The Travel Bar- Barcelona!

  
 When we first arrived in our hostel in Barcelona, we were presented with tickets for a free meal with the purchase of a drink, at the Travel Bar. Located just off La Rambla, so our maps told us, we eventually found it. For future reference, if you are headed towards the water, you make a left at the building decorated with the umbrellas.

   There was not much to the Travel Bar, it was a pub like any other, but all the servers spoke English, and well they gave us a free meal. The free meal however was just a bowl of pasta, with chicken and pesto, so after our pasta, we gave in and split on fish and chips, witch were surprisingly tasty, so far we have not been very impressed with what we call regular food in Spain.

   But now for the best part, the Travel Bar runs free walking tours, as well as Spanish cooking classes, and Flamingo Dancing tours for a price. I guess I don’t have to say that the next day we joined the free walking tour, but if I didn’t the next part may confuse you.

 

   At 11:00 am we set out to roam the streets of Barcelona and learn some history along the way. We were quite fortunate that day; we actually had 2 guides, because one had been late due to sickness. Like most cities in Europe, the history is vast, beautiful and horrifying. We visited at primary school that had been riddled with machine gun fire during an execution during the time of WW2, learned of great debates about religion and politics, and about Catalonia, and its true separation from Spain, which I will save for its own entry.

   The story I will tell you is about Santa Eulalia; a thirteen year old Christian virgin, subjected to 13 tortures, for her thirteen years during the persecution of Christians in the year 303. They say the first stripped her naked to shame her, but snow fell from the sky and covered her so she was not shamed. The next put her in a barrel with knives and glass, and rolled her down the hill, but she came out without a scratch, the cut her and burned her, and well I won’t go on, it’s pretty gruesome, you can google it, but let’s just say she became a Martyr and is worshiped for her cause. If you visit the Catedral de Barcelona, which we did next, you can see the crypt were it is said that her burned bones are kept.

   Now I won’t leave you with such awfulness, we went back to the Travel Bar after our 3 hour walk and split a burger. It may be because we have been burger deprived since coming to Europe, or that we were starving after our tour, but I tell you... that was the best burger I had ever had! It was juicy and cheesy, and only cooked until medium rare (which I love). I liked it so much in fact; we went back the next day so I could get another. If you are ever in Barcelona check it out!

The Travel Bar