Location: Barcelona
Buenos dias from Barcelona! This morning’s wake-ups were at 0700 and breakfast at 0730, consisting of toast, cereal, and beans prepared by head chef Sydney. Then we finished up BA by scrubbing the floors of the forward accommodations and galley and attended to the bilges. The students held a quick study session before our physical oceanography quiz and then headed to the cockpit before we split for a free day to explore Barcelona. To start off our adventures, Daniel, Gigi, Kayla, Mal, Nat, Tia, and I went to the nearest coffee shop (definitely not Starbucks) and scouted some nearby thrift stores. The first one we went into was a vintage thrift store, and then we went into Humana, a more basic thrift store. Around 1230 we found a place to get tapas which were so yummy. I shared some baby squid and potatoes baratas with Mal. Afterward, Sage, Mal, Tia, and I roamed around to the cathedral and found a little fruit shop where we got some peaches to snack on. At the cathedral, we did some quality people watching, including our tourist staff making goo ahh eyes at the buildings. From there, I split off with Kayla to accompany her hospital visit, which ended up being the rest of our afternoon. Around 1600 we found ourselves in the ER waiting room and didn’t end up seeing the doctor until 2200. During that time, we went to the vending machines four separate times to get water, then a Kit Kat, accidentally getting walnuts, and finally almonds to lift our spirits. All went uphill from there, and Kayla saw the doc, which took literally 5 minutes, everything was great and then we walked back to Vela. The rest of the crew met back at Vela around 1700 to meet the chefs Syd, Gigi, and Tom, hard at work preparing burgers bowls for dinner.
Here’s a recap of everyone’s favorite moment of their free day in Barcelona: Tia enjoyed walking through the big outdoor markets with local shops and vendors, Gigi and Mal loved getting tapas and finding special goodies at the thrift stores, Nat found herself at the Moco modern art museum, Abi and Sarah spent a large portion of their day wondering the streets and getting familiar with the area, Zoe’s best moment was capturing a jellyfish in the salty bucket, Syd’s favorite memory was the Christmas music that was playing in her visit to the grocery store, Jack enjoyed watching the street artists paint, Daniel and Duncan liked wandering the streets and alleyways that opened up into large plazas, Laura delighted on a fresh salad, Kayla’s favorite memory was the taste of almonds in the hospital waiting room after mistakingly getting walnuts, Max enjoyed tapas for lunch with Nat, Duncan, and Daniel, and Sages’s favorite moments were watching the staff be insane tourists and munching on the fruit from the little tiendita. Hopefully, that gave a little insight into everyone’s whereabouts on our free day!
PS if you haven’t been updated, Whiskers now has a bestie Leo, our boat dog 🙂
Much Love, Annie!