Friday, November 16, 2012

Trip to Barcelona, Madrid, Ibiza and Frankfurt


Place: Barcelona, Madrid, Ibiza, Frankfurt

Date(s) of Travel: November 2 - November 13, 2012



Barcelona


Madrid


Ibiza


Frankfurt

Some video Links: 

My Experience:

It was getting cold and dark early. Signs of winter around the corner. Winter in England is quite dark and dull and you can get into depressive mode unless you gotta a goal to achieve. To motivate myself and face winter, I decided to go for a backpacking trip in Spain which is warm enough during november. There was no planning other than I decided to visit Barcelona first and go forward from there.

So I reached Barcelona on a fine evening. Oh my god, the weather was a bliss and you can roam around in a t-shirt. I boarded a bus from the airport to the city centre and as usual I got down at a different place because I was dreaming. After few hours, reached my hostel called "Hostel BCN" near the metro station called parallel. People in the hostel were helpful and friendly. The hostel is very near the famous "La Rambla" and has lot of restaurants around. The one thing I noticed about Barcelona is, people are so laid back and food is cheaper compared to other european countries.

The hostel organises lot of night out events and it was a way to socialize and get to meet people. I went to quite a few night clubs and especially the trance music in "Razzmatazz" club was mind blowing. The next day, I went to camp nou to watch a Barcelona football la liga match. It was a really big stadium and it was fun. There are quite a few sight seeing places in Barcelona. Since, I was partying all night I had visited only Sagrada Familia which is a church built by famous architect Antoni Gaudi. It was one of its kind and I recommend to everyone.

After three days in Barcelona, I left for madrid which is the capital city of Spain. Madrid is a vibrant and small city compared to Barcelona. I stayed in a hostel called "Hostel One Centro" near the city centre. The city centre was always buzzing with tourists and adding to that, there were loads of Borussia dortmund german football fans. There were so many restaurants and tapas bars around that area and you never feel alone for a moment. The next day, I went for a walking tour. It was one of the best way to experience the history and culture of the city. In the evening I went for the champions league football match between Borussia dortmund and Real madrid. It was one of the thrilling game ended with 2-2 score and I enjoyed every moment in Santiago Bernabeu stadium as a fan of Real madrid because of Rafa Nadal.

I met few people from Germany in the hostel. I hanged out with them for a few drinks and went for two night outs in a row. It was really fun and we became close friends. Hope one day I visit them in Germany. There was one day, I slept whole day because of heavy hangover from the previous night. Gotta hate hangover. After three days in madrid, I decided to go to Ibiza island in the Mediterranean sea.

I reached Ibiza in the late night and I boarded a bus to my hotel. Murphy's law struck again and I am in middle of nowhere. Finally, boarded a taxi to reach my hotel called "Hostal Marino" in San Antonio. It was already near midnight and still there were loads of people in the hotel restaurant eating dinner. It was one of the best hotels I stayed in my life because everyone was so friendly and the room was quite good too. The hotel was very close to famous "San Antonio beach" which is very famous for beach parties and sunset experience. Since I went in an off-season things were very quiet. The next day, I went for a walk around the beach and I got lost. I was looking for people who can speak english and then I bumped into this girl who is from Oregon, America. She was quite friendly and helpful and after few conversations I came to know she stays in the same hotel as mine.

The next day I hired a motorbike to roam around Ibiza to see few more places. I asked this girl, if she would like to join me for the bike trip and she agreed. :). Sometimes its better to have company rather than travel alone when the girl was pretty. We visited Cala D'Hort beach where you can see Es Vedra which is a small rocky island and it was quite beautiful. Then we went to the old city in Ibiza town which is near to the port. I liked the old city which is surrounded by a castle. Another thing I need to mention is, driving in the right hand side was a thrilling experience as I am used to drive in left side.

The next morning, I left Ibiza for Frankfurt, Germany. I couldn't say bye to that girl but I was little sad because beautiful moments got over very soon. On the way to Frankfurt, I have to catch a connecting flight via Palma de Mallorca. This was the first time, I travelled in a small propeller plane and it was fun as it flew over lot of islands. Finally, I reached Frankfurt in the evening and met my travel friends from two years back. I stayed in their house itself. It was really nice and I love Frankfurt city since I have been there often.

It was very cold in Frankfurt and I was less prepared. The city has a quite a few high rise buildings and some of them let people to visit the top floor where you can have a panoramic view of the city. I went to one of them and it was brilliant. In the evening I went to the botanical gardens in the city which was nice and there is a building in the garden which emulates tropical climate and they grow tropical plants for experimentation. Then along with my friends, I went to a music concert by a band called "The Reader" in a church. Yes, a concert in a church and I was surprised too. It was one of the nice bands where all the songs were almost like story telling and soothing to ears. After spending 10 fun filling days in Europe I left for London to face the winter.

Thought of Day: It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end. - Ernest Hemingway