Today was one of the most magical days of my life. I decided to do a tour through the Barcelona Tourism Department. I chose to do the tour that would go to Montserrat and Sitges.

So first was to Montserrat, where we had to take a bus to the base of the mountain, about 1 hour outside of Barcelona. From there we took a Funicular up to the monastery itself. Once up the hill we had free time to do whatever we felt like doing. So I rushed off to explore. I went up some stairs and found a stations of the cross along the hill side. I took pictures of each of the stations because it was so unique.

After that I started going up another staircase in the forest. I had no idea where it was going but it was really steep. I thought about turning around, but after about 15 minutes I decided I had to see where it went to. Eventually I found a sign that told me it was a hiking trail that was going up to the top of the mountain. Since I like to hike I kept going. Eventually I got to a resting spot / fork in the trail and there were a few Americans there so I chatted with them and had them take a picture of me.

I decided I didn’t want to go to the same place that everyone else was hiking to, so I took the fork in the other direction. I ended up at a beautiful look out spot that over looked the entire Spanish valley and made the monastery look like a doll house for ants. I kept hiking up and eventually made it to Sant Benet which is an old monastery that is no longer used. It seems like it is a hang out spot for rock climbers because of the amount of gear that was in the building. There were also 4 men sitting at a table laughing and smoking their cigarettes. After that I hiked back down the mountain.

I decided to take a look at the Basilica. I went inside and was planning on taking pictures for my Religious Studies class, but once inside I felt like it was wrong to take pictures. There was some sort of presence inside and it was an amazing place to see.

Then it was time to eat some lunch and cool down and relax. So I enjoyed myself for awhile and then went outside to wander around a bit more and take some pictures. Once I was done, it was time to get back on the bus and head to our next destination.

We arrived in Stiges which is a small beach town about 30 minutes south of Barcelona. Once we arrived we did a guided walking tour of the old town. The guide showed us a few different sites and then left us to explore on our own. I decided to stick with this woman who was on her own as well and had a Canon camera. As she stated "Us Canon owners must stick together." It was nice to be able to get pictures taken by someone who knew a bit about my camera.

We went to a restaurant on the beach and ate some sea food and had pina coladas. Then we walked along the beach a bit more and saw that there was a beach rugby tournament going on. It was interesting to watch them play on the sand. I love rugby and so did the woman I was with so we got to watch for awhile.

Finally the day was ending and it was time to head back to Barcelona. So we got on the bus and started the drive back. I did have a bad experience on the bus ride back though. I like to look out the window when we are driving so I did just that. A man in his car pulls up next to the bus and was jacking off. His dick was out and everything. Luckily the bus sped up and he was no longer in sight. Unfortunately about 4 minutes later he caught up with the bus and decided to drive right along side, he started pointing at me and then pointing and his dick. I grabbed the blinds and closed them as fast as I could but that disgusting  image was already stuck in my head.

We got back in Barcelona and I rushed back to the ship to make it to dinner. I have been trying to eat as many meals on the ship as I can to save money. Even though the food isn't that great.

Then it was time to go out. I hadn't been out at night at all yet so I decided that tonight was the night. Although I knew before I left that I would not be staying out late enough to go to the clubs. The Spaniards are crazy and start going to the clubs around 2am. Lindsay and I and a huge group of girls and a couple of guys all decided that we should go to the fountains.

We took the metro to go see the fountain light show. Once we arrived we found out that tonight was the night of the Gay Pride party. It was so much fun. There were crazy people everywhere. Me and this other girl decided to go dance in the foam! They had huge foam blowers that were creating a dance floor of foam.

Then we went to the fountains which were just behind this Pride party and got to watch the light and water show. It was pretty cool to see and is a lot like the Bellagio in Vegas but is more colorful.

After that we all decided to go find this small bar that some other SAS students were hanging out at. It took us a good 45 minutes of Metro riding and walking to find the hole in the wall. The bar wasn’t that nice, but they served massive amounts of booze for very very low prices. Next door was a Italian restaurant. A group of us decided to go there and eat while others were drinking.

The restaurant was cute and my meal was great. 2 other girls got pretty gross meals, but that’s what they get for not knowing their Italian dishes very well. After we finished eating, me and Lindsay decided to head back to the ship. It was about 12:30am and we were getting tired.

So we took a cab back and passed out as soon as we reached the room!