Alright. I have been back in the States for two or three weeks now and the week I am about to write about was more than a month ago. However, I still want to take note of the time I spent with these guys in Spain and make sure I record the last few weeks I spent in Europe! So, this is a blog post about the 10 days (March 29 – April 10) my mom and Sophie spent visiting me in Spain 🙂
Our story begins on March 29 when Sophie and my mother, Emily, got off their 8-hour flight. I took the metro early to go meet them at the airport. From the airport, we all took an Uber to their hotel. Sophie and my mom were staying in a hotel in the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona. However, after two days, they would be coming to stay in my place. Malec, Dan, and Karthik were all going away on a trip to Berlin (my school had already ended but theirs was on spring break) so there was plenty of room for them to stay in my Airbnb for free. The hotel was pretty nice and in a really convenient location. After a few hours of downtime we went out for lunch (more like breakfast for me). And then, we walked around the Gothic Quarter for a while. We found this cool American-style thrift store. They even had some UMD apparel. After that we got Tapas and some drinks for dinner! Here are some pictures from our first day in Barcelona 🙂
The next day we explored my University, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, and the city life around it. I showed them Parc de Ciutadella and around the halls of my school. Then we got Tapas + Sangria for dinner. Yum! We took a nice easy day that day because the next day we were going to go to Sant Pol de Mar – a coastal town in Costa Brava, Spain where my mom had rented an Airbnb.
The next day we all took the Barcelona metro to the station that connected us to the Commuter train lines. Here, we got on the R7 train that would take us from Barcelona up to Sant Pol de Mar in Costa Brava. The train ride up to Sant Pol de Mar was beautiful! We were on the coast the whole time and had beautiful blue water to see on our ride. Sant Pol de Mar was beautiful! We loved the tranquillity of the town and the open beaches. Sadly, it was a bit cold to swim but we loved all hanging out, sipping sangria, and watching movies at the end of the night (we watched Silver Linings Playbook and The Blind Side the first two nights). Here are some pictures from our first few days in Sant Pol de Mar.
Our first few days here were pretty chill. We went out to eat, went for walks, shopped, and explored the beaches of Sant Pol de Mar. We had such an amazing time here! After these first few days, I had to return to Barcelona to attend a PhD student’s presentation on AI. So, all three of us took the train back to Barcelona and then planned on getting a rental car to drive back home. Everything went well on the way there and the presentation was quite interesting. However, when we went to pick up the rental car, we realized that my mom would need to provide her passport (which she did not have). So, after much deliberation regarding what to do (not rent a car at all, have me rent the car *but it was stickshift and I can’t drive stick and the rental company required the driver to be the renter*, rent an automatic car so I could drive but it would be significantly more expensive) we decided that I would take the train ride alone back up to Sant Pol de Mar and take a picture of my mom’s passport and text it to her so she would be able to rent the car. After a stressful afternoon, everything ended up well with the three of us back in Sant Pol de Mar with a rental car! We also needed the rental car because the following day we would be driving up to Tossa de Mar (another coastal town in Costa Brava) where we would be scuba diving! I was super excited. Going scuba diving has been a dream of mine.
The next day, the three of us set out for Tossa de Mar – about a 40-minute drive up the coast from Sant Pol de Mar. Tossa de Mar was beautiful and scuba diving was so much fun!!! Our training was quite brief – just learning a few hand gestures and how to use the apparatus. I think in the U.S. obtaining a scuba certification would have been a bit more challenging. But, nonetheless, everything went well! My mom was a bit anxious at first but our tour guide was great and guided her throughout the entire thing. We did an underwater loop around this cove. It was beautiful! We saw schools of fish, jellyfish, and some super cool underwater rock formations. It was one of my favorite experiences in Europe. After Scuba, we got some lunch and Aperol Spritzs at a nearby restaurant. Then, we did some exploring and found some amazing little stores and sights. Super cool little town. Tossa de Mar was one of my favorite places we visited and somewhere I definitely would like to see again.
After our trip to Tossa de Mar, we returned to Sant Pol de Mar for a few more days before returning to Barcelona. We enjoyed a nice night out and got Italian dinner for my mom’s birthday and I went on a few runs around the town. All in all, we had a great time exploring these two coastal towns in Costa Brava! Two of the coolest places I’ve been to!
After our time in Costa Brava, we returned to Barcelona for a few days. During these last few days in Barca, we took a day trip to Montserrat – a beautiful mountain range just outside the city. The mountain range also has a monastery. We went the day before easter and there was a boy’s choir performing – which we got to see. Montserrat was one of my favorite places I went to in Europe. The rocks are so cool and it was exactly the type of hiking spot I had been looking for. Here are some of the pictures from our trip!
After our hike, we found a strip of little farmer’s markets where Montserrat residents were selling locally made goods. Goat Cheese, Honey Comb, and Cheese Cake to name a few. All of the goods were made from either goats or bees! Sophie and I wanted to try some honeycomb and you can see us enjoying the sweet delicious honey! The only sad part about the trip was that our water bottles got stolen. It was my idea to leave them on the side of the trail because I didn’t think anyone would take them, but alas, I was wrong 😦
On our last day in Barcelona, we went to Parc Guell! It was a beautiful day and we took some great pictures! There were several artists selling beautiful paintings. Unfortunately, they only accepted Euros and we had no cash. So, my mom decided to buy a painting from a painting store in the Gothic Quarter! A beautiful black and white painting of Casa Batlló – Gaudi’s dragon building I wrote about in one of my first posts!
I was so happy to see some familiar faces after so long, and I’m so happy that my mom and Sophie were able to experience Spain with me!