Montjuic

Montjuic is a hill that provides superb views of the city. We didn't have much time up there because we had to rush to get to our restaurant reservation on time, but boy the Palau Nacional was impressive! 

Casa Battlo'

The lineup for the Sagrada Familia was insane and it looked like it was going to take half a day to get in, so we opted for another Gaudi masterpiece, Casa Battlo', instead. The interior is supposed to evoke the sea and has no straight lines whatsoever, whereas the roof is supposed to remind you of a dragon's spine.

This was the only attraction we paid for to get in, and the tour was worth it. I think Gaudi was an amazing architect.

Walking around Barcelona

In Barcelona, we rented an apartment for three nights using Air b&b. It was very convenient, since we were right in the centre of the city, in an area called El Raval. Even though we were only a five minute walk away from La Rambla, a giant tourist trap full of restaurants with pictures of paella, pizza, and fries on their walls , our neighbourhood was very residential. It was the best of both worlds, since it was easy to get everywhere and yet we were surrounded by local grocery stores.

Our neighbourhood:

My favourite part of Barcelona was the food. We arrived in the city in the evening, and our air b&b host recommended a local hole in the wall restaurant down the street from the apartment. Our first meal consisted of ceviche and octopus. Our meals kept getting better and better; the next day we made ourselves a lunch from the famous market, La Boqueria, which was made of jamon, cheese, bread, fruit, and zucchini flowers, for a grand total of six euros. My two favourite meals were our next two tapa dinners: El Xiringo, which we stumbled upon accidentally while walking through Barceloneta, and Sensi Bistro, which we made reservations for since it was rated so favourably online. Spanish food is delicious and very reasonably priced, and we filled ourselves up with seafood and jamon. Clearly this made me happy.

We walked a ton during our stay in Barcelona, since we tried to make the most of our two days in the city.  I think we walked through every interesting neighbourhood that was worth seeing, and I don't feel like we missed out on anything!

Edinburgh

Stepping into Edinburgh felt like walking into a fairy tale . We climbed Arthur's Seat (a mountain in the middle of the city), took a tour of Holyrood Palace (the official Scottish residence of the royal family), and visited New Town (the first planned city in the world).

Glencoe

Glencoe, a two hour bus ride from Glasgow, is a stunning part of the Scottish highlands. My jaw dropped the moment we entered the valley, because the view was so incredible. Unfortunately, the hikes we had read about in books were only accessible by car, so we got off at the Glencoe Visitor Centre and asked the ranger where we could hike that was within walking distance.

He pointed at a mountain outside and said, "How about that one? Almost no one goes up there, and you have to make your own way up because there are no trails." It didn't look that tall, so we decided to follow his suggestion.

Once we started the hike, we realized how tough and steep it was. There were no trails, so we had to walk through bushes and grass that were up to my knees. We had to adopt a "monster walk", with our arms out, legs bent, and backs hunched over, to keep our balance. There were many times when we were basically scrambling up the mountain, with plants right in my face.  But the ranger was right - the view was amazing!

Going down was hard work, and I was pretty miserable. We spent probably 40% of our way down on our hands and butts, because it was incredibly steep (Leonard later looked at the topographical map and determined that we had gone up and down the steepest part of the mountain). I had rashes up to my elbows because of all the vegetation I was sliding down on. I probably put my hands on sheep poop, which was everywhere.

The worst part was that when we arrived at the bottom, we ended up about a kilometre away from where we wanted to be. The grass, which looked so harmless from far away, was my biggest enemy. It hid the uneven ground and there were times when I stepped on it, expecting flat ground, and ended up a foot below where I thought the ground was. The visitor centre looked impossibly far away, but we made it eventually, exhausted and incredibly dirty.

I have hiked up much steeper mountains (this one was only about 600m tall) and for longer periods of time, but this was definitely the hardest hike I have ever been on. Not having a trail is tough!