Trip of my Dreams: My 2 week Vacation To Spain (Part 1)

I have wanted to travel to Spain for years. It was always my top country to visit in Europe. As a Spanish minor, I desperately wanted to go to explore and improve my Spanish. Covid-19 made that impossible. Finally, after 3 years, my friend, Alicia, and I decided to take a two week trip to Spain in April of 2023 with Ef Languages Go Ahead. We would be seeing several cities in just 13 days. I was beyond excited.

Our first stop on this 13 day journey was Barcelona. Before I start explaining the wonders of Spain, I want to say jet lag is a very real thing. We went to bed at 11pm the first night and woke up at 3 pm and couldn’t go back to bed. Also if you are flying to Europe, pay extra for first class. Economy wasn’t horrendous, but oh my goodness would that 8 hour flight have been a lot nicer in first class.

After a restless first night of sleep, our first guided tour was La Familia Sagrada, a huge catholic cathedral in Barcelona. This cathedral was designed by Antoni Gaudi and it remains unfinished. The stone chapel represents different important events in the Bible as well as nature. The front of the church depicted the birth of Jesus Christ. You can also see stone leaves wind throughout the walls as well as different animals native to Spain. I particularly loved the stone turtles at the entrance, which are meant to represent strength and stability. We finished the day checking out the views from the Barcelona Olympic Stadium.

One thing we learned while in Barcelona is it takes a bit to figure out how to navigate the city. We took the train to most places, but we are from small towns. The train is a very reliable source of transportation, just make sure you pay attention to your surroundings and look at a map.

On the second day, once we figured out how to get around, we had a quick burger lunch and went off to the Picasso Museum. It was fairly priced and we were able to explore the museum for as long as we wanted. Picasso created hundreds of works and his artwork covered this museum top to bottom. It was truly a sight to see.

That night we decided to truly see the nightlife of Barcelona. I had a friend who was living in the city at the time, so she took us out to the bars. Now if you haven’t gone out in Europe, they go out late, very late. So my friend told us to meet them at 11 pm. We were really tired, but we bit the bullet and went. The bar was an Irish bar and was not quite different from American bars, but there was booze and a great DJ.

The next day, our final day in Barcelona, we went to Montserrat, a spectacularly beautiful Benedictine monk mountain retreat. The views were absolutely breathtaking. You could feel the fresh mountain air and it felt calming. We were given a guided tour throughout the church, taking in the sites. The Black Madonna was one of my favorite pieces of art that we saw. We also learned that this majestic building was also a boy’s music school, which we got to hear a sample of and it was magnificent.

This was just the first three days of our trip and we already tried amazing food, as well as seeing outstanding sights. It would only get better from here.