And it was the pretty awesome Paella. Bosque Palermo was highly recommended by the hostel but they sat parties of only two or more. Lucky for me, someone at the hostel from Saudi Arabia was looking for a dinner place too and we headed there together. I almost got my phone stolen at the restaurant. The lady sitting right next to me was walking away with it when I called it from my dinner companion's phone. Apparently they picked it up by mistake 🙄. Yeah right. Lucky I got it back. This morning, I got out of bed and after scrounging for some breakfast, I joined a free walking Gothic Quarter tour. Our tour guide Giada was cool and gave us some pretty cool snippets of history along the walk. Here is a 5 second summary.

• Placa de Catalunya which is the meeting point of Old Barcelona and new Barcelona
• The magic fountain. Drinking water makes you fall in love with Barcelona and want to move here. I drank a sip. Let's see how true this is 😜
• Roman burial ground where we were given a peek into history
• Santa Maria Del Pi - a Catalan Gothic church. It's not super pretty but a good representation of Catalan Gothic architecture
• The Cathedral - used to be Catalan Gothic. The Spanish government deemed it too plain and so stuck on a facade in the front of it to make it more pleasing
• Barcelona government square with the Catalan flag, Spanish flag, and a third flag symbolizing independence. The Catalan flag was when Wilfred used four fingers with blood on this shield - this is why 4 red stripes on yellow. I saw a lot of the star flags everywhere in the quarter.

The other thing that was super clear and very obvious was the intense Catalan pride - intensified by the latest happenings. People are very sensitive about the current political climate and intensely passionate about their language and culture. On the tour, I met a girl from Alabama who decided it was easier to call me Seattle than remember my name. So I called her Alabama too. The number of people I have met who spend months and years traveling is amazing. A lot of them have quit their jobs to take a year off to travel. I love to travel but being on the road so long would exhaust me. I like having roots somewhere (not location per se, just relationships that I know love me and are waiting for me at home). Alabama and me went to La Boqueria market for lunch and then took a long walk down Las Ramblas to the port and then the beach. We rewarded our efforts (walked back too since Alabama did not have a metro pass) with some hot chocolate and churros on a popular chocolate street in the Gothic Quarter. I was starting to feel pretty sore by then, so snuck in a late nap before heading to a flamenco show arranged by the hostel at a discounted rate. It was super emotional and good. You could almost imagine a campfire. This was my first flamenco show. The music sounds very Arabic and the main star was actually a guy (3rd picture below)! Emmanuel, the hostel receptionist (part German, part American) who took us to the show was cool enough to show us the Palau de Musica and then take us to an awesome dinner place. The food was pretty good - one of those fixed price menus popular here. I got bread, an entree of my choosing, a drink and tea at the end for just 10.50. Quite a steal. I am so very tired and have a sore throat which I always get in western Europe. I've begin to suspect that I'm probably allergic to too much cigarette smoke. I'm glad my dad forced a box of Allegra into my bag. I'm sure I'll be great tomorrow after a good night's sleep. Fun fact: I heard about this family that was just staying at this hostel. They have been traveling for 17 years and had four kids along the way. Whoa!