Saying goodbye to Madrid was tough. Not just because Madrid was a great city, but because in such a short amount of time I had made some pretty amazing friends. I woke up early and took the Metro to catch my early train. I grabbed breakfast at the train station and hopped in my seat. Because I had booked so late, I had to take a Tourista Plus train, which meant upgraded seats with outlets and lots of room.

Tourista Plus Train

It was convenient and nice, just a little expensive for traveling around Europe. I enjoyed the 3 hour train ride to Barcelona and after taking one or two wrong Metros, I made it to Casa Gracia, my hostel.

The hostel was located in the most affluent area in Barcelona. There were designer stores surrounding my hostel, and the outside looked grand, like a beautiful and expensive hotel in the area. The hostel itself cost me 40 euros per night, which in the world of hostels, is pretty expensive. But wow, was it beautiful. Casa Gracia had a beautiful narrow entrace with the front reception.

Casa Gracia

To the right it expanded into two common areas; one was a sitting room with large floor to ceiling glass French doors so you could enjoy the weather, and the other was decorated like a library complete with a faux fireplace as well as real books and computers.

Library Room

I stayed on the first floor with 5 other girls and the room was stunning as well. The bunks looked brand new and the room also had floor to ceiling glass French doors that would open to a concrete balcony overlooking the beautiful, bustling street.

Hostel Room

After I got acclimated to my hostel, I decided to head to Parc de la Ciutadella by metro. I got there, and walked around for a bit, running into a beautiful fountain. I had lunch and some sangria in the park in the center before deciding to head back for a bit.

Sangria in the park!

I rested, freshened up and took 3 trains to ARTeNOU, a small onek-day music festival that I had purchased tickets to, just outside of Barcelona. I walked around the festival, checked out a handful of artists (there were 2 stages outside, one small art exhibit with a dj inside), had a delicious apple wine drink from Spain, made 3 new Spanish friends and headed out.

New friends at ARTeNOU

There was a second part to the festival in the city in a nightclub, so I wanted to head back before that started.

When I finally arrived back to my hostel, the Barcelona game had started. I had heard from a new friend in Madrid what would happen if they won… the city would erupt in the center of a street called La Rambla. For those familiar with Miami, South Beach as a beautiful street called Lincoln Road in the center of the island. Lincoln Road is a great place for shopping, dining and exploring. La Rambla is very similar to Lincoln Road.

Once I found out that the game was over and Barcelona I immediately took the train to La Rambla. Sure enough, as I was getting off at my stop, there were people in Barcelona soccer gear everywhere screaming and yelling. There were also police all over the metro area to prevent huge crowds from going crazy at the station. They rerouted those who were trying to get to La Rambla and made us go the long way. Sure enough, the city was out of control.

I saw thousands of people wearing scarlet, blue and yellow. I heard cars honking, people screaming, horns blowing, and people chanting. They were everywhere and they were all moving and walking toward a center point. As I began to walk toward the crowd I began to see more and more people, until I was swallowed in by a sea of Barcelona fans who completely took over La Rambla. Beers were everywhere, fireworks and small fun explosives were going of

Walking Toward La Rambla. 

Blurry in La Rambla.

f, fans were chanting and people were climbing streetpoles waving the Barcelona flag. It was absolute mayhem and nothing could ever truly describe how awesome it was to witness something so spontaneous and explosive.

I took a ton of pictures and videos to try and capture the moment as best as I could.

Eruption in La Rambla

I decided to stay in La Rambla for a couple of hours. I met some people, cheered with them, decided to have dinner (which overlooked the craziness on the street), and eventually headed back toward my hostel.

When I got there, I was greeted in my room by two chatty Australian girls. They had just witnessed the same thing. Their names were Jess and Emily. We got along immediately and within minutes we realized that we were all going to Glastonbury. Immediately, we exchanged information and became friends. We decided to meet in the UK when we finally get to the music festival. I said goodnight to them because they were going to bed before some early flights and I was headed out to see Sango at ARTeNOU festival, part two.

I left at 2am and arrived at Nitsa (also knows as Apollo) in Barcelona. It was a quick 15 minute metro ride from my hostel and I was greeted by a long line. After about 10 minutes I was inside this large club. There were two main bars and one main stage with a large dancefloor. Tables surrounded the dancefloor and were a first-come-first-serve basis.

It was now 2:30 and everyone looked like they were having a blast. Both the men and women in the club were dancing, hardly anyone sat. I danced a little to the dj before Sango, who was headling the festival. Finally, around 3am Sango got on and played for about an hour and a half. The set was great, full of his original productions, some hip hop and some trap. I had a great time and danced front row the entire show.

Afterward, it was late and I had a lot on my agenda for the next day, so I went straight home, booked my flights to Ibiza, and went to sleep.

All in all my first day in Barcelona was a blast. I met some great people, went to a really cool, yet small, festival, and watched the city explode in the most beautiful way.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for day two in Barcelona! XO