Hiking and the Beach

Hola a todos! I hope you have had a wonderful weekend thus far! Sarah and I have had a busy one, but it has been wonderful! Friday morning started bright and early as Sarah and I woke up before 7am. We even tried to sleep in! I guess our bodies like to get going early! So we laid in bed reading for a bit, got dressed and headed down to breakfast before embarking on an adventure that ended up taking quite a bit longer than we anticipated. It ended up being totally worth it though, and we wouldn't trade it for anything.

The night before, we asked multiple people how to best get to Tibidabo, because everything on the Internet seemed rather complicated and we never got any straight answers. Well, I quickly learned that the reason it sounded so complicated was because it is complicated! We wandered around for about half an hour trying to find the right metro station, and once we finally got there, we spent quite a bit of time trying to find out how to get to Plaza Catalunya where we would switch lines to Av. Tibidabo. It was quite the experience, but Sarah and I are becoming experts at the Barcelona Metro system! We finally got off the metro at Tibidabo, where we (Sarah) asked a couple of people how to climb Tibidabo. We knew that you could take a tram to the top, but we wanted to actually hike the mountain, as that is how you get the best views of Barcelona (that's what we had read, anyway!). We walked around for another half hour before accepting defeat -- we had no idea how to begin climbing this mountain. We walked back to the tram station, realizing that we had to take a bus up to the tram that would take us to the top of the mountain. That would be the easy way to the top, but we wanted to make it as difficult (and as fun) as possible!

Once we arrived at the tram station, we decided to follow a path that we thought would take us to the top of the mountain. Lucky for us, we were on the right path the entire time, but it took us about an hour and a half of uphill climbing to get to the top. Though it was tough, probably the most physically exhausting thing I have done in a while, it was so worth it. The views were perfect and so was the weather. Well, it was a little bit warm at certain points on the hike, but it was downright chilly at the top of the mountain!

Cactus -- are we in Barcelona or Texas?

What we COULD have been taking to the top! 

After about an hour and 20 minutes, we were so excited to find a sign that pointed us toward Tibidabo. Little did we know, we still had a little while to the top. We couldn't find an actual entrance, but we could see the church on top of the mountain! We were so close, yet still so far away! We continued to wind up the road a ways before finally, finally, arriving at the top. We were worn out, but we also felt an extreme sense of accomplishment. We had just up and hiked a mountain in Barcelona!

Dead from our hike!

But we found it! 

Hello, Barcelona

It was a somewhat overcast morning, and it felt as though we were up in the clouds in Colorado! We were also stunned by the sight of the church at the top of the mountain, which took over 60 years to build, and we were excited to find an amusement park -- the oldest one in Barcelona that still has some of the original rides! Unfortunately, it is only open on Saturdays and Sundays, but we plan to go back during our last weekend here. Neither of us have met an amusement park that we didn't like, and after our adventures in Disney, we feel as though it is our duty to visit this amusement park!

Our God is so BIG!

After wandering around the sky deck and exploring the inside of the church, we decided to take the tram back down to the bottom (our best idea of the day!) so that we could grab lunch and head to the beach for the remainder of the afternoon. Our travels took a bit longer than expected and we were starving by the time we reached our lunch destination: Bo de B, a sandwich shop in Barcelona known for its cheap prices and unbeatable sandwiches. Sarah and I had to wait even longer to place our orders, but we both agreed that our sandwiches were well worth the wait. They were huge, less than 4 euros apiece, and absolutely delicious. We both opted for the chicken topped with a plethora of vegetables, and while sitting in a park near the beach, ate every last bite. We will definitely be returning to this fine establishment!

Next up: the beach! We trekked to the beach to hopefully get some sun, but unfortunately the sun seemed to be a little bit shy yesterday, so we spent a little less than an hour laying in the sand, avoiding the topless women and women offering massages, before heading back to our dorm to relax from the day's events. While it was a fun day, it was a long one! A night spent reading and doing homework was just what the doctor ordered!

This morning we decided to get some homework out of the way before heading to the beach where we spent about three hours soaking up the sun. It felt great, and we both managed to get some good color! We were at the beach during lunchtime, so we decided to enjoy a meal at the place at which we stopped during our bike tour a couple of weeks ago, Ona. I opted for the salmon sandwich and Sarah went for the Ona. Both were incredible, but we both agreed that a trip back is a must because literally everything on the menu looked (and smelled) incredible. A successful lunch if I do say so myself!

Now we are just lounging, doing some studying, and preparing for our 10K race tomorrow morning! We are hoping for another sunny day so that we can once again hit the beach!

Also -- I want to make a shout out to my little brother and his friends, as they are currently playing in a 7on7 football tournament in College Station! Good luck boys, I can't wait to come watch you guys play!