Greetings HIVErs!
Towards the end of my first day in Barcelona, we continued on past the boat dock shown in my last post towards the beach. For me, one reason Barcelona was so fascinating is that it didn't really feel like a coastal city while exploring the gothic quarter, because there were lots of deciduous trees that I'm not used to seeing in a coastal city. It was a while of walking around before I even saw my first palm tree!
Also, I didn't realize it at the time, but the beautiful clouds that were in the sky that day are actually a bit rare! It was as if all the stars aligned that day to allow me to experience the peak beauty of this place. (When I returned to Barcelona at the end of my trip, it was basically completely clear skies every day!)
Both Ethan and I were amazed at the clarity of the water. It was crystal clear, and the temperature was a bit cold but honestly very good for swimming, which we each did in turn while guarding the other's valuables. This beach had a very relaxed vibe to it and the overall population was on the younger side. I think I mentioned in a previous post that we visited Barcelona during the Primavera music festival, which meant that a large number of tourists were in the city. Unfortunately, this made our hostel stay quite expensive!
What I also found quite interesting was the breakers that were constructed along the coast here that you can see pictured in the aerial shots. From what I heard from a local later, they were made to improve the water quality here because at one time it was quite polluted. It also seems to tame the waves, which were gentle, making swimming quite satisfying.
We enjoyed the experience so much that we returned the following day later at night than the first day, and I'll share some shots I got of the beach at night in a later post. I also went to the beach by myself almost every day at the end of my trip — I ended up staying in Barcelona for a total of 6 days because of complications with my return which were a bit dramatic. Luckily, it's one of my favorite cities I've seen in Spain, so it made the complications easier to handle, though still hard on my wallet! 😂
Anyway, thank you for reading this post about my travels! I'm including a link of the vlog that has these shots in it at the bottom of this post, which will be visible after 8 pm on Nov. 4th ^_^
Much love, Daniel / @d-pend
images and writing by @d-pend compiled for Pinmapple Community and posted to HIVE on Nov. 3rd, 2022. . shots taken with a DJI Mini 2 drone and edited in Adobe Lightroom.
