So we get to Barcelona Friday afternoon, check in at the hostel, then just start walking around, heading down to the waterfront, walking along the boardwalk, then checking out a little bit of the downtown area, such as Las Ramblas, the main drag. Oh, and this 70-year-old walked by us, completely naked, with tattoo "underwear". That was....special.
On another note, by an incredible coincidence, one of the Zivis (the guys doing their civil service) that I had known at the Goethe-Institute in February was also in Barcelona that weekend, a fact I found out randomly on Thursday (thanks to Facebook). So Zsofia and I met up with him Friday evening, and we decided to go sit on the boardwalk and chat. We did this for a couple hours, by which time it was dark. A man walked really close by us, staring and Zsofia and I, and then stopped and asked us for directions to Las Ramblas. Looking back that should have been kind of suspicious, because we were actually really close to Las Ramblas at the time, and it's easy to find. He didn't appear to speak much English, so we were all focused on him for a minute, trying to explain the directions. 30 seconds to a minute after he left, we heard a guy yelling, "hey, excuse, miss! miss! i think a man just took your bag!" I realized he was talking to me, looked down, and realized that my purse was indeed gone. Now, I am partially at fault here, I should have kept it looped over my arm and shoulder, instead of putting it on the ground. We were sitting on these steps though and it was right behind my legs, so I thought it was safe. Of course, not safe enough from professional purse thieves in Barcelona.
So I take off running in the direction the man is pointing, saying "he went that way!", and Jonathan (the Zivi) is following me. The boardwalk isn't that wide and it wasn't particularly crowded, so I was looking all around for anything that looked like a suspicious guy with a purse, but saw nothing. When I got to the end of the boardwalk I stopped, because I had come to an intersection and didn't see the point in blindly running around the city. Jonathan catches up to me and asks me if I had seen anything, which I hadn't, then asks what was in the purse. Well, actually everything was in the purse: wallet, all forms of ID (including passport), sunglasses, camera, everything. So we start walking back towards where Zsofia had stayed sitting; we both figure the purse is gone so we're discussing what I need to do, like go to the embassy, cancel my credit cards, etc. We figured that a guy had grabbed my purse while the other guy distracted us by asking for directions, and Jonathan thought that the guy who told me my purse had been stolen might have also been part of it and might have sent us in the wrong direction.
That assumption actually turned out to be wrong, because, before we got to Zsofia, we see this group of people who are all yelling and gesticulating at each other. We get closer, they spot us, and this woman motions to me and HOLDS UP MY PURSE! She only spoke Spanish, but I was able to gather that she was asking if it was mine and if everything was still in it. I checked and yep, not so much as a Euro was missing. Jonathan and I are beyond relieved, but also incredibly confused by what is happening. Here is the scene before us: there's a small arabic-looking guy sitting on the steps, standing next to him and holding him by the collar is a spanish guy, there's the woman who gave me the purse (it appears that she's with the spanish guy because she keeps talking to him), the arabic guy is yelling at this black guy, and 3 other black guys are standing around yelling at the arabic guy. We try asking what's going on, but nobody can speak the same languages; it was the crazies melee I've ever been a part of. Everybody besides Jonathan and I were mostly speaking Spanish, but the arabic guy could also speak a little french, as could the spanish man, and one of the black guys a little english. oh, and Jonathan and I are speaking German to each other the whole time. So confusing.
At first we thought that maybe the spanish couple or the black guys (who I'm pretty sure were hash-sellers) wanted a reward for finding the purse, but when I offered them some money they refused it. After a lot of very slow and broken explaining in various languages, this is what I was able to gather: the arabic guy was the purse thief, but when Jonathan and I had come running after him (though we never saw him) he stashed the purse behind a lamppost to retrieve later. Once we had run past he went back to get it, but this black guy had seen a random purse behind a lamppost and went to pick it up to turn it in to the police, but just then the thief came back and tried to take the purse away from him, there was some kind of scuffle (the thief had a ripped shirt), which attracted the attention of the spanish couple, who are actually police officers in Madrid on vacation in Barcelona. So they broke it up, apprehended the arabic guy, and called the Barcelona police. The arabic guy then apparently accused the black guy of being the actual thief, using an argument along the lines of "he's black, and all black people steal, so he must be the thief", which is what attracted the attention of the other black guys, who just came over to help out the other black guy.
Anyways, we're waiting for the Barcelona police (for the record they're quite slow), and meanwhile Zsofia has been sitting alone. Btw a pretty blond girl alone in Barcelona at night is not good. But since we still weren't quite sure what was going on, Jonathan didn't want to just leave me with these random people. So we're worry about her being kidnapped by creepy men and at the same time (as she told us later), she was worried that the thief had shot us or something, because we were gone for so long. We're still standing around waiting for the police when the guy who had told me my bag was stolen (henceforth referred to as Sonny, because that's the name he wrote down with his number and told me to "call him the next time I'm in Montreal", since when I found out he lived in Montreal I had told him that I had visited a friend studying there) shows up. So Sonny sees the thief (still being held by the Madrid police officer) and he starts yelling "that's him, that's the guy I saw!" and cursing the thief out in 3 different languages (french, english, and arabic). Turns out that Sonny is originally from Algeria and is a Berber, the indigenous peoples of North Africa. And this thief is arabic, and Berbers (at least some) REALLY don't like Arabs. So he's calling this arabic guy the scum of the earth, that all arabs are thieves who stole the Berber's land, etc. Apparently then the thief made a death threat against Sonny, so now the situation's getting really crazy, and Jonathan and I are wondering to each other in German if this is really happening, or if maybe Sonny actually was involved and they're just putting on a show, we had no idea. But apparently not, because when the police finally got there Sonny made an official report against the thief, they put him in the police car, took everybody's statements (that was again a challenge due to the language barriers), Jonathan went and got Zsofia (fortunately still safe and sound), and by the time they got back the police were getting ready to leave, I thanked Sonny, the Madrid police officers and the black guy profusely, and we went on our merry way, basically in schock and trying to figure out what had just happened.
In terms of excitement the rest of the weekend can't hold a candle to that first evening, but it was certainly more relaxing! Zsofia and I did more sightseeing, visiting a lot of the famous buildings designed by the architect Antoni Gaudi, relaxing a little by the pool at the hostel, and going to the beach. We didn't swim at the beach or stay there long, we just wanted to see it and the ocean and take a few pictures. The reasons were that 1) we were short on time and 2) the Barcelona city beachs are RIDICULOUSLY crowded, which I don't really like. Factor in the fact that going topless is legal and practically everybody, skinny fat young old, does, and, well, you don't have the most pleasant beach experience ever. But the beaches themselves are quite nice and the Mediterranean clear and warm.
The good thing about this trip was that we actually spent very little money (besides for the flight and hostel). We bought food at the grocery store for most meals, but did splurge once on some delicious seafood paella (I don't normally even like seafood and I loved it) and sangria, of course. We definitely could have spent another week there, but unfortunately had to leave Sunday evening to get back to Tuebingen and school.
A wonderful, warm, interesting, thrilling, crazy weekend! It was fun to travel with a friend, but now I'm ready to just relax and enjoy Tuebingen for my last month here (I can't believe there's only a month left!) More posts will come though, but about random topics rather than trips. Adios for now!
SwissAir is the way to fly because they give you swiss chocolate; flying over Lake Constance (between Germany and Switzerland); fountain/sculpture by the hostel
at the marina
Las Ramblas (also known as La Rambla), aka the main drag with tons of vendors, shops and cafes; Market La Boqueria (way too crowded so we didn't go in)
I have never seen such elaborate (or so many) street performers as in Barcelona
around town
funky sculpture; evening at the waterfront (pre-thievery)
chilling by Jonathan's hostel post-purse trauma
hostel lobby and pool
pretty building; need a fish, bird or gerbil while you're out sightseeing? Don't worry, Las Ramblas has you covered; view down to the sea during our hike to Parc Guell
the entrance to Parc Guell, one of Gaudi's masterpieces. It was a bit of a hike to get there (it's upon a hill), but the view was soooo worth it.
sitting on the pretty benches
amazing mosaic details all over the place
in the Gothic Quarter; amazing modern dance couple in the courtyard (they wanted money of course, but they were impressively good)
gay pride parade (2nd and 3rd picture, obviously)
At Placa de Espanya, which every Friday and Saturday night is all lit up and has an absolutely stunning magic fountain show (akin to the Bellagio Fountains in Las Vegas). It lasts for an hour and a half and there's music and color and so many people everywhere!! Truly a magical atmosphere.
The coolest bar ever. It's called Dow Jones bar, and the prices function based on stock market principles. That means that if a certain type of drink is being bought a lot, the price goes up, if it hasn't been bought in awhile, the price goes down. And it works! Zsofia and I each bought a Tequila Sunrise and as soon as the bartender rang us up the price increased by 50 cents! Those TV screens are throughout the bar so you know what the prices are doing, and other than that the walls are decorated with paraphernalia/old newspaper articles related to stock market crashes. So cool.
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a house designed by Gaudi. Amazing and unique, if not quite my style.
another Gaudi house; not Gaudi but still beautiful; if you know Lord of the Rings you'll know why I took a picture of this sign (I freely admit I'm a nerd)
the always-under-construction Sagrada Familia. The darker-colored parts were completed before Gaudi's death in 1926, the lighter parts have been added later.
Barceloneta beach
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