Day 1-3: Barcelona

Narrow winding streets, colorful laundry hanging off of every other balcony, new & ancient buildings mingling perfectly together, beautiful people, delicious gelato, something new to discover around every corner. These are some of my favorite things about the metropolitan center of Cataluña; Barcelona.

As Brett and I planned our trip to Europe, Barcelona became the default starting point simply because it was the cheapest airport to fly into. Not knowing much of this wonderful city at the time, I wasn’t really too excited to visit. But I came away from Barcelona completely in love. It was my second favorite city we visited in our European adventures. In fact we ended up staying a day longer than initially planned (thankfully our hosts were gracious enough to put up with us for another day)

My infatuation with Barcelona is due in large part to the lovely friends we met and stayed with in nearby suburb of Argentona. I loved Argentona a great deal and feel that I could easily be content in living there long term. Our friends were incredibly welcoming, hospitable and were incredibly helpful as we set about to discover the history, architecture, tastes and beauty that is Barcelona. Our trip would not have been nearly as wonderful with out their warm welcome to Europe, their friendly smiles and their keen insight into the history of civilization Europe.

Our breakfast, complements of our amazing host. Decadent.

Original Roman columns inside a modern apartment complex.

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The famous La Sagrada Familia, begun in 1882 by Gaudi and nearing completion by contemporary architects.  This cathedral is on everyone’s must see list when visiting Barcelona. There is more light shining into this cathedral than all the light in other famous European cathedrals combined.. Parts of it are much more modern than most cathedrals but the ample natural light made everything gorgeous.

A pretty little house in Argentona.

The view from our bedroom window.

Our lovely new friends. Thanks so much for making our visit to Barcelona so memorable!

This is a brief movie from our experiences in Barcelona.

The Davis Duo Do Europe

Brett & I were both bit by the travel bug prior to getting married. As last year’s summer road trip indicates we are both big fans of seeing the world. Over the last few years of married life, most of our travels took place on the highway and most of our nights were spent in tents, or the back of a station wagon. After trekking all over the US, we were both ready to branch out a bit father.  We sold our faithful station wagon and a few spins of the globe later, we settled on heading to the Mediterranean.  Traveling on a budget isn’t always easy, but fortunately, we’re both willing to do what it takes to get more miles and sights under our belts. For this trip that included packing light, only one backpack each, for a month, riding cheap local trains, as well as sleeping in a train station.

Over the past month Brett & I have traveled on six airplanes, dozens of trains, a few buses (some double deckers)several boats, a subway or two, some sky trams, a couple of taxis and one tiny scooter.  In doing so we were able to visit seven countries and get tastes of even more along the way.

This trip was quite an experience for both of us.  It was the first time either of us had been to Europe and we really wanted to savor the journey. By focusing most of our attention on the experience we didn’t end up documenting the trip as well as we would have liked.  With that being said, we did still get some fabulous photos and a handful of videos along the way. 

Over the next few weeks I’ll be sharing some of our pictures & video clips with you on this blog. So brush up on your foreign language skills and stay tuned!

Leaving Nassau, Bahamas on Sept 26th we flew to Barcelona, Spain.  On Oct 26th we flew back to Nassau from Milan, Italy.

Flights are shown in blue, boat voyages are shown in green.  All other transportation was done via train or on foot.

This photo was taken before dawn at the Nassau International Airport.

See you in Barcelona!

~Susan

My Brother Miles

I love each and every one of the wonderful family members which I have been blessed with.  I especially love my oldest brother Miles. At 25, Miles is already more traveled that most people twice his age. Thanks to spending the last few years of his life traveling the world Miles has dozens of stamps in his passport.  Unfortunately, throughout all of his wondering the globe he never came to visit me at my new home in The Bahamas.  Well, Miles remedied that problem a few months ago, which made me very happy.

My husband put together a brief video chronicling some of the adventures we had while my brother stayed with us.  Hopefully it will give you a little taste of some of his Bahamian experiences.

Miles visits The Bahamas