The Yeagers’ Experiences

What’s better than the party city of Madrid? The beach town of Barcelona, of course! To add to our conquering of Spain we headed off for a weekend of fun in the sun. Anything to beat the British cold and rain they call summer! And boy were we pleasantly surprised — it was sunny for the whole weekend, and a perfect 80 degrees.

The beaches of Barcelona are some of the best in the world. They have a boardwalk, many shops and cafes, great sand, and beautiful people with hardly anything on. The last point is the one I will focus on, because it was what stood out in my (and Stacey’s) mind the most. The men are in fairly good shape, with about half in speedo trunks. The women were all very skinny, with very small bathing suit bottoms… and nothing for a top. We didn’t go to a nudist beach or anything, but about half of all the women had no top on. Many were even sitting up, chatting, and walking to and from the beach. It was the oddest thing. Then, when it was time to go, all the clothes went on. Almost as if there was an invisible line between the beach and the boardwalk, no one went past the beach without at least a t-shirt, pants, and shoes. There were also people that came onto the beach towards the end of the day with no bathing attire. They would simply sit on the beach and chat… oddly though the women always took their tops completely off.

We didn’t have much time to party Spanish-style in Barcelona. Friday night we got in real late from the flight, and Saturday we ate dinner until 1:30am and, while this is early for Spaniards, we were exhausted after a long day. We pretty much got all of it out of our system the week before in Madrid anyway. We did take in the relaxed culture though and had a great dinner at this authentic (we were surrounded by locals) tapas restaurant — it really was the best food we’ve had in awhile!

Some of the must-see things in Barcelona are Gaudi’s creations. Gaudi was a famous Spanish artist and architect who created magnificent buildings that were out-of-this world. For example, one of his most famous buildings is supposed to look like a dragon… and it does. He hated straight lines – he thought they were boring – so all of his buildings have winding shapes and creative uses of space. He also designed an entire park (Park Guell) that is filled with winding paths and very colorful structures. The largest one is a large market square surrounded by wonderfully decorated benches, and the entire market square is elevated by 100 large columns. His greatest work though is a cathedral called La Sagrada Familia that is still not done. It has been under construction for over 120 years with an anticipated completion date of 2026. What we saw of it was absolutely fantastic!  There were 8 towers that soared into the air, and the inside was stunning. A lot of it is completed but the scaffolding and construction bits around leave a lot to the imagination, not including the fact that several more large towers are left.  One of the most significant pieces is the main steeple that will tower over 500 feet in the air and shows no sign of construction. We’ll be sure to put Barcelona on our calendar for 2026

One more thing to note — don’t ever plan on checking out of your hotel, going to the beach, and then catching a flight home. We were absolutely disgusting after the beach (sweat, sand, & seawater) and then picked up our bags from the luggage store of the hotel. There wasn’t anywhere to shower so we had to head to the airport and fly back in desperate need of a shower… and the “mini shower” in the airport bathroom’s sink didn’t help that much.

Barcelona is definitely on our list of places to return to someday. It’s a nice, enjoyable city with some really unique characteristics that you can’t find anywhere else. The relaxed Spanish atmosphere combined with the great beaches and the party-crazy culture make it a great place for a “holiday.”

Pictures have been up for a bit.