OUR LAST COUNTRY IN EUROPE!!! Pt. 2

There are so many iconic points of interest in Barcelona. At first glance, it seems impossible to figure out where to go first and what direction to take. Especially when you're like us and walk EVERYWHERE!We finally planned a route and met up with Mike and Tyler. We decided to begin at the Sagrada Familia.We got in line to buy our tickets, only to realize it had been reserved and booked  to full capacity until 6:30pm that evening. For the next few hours we walked to all the points of interest and realized that the entire city operated one way.... Reservations only. We walked around the city and saw what we could. We would have to return the following day to see the jaw dropping cathedral.Our group of four parted ways for a while; freshening up, having dinner and finalizing onward travel plans, you know, basics.Ever since we arrived in Barcelona, I was obsessed with getting to Espit Chupitos. The local and incredible famous shot bar. THIS IS THE BEST PLACE EVER.There are over 400 trick shots to choose from. Some are on fire, some have Tabasco, some you may have to take from a complete strangers mouth. You name it, and I bet it's there.Unfortunately or fortunately, I guess depending on how you look at it, there was a special the night we finally went. 1€ shots. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! So the games begun.Mike and Tyler showed up after some time and that's when it really went down. Shot, after shot, after shot, after shot. We didn't realize we had already been there for about three hours before we finally called it quits and decided to check out another bar.We wandered around, talked to locals and homeless people, typical drunk travelers. We basically walked with no direction haha. We had so much fun just being with each other we walked for another hour or so until we decided it was best if we all stopped drinking and slept. That way we could actually experience La Sagrada Familia, instead of dragging our lifeless bodies through them.Waking up, obviously hungover, Camden and I met up with Mike and Tyler on the beach for our last day in the beautiful city of Barcelona.Somehow Camden and I became incredibly lost on our way to the beach. Like, INCREDIBLY LOST. I'm not sure how it happened. Maybe a combination of, 1)not really knowing where we were going in the first place, 2) not using any map, 3) listening to other tourists just as lost as we were.Between those three, and many more I can't bother to remember, Camden and I were about two hours walking distance from the beach but the time we realized where we were. So we broke our "we won't take any transportation" rule and hired a taxi.Once we arrived on the beach, life was good! The weather was to die for and we all needed some serious R&R after last nights shenanigans.Whether it was napping, swimming, tanning, people watching, collecting sea treasures or a combination of them all, we were all perfectly content.As the evening rolled in, a huge storm did as well. We left our oasis at the beach and began to head towards La Sagrada Familia.We had a reservation at 6:30pm, and we were not about to miss our chance to see it!Naturally, a full on downpour began a few minutes into our walk back. With only swimmers and a damp coverup, we were all in it for the long haul. It wasn't the most pleasant walk, but looking back, I would do it over and over again.There was something about that city that always kept me wondering. I felt myself wanting to walk down every street and see every single thing this city had to offer. Four days wasn't enough, I wanted more!Before we knew it, the most impressive cathedral in the work was right before us.Now I haven't talked about Gaudi, or his impressive buildings all around Barcelona for two reasons. First off, they are so impressive and almost impossible to capture by description; and second, I could go on and on about how gorgeous and thought provoking they all are, but that would take the remainder of the day up. So I'll try and keep it bearable. Hah.Anyways, as you may have read, Camden and I had see A LOT of churches before we came to Spain. And by A LOT, I mean A LOOOT. After spending four months in Europe, it's impossible not to see so many places of worship. Every time we spoke about our trip to Spain, we were told to see La Sagrada Familia. We promised everyone we would but couldn't figure out the hype until it was right in front of us. This place was definitely like no other.One of my most favorite facts I learned about Gaudi, is that he believed architecture was intertwined with nature. He has been quoted saying, "There are no straight lines or sharp corners in nature. Therefore, buildings must have no straight lines or sharp corners".This mentality and creative ideal is portrayed throughout ALL of his pieces around the city.Gaudi it's also known to use vibrant colors to portray natures beauty, instead of concrete and bricks we have all becomes accustomed to.Getting back to La Sagrada...We walked up to the tallest structure in Barcelona on compete awe. The detail of the outside was unbelievable. I don't even think I saw a quarter of what was exposed. There was SO much to take in! There were words, animals, entire settings depicting important religious moments throughout history, the list goes on and on. The various towers of the cathedral seem daunting at first, yet like a rubrics cube at second glance. So much detail. So many pieces to fit together to make the full story.By the way, this is only the outside.As we walked in, I couldn't believe what I was surrounded by.A technicolor interior.A floating crucifix surrounded by lights.Columns that would make your head spin.Stained glass that is intricate, it makes the Notre Dame look like primary school.There were so many feelings and thoughts at once I could barley express myself while inside.....All I can say, is I've never seen anything like it. At all. Ever. I don't think anyone has. Well, unless they've been there haha.It was an incredible way to spend our last evening in Barcelona.We said our final goodbyes to our friends, Tyler and Mike, who we had spent that past three days with.. it was an emotional goodbye, leaving yet another amazing set of awesome people. We knew we would see them again, but I still teared up when we went our separate ways.We trudged back to our hostel in our soaking wet clothes. We were exhausted. As we began to walk up the stairs to our floor, I heard a familiar voice and spun around. To my surprise, some Canadian guys Camden and I befriended in Greece, just arrived to our hostel!! We had a jumping/ hugging/ laughing/ "I can't believe this" reunion moment. It was so nice to see familiar faces after saying goodbye to our friends from home, but we knew the morning was a few hours away, we still had to dry off, pack and get train tickets to Madrid in the morning.We had dinner with our friends from Greece /Canada and headed upstairs for the night.We were settled, packed and ready for a good night's rest when we became friends with loads of our new Australian roommates, (who had come in the middle of the night and woke everyone up to see where we were all from). we all stayed up all night talking about how to say Adidas properly, skate icons and our countries & cultures.Just your typical night in a hostel...I must have fallen asleep at some point because the next thing I remember is waking up to my alarm and having thirty minutes to get my bags off the top bunk bed, down the stairs, up four blocks and ten stops south to the train station.Oh the early mornings of an over confident traveler...to my defense we did make it on time and caught a train to Madrid! With two minutes to spare!I was really starting to become a pro at navigating my way around international transport systems, and I felt badass. Well, actually... I still do hahaha.Anyways, after all that heart pumping adrenaline with the threat of missing our ride, we tossed our bags in the allocated compartments and within second we were both fast asleep.We woke up when the train started to slow down. Thank god timing was on our side this time... haha. We grabbed our things and walked for what seemed like an eternity to our last European hostel.Ever though we were exhausted, we decided to unpack, sort out what we were mailing home and plan Africa while we still had some downtime. Ahhh. We couldn't wait. The safaris. The drastic culture shock. The heat. Everything. So. Exciting!This hostel was awesome for what we needed to do. The foyer was huge. Open air. With lots of couches and outlets. haha. Perfect for my constantly dying phone. The rooms all opened up into the foyer so we were able to wash and hang our clothes while unpacking and keeping an eye on our charging phones on our claimed couch.After our "chores" were done, we Facetimed a few of our friends.They said Cam didn't look well.We thought so too. But we were tired. Sleep could help? That must be it.So, we went to bed & decided to deal with it in the morning.