P and I arrived in Barcelona yesterday after an 8-hour train ride. We caught a night train from Monaco and upgraded from our standard 2nd class tickets to a sleeping compartment. Well, compartment is a good word. The room was about 7′ x5′ with six “beds”. You couldn’t sit up unless you did it hunchback stylee. It was cramped to say the least.
The four people we were sharing the compartment with were all Americans. One of the women was about 45 or so, and at about 1am she got up and sprayed really stinky old-lady perfume. One of the guys had a serious sinus problem and snored louder than my dad the entire way to Spain. Many times during the night I comtemplated poking him, or attempting to roll him on his side, but instead I just coughed a lot and made noise so he would wake up just enough to stop snoring for 10 minutes. Needless to say, neither P nor myself slept much (I slept about four hours, but poor P only slept about one).
We arrived in Portbou at about 6am, and then caught a regional train (read, almost shittier, but I’m not sure because I really was in a daze) for about two or three hours to get to Barcelona. After a bunch of walking around, we arrived at the hostel we’re staying at in the early afternoon.
The hostel isn’t really a hostel, but more of an apartment type deal. It’s in this weird old building that used to be a garage or a shop or something. It doesn’t really have many windows, except ones that open up into the middle of the building, which is just a little hole that goes about six stories up. It’s relatively cheap though, pretty comfortable, has a kitchen, and the people there seem pretty nice. The only bummer is that it only has one bathroom for the entire place (which sleeps up to about 10 people). Which is why I am sitting in an internet cafe at 11am, unshowered, with massive muffin hair and furry teeth.
We haven’t seen any of Barcelona yet because yesterday was a complete waste. I think today we’ll shop because everything is so cheap here. Yesterday we ate a 3-course meal, including drinks, for €6.60. I also found the sneakers I bought on sale for $90 for €40. Spain is the land of shopping. Wee!
I still haven’t found any wireless to hook my laptop up to. I have around 200 photos sitting on my computer, but no way to upload them yet. Hopefully soon.
Time to go drink extra strong coffee and look at sneakers!
oh the joys of travelling and not being able to sleep the night. i love that, i miss that, i need to do that again!
How much was the surcharge for the sleeping couch?
It was €15 extra. Not too sure if it was worth it…
Barcelona is so cheap, and the food is seriously great. P and I have been eating 3 course meals for lunch for about €7. You can’t beat that.
It’s stinking bloody hot though.
I went around by Eurolines (which is a bus service) so did a lot of sleeping in seats. Its not to bad.
Paris to Barcelona got in at 1am though so lot of wandering around in the early hours with pack waiting for things to open up.
Hotel I stayed at had no showers only baths.
Man alive. I am so jealous. I hope you are being very careful and not running up to other tourists (i.e. criminal types) and trying to sell them dried tomato leaves to fund your rail fares. I miss you! Loves.
Hahaha, those were the days.
We did have a brief encounter with a criminal type on our last day in Barcelona – some girl with her mother tried to pickpocket P. She actually got her hand in his pocket, but like the po’ fellas we are, there wasn’t anything in there to steal. He grabbed her hand to push her away, but didn’t tell me until we left the train. I pulled some shitty faces and mouthed some swear words at them as we left. I wish he’d told me when we were still on the train. Yeehah!