A new day, and in a new land! We were in Catalunya! (Not Spain, mind you!) Barcelona, to be precise!

Riding on the metro (touted to be one of the best in Europe), we made our way towards Montjuïc hill. Alighting and exiting the metro station, we attempted to navigate our way to the cable car station, but it was not long before we were hopelessly lost again. Asking for directions did not help much, but we decided to head uphill, and after a long steep climb, we found what we were looking for, and realized that we could have taken the funicular direct from the metro station, saving us the trouble of the long hike!

The cable cars brought us back to the top of the hill, where we found Montjuïc castle. The castle offered us a wonderful vantage point from which we caught fabulous panoramic view of the city of Barcelona below.

Here, as Barcelona is situated by the sea, we discussed about how seagull shit must be pretty damn disgusting, as they have a diet of fish! But, of course, it wasn’t a very important or intelligent discussion…

A funny thing happened when we were headed back down when we were done with Montjuïc. From the base cable car station, we were to take the funicular down to the metro station. Arriving at the funicular station, Derrick noticed that the tram still had its doors open, and so, rushed into it as we struggled to catch up with him. Just as he entered, the doors slammed close without any warning, leaving him alone in the car which soon departed. The next funicular was 10 minutes later. It was all really hilarious when it all happened.

Derrick trapped in the funicular after the doors closed behind him!

Barcelona is home to one of the biggest football clubs in the world – FC Barcelona. In fact, the club motto goes, “Mes que un club”, meaning, “More than a club”. It is indeed more than a club – it is a proud symbol of Catalonia. Well, not only is it a football club, it also has a basketball team and a handball team, amongst many other sports.

Turning a corner to see the 100,000 seater Camp Nou is an awe inspiring feeling. There out of no where, stands a giant of a building, and it all took a while to settle in.

We purchased out tickets to the stadium and museum tour, and went to the streets around the corner from the stadium where we had a Macdonald’s lunch.

As soon as we were ready, we started our tour of the stadium. The tour brought us to the stadium’s facilities, including the player’s changing room, the player’s chapel where they could pray before a match, the stands, pitch side, as well as the press box.

It was at the stands that we sat for quite a while, taking the sights of the magnificent stadium, and imagining that we were watching a live match at this oversized arena.

The very convenient metro brought us back to the center of old Barcelona, the Barri Gòtic. Here, we walked the La Ramblas, admiring the scores of “human statues”. We also did some souvenir shopping. The sky soon turned dark after dinner (at 8pm), and the La Ramblas took on a completely different feel in the night.

With our shopping for the day done, we were back to our hostel, where we were exhausted and a good night’s rest was well in order.