From Paris, after one bus transfer from 6-7:30am I made it to Barcelona at about sundown. From the bus station I had to walk to my hostel. Even though I didn’t do much I was pretty tired so I checked in and did some grocery shopping nearby and then chilled the rest of the night.

I had the whole following day to explore Barcelona and I first headed to some buildings nearby from a famous architect. I’m sure the insides were cool, but it cost 21€ to get in one and 25€ for the other. With the US dollar losing value that would have been closer to $60, so I wasn’t really that interested in the architecture.

From there I wandered to the old gothic district. The streets were really narrow and a lot of buildings had pretty neat old style architecture. Then I got to the cathedral of the city. Like most cathedrals in major cities, it was huge! Going inside was free, so I wandered around inside and admired the high ceilings, ornate altars, and stained glass.

Then I bought an apple and chowed on it before taking a walk along the beach. The beach was okay. To be honest I expected a little more from Barcelona. It was interesting to see a bunch of nude old men laying out… I guess that’s the European style.

The rest of the day was walking around and seeing a smattering of different monuments and local sights. In one park center I saw some of the protests (people were camping out in the park) in favor of creating a new country around the Catalan culture there. It’s been in the new I guess, but I didn’t know much about it until I witnessed it. I was pretty suprised to find out that there are apparently many small regions in Spain that speak their own languages and have distinct cultures.

The next morning, early, I set out with Alvaro, the driver I found using a ride sharing app. It was cheaper than a bus and much more comfortable. It was nice company as well. Luckily, Alvaro spoke decent English and he explained the Catalan situation and culture to me more. For the first leg of the 10 hour journey we had a French woman and a Brazilian guy, but for the second leg we dropped them off and picked up a Spanish lady. I actually slept probably 4 hours, but when I was awake there was some beautiful scenery. It reminded me of when I was out west towards Utah. We even drove through the “Sierra Nevada,” as they called it.

Malaga was the destination. It’s further south for my journey to Africa. I actually liked it a lot more than Barcelona, though I wasn’t there as long. Barcelona, to me, kind of had a high class attitude that I wasn’t a fan of. Also the sights weren’t that extraordinary either. Malaga was more laid back and just walking around I saw a Spanish Castle on a high with some Roman ruins below it. There were other cool Roman ruins, but the picture didn’t turn out through the display glass. I was kind of surprised by the Roman ruins. It didn’t really occur to me that I might see them there.

Then at night I had a really nice walk along the beach! I took my shoes off and walked along the water, but it was actually quite cold. The harbour was pretty beautiful as well.

The next morning I woke up and Oscar, another ride share driver, took me to San Roque. He didn’t speak any English, so my request to get dropped off closer to the Gibraltar border didn’t get through. So I decided to hitch hike the rest. I walked about 5 minutes to a good spot headed in the direction I wanted to go with ample room for a car to pull off if they did want to stop. Then I guessed all that was left was just to stick my arm out. I did that and tonmy surprise within 5 minutes a car pulled over and a guy offered to take me there. He looked pretty trustworthy. He was a little older, a retired high school principal if you had to make me guess, and he drove a nice BMW.

Then he dropped me off near the border and I walked through. The borders were pretty lax, they just glanced at my passport and that was it. Then, interestingly, you walk acrossed the airport runway into the country. If there is a plane you wait on either side for 15 minutes until it passes. As soon as I crossed the runway it was like being in England! I was on Winston Churchill Avenue.

I wandered I to the city center and ate some lunch in the park. After that I hiked up that big old rock they have there (the Rock of Gibraltar). I saw a Moorish castle and some other old British settlement stuff. It was interesting to see the Gibraltar flag with the British and EU flag flying in the wind. I wonder what consequences Brexit will have on Gibraltar?

Then I wandered further up the rock and found a nice view I was also apparently in a spot we’re Queen Elizabeth had stood. Then I hiked down and crossed back over the runway back into Spanish just as easily as I had came. I probably only spent 2 or 3 hours there, but it’s not a big country anyways.

Then I got on a bus to another port city where I am now sitting waiting for a boat acrossed to Africa. So next post I should be in a new continent and in Morocco!