Barcelona: A bit of a bust for us

We planned our three-month Europe 2024 trip around a six-week housesit in Oliva, Spain, south of Valencia. We were able to add on a couple of weeks before the sit and a month after, before our scheduled return to Canada. Stop one was Barcelona for six nights.

Fate had a different plan for us. Our flight from Vancouver to Calgary, which should have taken about an hour and a half, took about four and a half hours and an extra landing in Edmonton thanks to an unexpected storm over Edmonton. By the time we arrived in Calgary that evening, despite a jog through the airport, we missed our flight to Barcelona. After waiting several hours in Westjet’s customer assistance line they rebooked our flight for two days later. So, we spent the first two of our six Barcelona nights in a Calgary airport hotel.

As we landed two days later in Barcelona, my ears were incredibly painful–the first sign that I had picked up a cold while hanging out in airports, planes, and on tarmacs. I hadn’t had a cold in years, but this one made up for it, completely sapping my strength and eliminating sleep. Unfortunately, I generously shared my cold with Ken two days later. Between jet lag and our colds, we didn’t have much in our energy banks to give to Barcelona explorations.

We had booked tickets to Sagrada Familia, a still-under-construction Antoni Gaudi-designed church, for three days after we arrived so we would have recovered from jet lag before we tried to tour it. Instead, we dragged ourselves there on our first full day in the city. Though the entry time is booked, once inside there is no schedule, so we took our time, rested a lot, and made it through.

A bit of city wandering each day was about all we managed to do while in Barcelona before catching a train to Valencia. Should we ever manage a return trip, there will still be plenty of things for us to see and do.