Day 9 - Baking in Barcelona

So today we woke up and went on a panaromic bus tour of Barcelona. Our guide was Aida and she was sweet. We started our tour in Parc Güell, a park that was originally supposed to be a neighborhood of 60 houses, but oh 3 were ever built. So it was changed into a park. Up until 2013 it was free to enter and you could stay as long as you wanted, but because of overcrowding in the park only 400 people are allowed in every 2 hours and you must buy a ticket to enter. It made the visit more enjoyable because we weren't competing for pictures with thousands of people.

Next we headed to see La Sagrada Familia, another work of Antoní Gaudí. Construction on the church began in the 1860s and isn't done yet! The goal is to have it done by 2026 to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of Gaudi's death.

When completed the church will have 18 towers in total. The church is being built through private donations and through the entrance fees to go inside. We did not go inside, we only traversed the entirety of the outside  Still and impressive sight.

Then, we went to Montjuic hill for an awesome overlook of the city and to see the Olympic park.

Once we said good bye to Aida, we had time to grab lunch. We went to the market of La Boquería. It is a large open air market that is open every day, they have the freshest fruit, vegetables, meats, cheeses, etc. it also has a plethora of restaurants where you order food / drinks and stand at the counter and eat. Personally one of my favorite places in BCN.

Afterwards we joined back up with Alberto and took a walking tour of the Gothic Quarter. It was super hot and we all wanted a break. But we enjoyed the sights of the Cathedral of Barcelona among others...

We ended our tour for the day with the optional called the Game. We were split into groups of 4 and were traversed the entirety of the Gothic Quarter completing challenges for the senses. It was muy divertido.and it wore all of us out! 

We had dinner at a buffet and drug ourselves back to the hotel by metro. 

Tomorrow is our free day in Barcelona, we are all looking forward to a calm day to explore the city on our own.

We said good bye to two groups tonight who are not staying for our extension. Here's a whole group picture for your enjoyment.