The Popsicles of Spain

A filler piece, while I work on my overwhelming recap of my week in Barcelona post :)

Spain was incredible. Food. Culture. Architecture. Coffee. Incredible Weather. History. A week-long reunion with one of my best friends. Incredible.

Boriana, was the best tour guide I could have asked for. We did budget friendly activities. She took me to all the sights and wasn't offended when I was like woooooooow that's beautiful, we can go now. (She shared the same sentiment) We had good conversations, ate great food and caught up on life events that we missed in the past three years since we moved to different sides of the world.

Don't worry, I have every intention of breaking down all the adventures we went on. I am working on that post with an abundance of pictures. But this post is about exactly what the title reads.... POPSICLES of Spain.

Spain in mid-June is heaven compared to Florida. With my history of skin cancer, I was surprised that we spent almost every day OUTSIDE, without sunblock (except my daily facial SPF), and did not burn a bit. I TANNED! ME! I DID IT!

Nonetheless, we were still outside and walking miles each day or riding a moto (mo-ped). We packed sweaters just in case we weren't home before dark but during the days, we still got hot. To cool down, Barcelona made it easy to reignite my childhood obsession with popsicles. Every day we got popsicles and walked around, taking in the scenery and the breathtaking buildings that casually sit in the middle of their city. People casually walking by standing history on their way to work, passing gaggles of tourists lined up to get an 'iconic' photo for their Instagram. (Can you hear the jealousy in my typing? Yes....I am salty about the fact that everyone can look chic and Instadorable and I struggle to make my limbs look like they belong to my body. I swear, this is the perfect representation of how I feel inside when Boriana says 'Give me more!')

Credit: @stinkyasher (Don't come for me please)

Sagrada Familia

This temple is an absolute work of art. The project was designed in 1882 and remains under construction to this day. The design elements and styles changed over the years as it passed through the hands and minds of each artist, architect and project manager. From every side of the building, you get a glimpse of history and detail, highlighted uniquely by the dreams and ideas for this monument of each individual who worked on this massive project. But, let's get to the point of this post.

Right across from the entrance to the church, there is a perfect view of the arches and colors and elaborately chiseled stonework. This is also where my favorite popsicle stand resides. The little stand is nestled under the trees across the street, with umbrellas and tables to sit under and look at the towering masterpiece.

I got the passionfruit and strawberry popsicle while Bori got something else I cannot pronounce.

Afterwards, we continued to venture to the other side of the building to see the influence of other architects to this construction. At this point, my popsicle was mostly eaten (because it was delicious), but I think you readers deserve a sneak peak of the scenery. (Because let's be honest, it may take awhile to actually see that post)

MNAC (Museu Nacional d'art de Cataluña)

We did soooooo much touring this day, as you can see by the expression on Bori's face.... we were tired and hot.

We toured Plaza España, Montjuic, hiked to see the commercial port (Mirador del Migdia) from above, went to the Centre Comercial Las Arenas (bull fighting arena that they outlawed and turned into a shopping mall) and stopped by MNAC nestled in a beautiful park.

At MNAC, we watched the people selling cold beverages (illegally) run and hide in the bushes when the cops patrolled the area, random men hiding mysterious bags in holes in the ground and took excessive pictures with the butts of statues of great historical men who apparently had more cake than I could ever wish to have. There were pillars built by giants or aliens and just 7,000 stairs to be walked up. In this area we found botanical gardens, Olympic statues and walked about 10 miles in a humungous circle avoiding drunk festival ravers trying to find their way into the venues. The Font màgica de Montjuic wasn't the only magical thing I discovered that day because that was the first time i had a Calippo popsicle. Caippos are one of the easiest/least messy popsicles to acquire on your travels (as you will see in a number of pictures to the point of Micah asking if I was their new poster (non)child).

Tibidabo

Please ignore my hair (it was windy) and my weird hand placement choice (idk what to do with my limbs in photos). But Tibidabo was beautiful. Unfortunately, I devoured my popsicle before I took any pictures with this beautiful building, so you will have to wait (not sure how long) to see those pictures in the next post.

We took the moto around winding roads to the very top of this mountain. When you arrive, you are greeted by tourists, nuns, the entrance of an amusement park and one of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen. Bori's mom was horrified by the fact that she referred to it as a castle but looking at it, I understood completely. Besides the view of this remarkable building, there was plenty to see from atop the mountain, as you could literally see most ofBarcelona from above. We went to Tibidabo on Day 4 of my 7 day trip, so she was able to point out landmarks that we had visited on the previous days. It was a great day.

Sitges

We took a day trip to this little area called Sitges. It's an area known for it's beaches and their being very welcoming of the gay community. They had a naked old lady statue, a giant turtle made of sand, a beautiful statue of a mermaid, great views and adorable side streets with colorful homes and plants (as pictured above). So naturally, I loved it. We sat in this outdoor area, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, did a little bit of talking and a little bit of sitting in silence together just contemplating life. This is where I learned that it is normal for women to frolic topless in the sea, nobody batted an eyelash at it. This is also where Bori attempted to tell me names of places we went day by day for my (future) blog post. After about two minutes, we gave up and I handed her my phone for her to type the words I could not pronounce, let alone begin to imagine how to spell despite my 2 years of high school Spanish and many broken years of Duo Lingo streaks. Then we drove away to this little restaurant and had some of the best food I've ever eaten in my life while seated in the woods drinking one of the best mojitos I've ever had in my life. (Details to come in my recap post - pictures too)

Montserrat

Another day we took a little roadtrip to Montserrat, a lovely monastery settled amongst weird rock formations towards the top of a mountain. There were hiking paths for miles. We got ourselves some coffee and went to hiking. We passed statues of saints and found little nooks in nature that allowed you to really think about life. After noting how stupid some of the people were for standing on the edge of a cliff on unsteady, jagged rock surfaces, we found a shaded area with stone benches. We took in the views, dusted off the branches, ants and leaves and pulled out our books. We read for quite awhile and I am almost certain Bori took a nap.

Then we headed back to the monastery for our daily popsicle before we ventured back to Barcelona to walk around looking for Pablo Picasso's regularly attended bar that was sadly closed at the time.

Please ignore how pop down I appear. I may have been very close to falling asleep under the trees as well. But hey, look at those rock formations! Nature is dope af.

Barceloneta

On this day, we went to the Picasso Museum because duh. Then, we went to Torre Agbar for photo ops and on to Barceloneta. At the beach we ate some seafood, got souvenirs for the fam and friends, found a pop-up thrift market to explore, got rained on briefly, tried a NEW (to me) popsicle and then went to the W Hotel to stare at the sea and skateboarders because Bori would kill me before she let me leave without seeing the giant glass building. (As I said, the ULTIMATE tour guide)

Conclusion

Spain is a masterpiece. I love Spain. Popsicles are awesome. Bori is the best. The End.

(I hope you enjoyed this random and useless information)

Moral of the story.....Eat a popsicle every day when you visit Spain. It is worth it.