#barcalife

[unusualzen]

#tbt To CANNOLI FINGERS #yyc #truecooks #barcalife #cannoli @chefgass @lemcake @amoldeshpande29 (at Barcelona Tavern)

[unusualzen]

Brunch Vibes 😎🌴🍹 #cheflife #truecooks #barcalife #yyc #iamdowntown (at Barcelona Tavern)

[spontaneoustripsandtravels]

[spontaneoustripsandtravels]

Barcelona - Spain - May - October 2015

After 2 weeks in Valencia, struggling to find work because we couldn’t speak Spanish, we decided to head for Barcelona. Although Catalan was the first language, we had more chance of setting ourselves up there due to English being spoken throughout the city.

Sash knew a set of twins from uni, Hannah & Amy, who we met within our first few days in Barcelona. They had lived there for almost a year & were absolute diamonds in helping us set ourselves up. I did the odd waitressing shift at the restaurant Amy managed & Sash washed pots on occasion. Though the head chef didn’t like the clothes she wore so told Amy she wasn’t allowed to return. Lol, fired from pot washing….definitely not one for the CV.

A week or so later we had bagged ourselves jobs working for Travelodge, booking hotels in an English speaking call centre. A flat was next on the agenda and this didn’t take too much longer, within 3 weeks we had sorted an apartment by the beach and we’re working. Things just fell into place so easily.

We fell in love with Barcelona more each day. We met some incredible friends through working at Travelodge and loved the Spanish way of life. Cervezas for lunch, pinchos in the afternoon and eating tapas for dinner around 10/11pm. Many nights were spent at Merlot’s, the local bar from work, where we drank way too many San Miguels for €1.10 a bottle.

We worked 4 days on and had 3 days off. We explored the architecture of the city, spent days lazing on the beach & had many cooked dinners from the Belgian boys we lived with, Bart & Ludo. They went to cooking school & weren’t too shabby in the kitchen which was a bonus for us pair of foodies. Though I think they started to get pissed off when I’d come home drunk and help myself to their culinary delights left in the fridge!

We were there for San Juan, a huge festival on the beach, where children threw fire crackers, fireworks were set off all evening and everyone danced to music and drank until the sun came up. It was such a buzzy city, there was always something going on & we loved our lives there. We went to festivals on the weekend, with Piknik Elektronik being a highlight. It was some of our dearest friends first ever festival, Lorraine & Noreen. We climbed the hill behind Mont Juic in 30 degree heat & once we finally made it we danced away to Mr Scruff, drinking plenty of Sangria.

My family came to visit in August, as did Sasha’s Dad & sister. It was so special having our nearest and dearest over, as it was too far for them to visit when we lived in Aus. We did the usual touristy stuff, La Rambla, FC Barcelona game, cycling tour around the city & dined al fresco with red wine and tapas. It was great for my family to meet Sasha’s Dad…..him & my Mum seemed to get on like a house on fire. And that house on fire certainly turned into actual fire when we had a barney with the waiter in the beachside chicken restaurant. With my mum screaming “you are very rude”, and Sasha’s Dad roaring he was going to “call the police”, it was time to leave. Safe to say we didn’t return!

A week later Sasha’s sister was due a visit to Barca. She had been interailing with her friend Rosie & Barcelona was their final stop. We had arranged to meet in Valencia beforehand to go to the all famous tomato throwing festival “La Tomatina”. Sash and I had rounded up a group of 10, we booked an apartment in the centre of Valencia for 2 nights and had the most incredible few days. We had a pre party on the terrace the night before Tomatina & headed to Bunol, a small Spanish town, for the tomato fight early the next day. All nursing hangovers we grabbed a few beers and the fun began. Smothered in tomato, saturated to the bone and stinking of the fruity red stuff we hurled squished tomatoes in a crowd of hundreds and had a ball. Who’d have thought this could have been such an epic experience. The sun shone and after a quick rinse in the shower we had dried tomato pips in our hair, stained red clothes and crusty residue down our faces. That didn’t stop us staying for the day festival, dancing to live music in the blistering heat, surrounded by hundreds of Spanish people and the stench of tomato!!

Our final few weeks of summer were spent living with our favourite Irish couple, Lorraine & Noreen. They were life saviours, as our flat contract had ended and we needed a place to stay until we flew back to the UK. Obviously our nights were spent chatting until the early hours, drinking way too many cans of Estrella, eating home cooked grub & watching movies. We loved these girls so much it was hard to say goodbye.

We’d had the most unbelievable summer whilst trying to save for South America. I didn’t think this was physically possible. Saying goodbye was tough, it never gets easier but I suppose that’s the difficulty of travel. You meet the best people and you move on. Barcelona will always have a special place in our hearts…..and who knows, we may be back!