The journey

This is the story of an Italian and a French, studying at the same university, but never having met each other, going from total strangers to close travel companions in just two days, while discovering a city full of diverse architecture, culture, and history.

Arrival Day 1

Our journey started at Eindhoven airport in the Netherlands on a cold Saturday morning. While waiting for the departure, we started talking and getting to know each other a little.

The flight was exhausting, and upon arrival, we were quite tired.

We decided to make a quick tour of the neighbourhood we were staying at, to get to know the Sagrada Família, which amazingly was within walking distance of our hostel. Our feeling of exhaustion was overtaken by awe upon discovering the unusual yet stunning architecture of the basilica, and the entire city as a whole: every building entirely different, yet stunning in its own way. The basilica, however, is what amazed us the most. The sheer scale of the building was absolutely mental.

We finished our tour with a walk along La Rambla, and dinner in a Tapas restaurant.

Later that evening, Chris suggested to Raphael that the following day, they could participate in two free city walking tours he had discovered online. Raphael, of course, accepted.

Stepping out of the plane, however, we were amazed to find warm and sunny weather, forcing us to remove some of our many layers of clothing we had been wearing for protection against the harsh Dutch climate. Together with our other travel companions, we made our way to the hostel where we would stay at for the following days, and that would become home to many remarkable memories.