) because we were exhausted from being on-the-go and just wanted to relax and enjoy the city. When we arrived, it was already 9pm and having read Jene's Spain guidebook, we knew we wanted to stay somewhere near Las Ramblas. Problem being? The map contained in the guidebook was cut off and we had no idea where to go from here.

Luckily, the view of the 'golden arches' led us to a nearby McDonald's, serving as a temporary safe haven while we unloaded some of the weight and paused to get a closer look at where we were going. Thankfully, a Spanish couple helped us out by pointing us in the right direction. Las Ramblas was just a few blocks down the street.

After a quick snack, we headed to random hostals, knocking on the doors until we found one that was cheap and vacant. 'Hostal Pension Dani', a tiny one-level hostal located on the 4th floor not only had cucarachas in the room, but the owner (whom we dubbed 'Granny Dani') apparently had some OCD-tendencies leaving her in a habit of arranging and re-arranging our things each time we headed out. One day, when it took us about five minutes to locate Jene's flip flops (she hid them under the bed), we knew it was time to leave and find a less invasive place.

After our quick adventure at La Sagrada, we decided to head to Parc Guell-- to see another one of Gaudi's creative designs. We were aware that a bus would take us there, but we couldn't figure out which bus number to take. Also, the map posted on the wall of the bus stop didn't help much either. Juliana, a Colombian who was completing her residency here, overheard us muttering in English and offered to help us out. She was so sweet that we chatted with her until the bus arrived and even made plans to meet up and hang out the following day.