Hello, I'm Ken.

This article uses many images, so please connect to Wifi, brighten your room, and view it from a distance.lol

Belatedly, last summer, I traveled to Spain with a friend.

The backstory is that my friend works at a travel agency and somehow won a tour to participate in the La Tomatina Festival in Spain as part of a company project. Since his girlfriend couldn't take the day off for the tour, I was chosen as his substitute to participate.

I'm extremely grateful!! lol

I love photography and walked around photographing the streets of Spain, so this article will be photo-centric. It's written casually, like a travelogue with snapshots. I'll also share travel information learned from our guide, so please refer to it if you're interested.

Barcelona

Arrived at Barcelona-El Prat Airport~~

SIM Card

I purchased a SIM card (Vodafone) with 5GB for €15 (the one with free incoming calls) at the airport. Vodafone is located right after exiting the arrival gates.

It takes about 30 minutes to reach the city center (Plaça de Catalunya) from the airport via the Aerobús, which costs around €5.9.

Exploring the City

Found a sightseeing bus upon arriving in the city.

I didn't ride it, but open-top bus tours on sunny days seem nice ^ ^

I was surprised by the large garbage bins lol

Still, the roads are wide, so it didn't feel cramped.

I visited several cafes, which were quite stylish, and the bread was delicious.

Citizens-Only Shared Bicycles

There's a citizens-only shared bicycle service called "Bicing," but it's not for tourists, and you need an annual pass.

If you become a member, you can use it for 30 minutes free per ride, and you can get off at any parking spot. You cannot use it within 10 minutes after parking.

If you exceed 30 minutes, it costs an additional €0.74 per 30 minutes, which is quite affordable lol

By the way, the membership fee is €50 per year, which is about ¥6,000. It's a great service for citizens and long-term residents.

Markets

Barcelona has two famous markets.

One is the Mercat de la Boqueria, which is tourist-oriented and crowded.

When you descend La Rambla, a famous street, you'll find this market.

"La Rambla" means "the place where water flows" in Arabic. In the past, there was a river there, but now it's filled in and turned into a promenade, with the subway running underground.

"La Rambla" is a tourist spot with various shops.

However, beware of pickpockets!

In Barcelona, if the theft amount is under €400, there's no penalty, so nonchalant pickpocketing occurs. Be extremely cautious as pickpockets gather from various places lol it's scary lol

The other market is Mercat de Santa Caterina.

This one is more local and less crowded.

Subway & Buses

You can buy subway tickets at vending machines like this.

Since I was with a friend, we bought a ticket called "T-10."

This is a €10.2 ticket for 10 rides and can be shared among multiple people. So, I used it 5 times, and my friend used it 5 times.

Note that this ticket cannot be used for airport access.

For more detailed information about tickets and transportation, just Google it.

Flamenco

Next, I attended a flamenco event provided by my friend's travel agency.

You can enjoy flamenco dinner and flamenco experiences.

Due to time constraints, I couldn't participate in the flamenco experience, so I fully enjoyed the flamenco show and dinner.

The show was incredibly powerful and intense (my vocabulary is limited lol)

Toilet Situations

Public restrooms are scarce and inconvenient.

They were available within the market, but... they were paid!! lol

It's common to "use the restroom at restaurants or cafes before you go," apparently.

Also, as a common occurrence, condoms are sold in the restroom lol

Supermarkets

I went to the supermarket a few times, and it felt somewhat different from Japan.

Ham, salami, baguettes, etc., were quite affordable.

Authentic Italian in Barcelona?

An Italian I knew in Barcelona recommended a delicious pizzeria lol

Here's the place.

The pizza here was super tasty, so please go. Since they're large, it's better to share one between two people (I ordered two and ended up leaving some lol)

Beaches

Since my hotel was close to the beach, I took walks there.

It was an ordinary beach, but it seemed like many people wanted to sunbathe, with many people lying down to tan.

Japanese people might be surprised, but there were several women sunbathing without wearing anything on their upper bodies lol

If you're going, be careful not to stare too much lol

Also, next to the regular beach was a nude beach lol

While walking around, suddenly many unclothed men and women appeared, which was startling lol

This area is like a breakwater between the regular beach and the nude beach.

It's twilight lol

Sagrada Família

I was deeply moved to finally visit a place I wanted to see before I die, but it was a bit off due to the overwhelming crowd lol

Sagrada Família Information

• Sagrada = Where God resides, a sacred place
• Família = Family
• Translation: Holy Family Expiatory Church
• Mainly built with basalt and granite
• Planned to be a large structure with 18 towers
• The tallest tower will be 109 meters
• Currently, 8 towers have been completed
• Official completion date has not been announced

Gaudí's work is characterized by curves, based on the idea that there are no straight lines in nature. Most of his buildings and artworks use smooth curves.

Indeed, other buildings by Gaudí seen on tours had no straight lines.

Though the curves lack regularity, they were very beautiful.

It looks like this.

Taxis

I found taxis to be cheaper than in Japan.

The initial fare is €2.20, and it increases by €0.05 per 0.25 km.

Taxi signs have numbers 1, 2, 3, with 1 being the cheapest.

On my way back late at night, I took a taxi number 2, which cost about €10.85 for approximately 10 minutes.

Other Rough Information

Since the transition to the Euro, prices have been rising, but wages haven't seem to be increasing. Prices are high, rent is high, and depending on the area, shared houses cost around €500 (varying). Food sold in supermarkets is cheap (similar to Japan), so cooking at home can save a lot. However, Japanese-style seasonings and rice are expensive (found in Asian shops). Bread is cheap and delicious (few prepared breads). But, the tourist areas are crowded with pickpockets, which is unpleasant... The city is very green with bell trees planted, and urban development always includes planting trees. Also, traffic lights change after flashing quickly lol

IVA on receipts stands for Value Added Tax.

La Tomatina

Next, I'll write about the main event of this trip, the "La Tomatina Festival Tour" that I participated in.

For the La Tomatina tour, we moved from the hotel to Buñol by bus.

Travel Itinerary

• Early Morning 2:00 AM: Departure (sleeping on the bus)
• Midway Service Area: 30-40 minutes break
• Around 8:00 AM: Arrive in Buñol
• 11:00 AM: Start of La Tomatina!!
• 12:00 PM: End of tomato throwing, change clothes, free time
• 2:00 PM: Departure from Buñol (reassemble at 1:45 PM)
• Midway Service Area: 30-40 minutes break
• Around 7:30 PM: Arrive back in Barcelona

That's how it was.

Since we departed at midnight, if you oversleep, you'll be left behind. Another group staying at the same hotel as us actually overslept and got left behind lol

At the midway service area, you can have a little meal, but everyone gets off here, so lines form.

Plus, it's midnight, so everyone is super sleepy...

After the break, we headed straight to Buñol.

Upon arrival, I was startled by the number of buses lol

There are only a few buses in this photo, but in reality, there were about ten rows lol

Many tour participants from various countries are there, so it's extremely crowded.

Here's my gear.

I brought unnecessary shoes, unnecessary clothes, goggles, a GoPro borrowed from a friend in my pocket, and a bit of cash.

Since valuables like wallets, passports, and smartphones can be snatched, it's better to leave them on the bus. Also, you can't bring large bags, so it's good to use a thin body bag and pack only essentials. (Of course, cover them with waterproof materials like ziplocks) Clothes are disposed of using provided garbage bags, so I threw everything away lol

There are some stall-like areas where you can drink, including a giant Sangria lol

Everyone drinks and listens to music before the tomato throwing starts.

There are plenty of security personnel.

Before the tomato throwing starts, there's a tree-climbing event where they try to pick up meat hanging on trees. It seems no one could get it, but it was quite lively. (Couldn't take photos due to too many people lol)

People from the local community throw water from their homes before the tomato throwing starts, creating a water fight-like atmosphere.

When the tomato throwing starts, trucks loaded with tomatoes slowly enter the road.

The photo was taken after the trucks passed by, but a large amount of tomatoes are being thrown.

The rule is to squash tomatoes before throwing, but some people don't follow it lol

Getting hit in the face repeatedly is tough. It hurts if tomatoes get in your eyes. It's a hassle to deal with them after the festival.

I’ll write more about this in a summary article on the Barcelona La Tomatina tour.

After some time, the roads look like this.

This is where the tree-climbing event was held, and people were working hard after the tomato throwing.

Everywhere is covered in tomatoes.

Once the tomato throwing ends, they immediately start cleaning up, so I thought, "Wow!!" lol

Local residents help wash away the tomatoes with hoses before we return to the bus, so we lined up to get cleaned up. There are some places where residents wash you for free, so it's good to find them early and get washed up. You also have to change clothes before getting back on the bus.

Since I couldn’t do any sightseeing in Buñol, I was a bit disappointed, but it became an amazing memory.

Tips for La Tomatina Festival

• Go with clothes you're okay with getting dirty or disposable clothes.
• Avoid sandals as they can get stepped on and fall off, so bring shoes you don’t mind discarding or secure sandals.
• Carry only the essentials.
• Be cautious not to get pickpocketed while carrying valuables.
• Always keep valuables in waterproof bags.
• Even if you have goggles, they can fog up, so be careful lol
• Stick to the bus schedule (the venue is far, so be mindful)
• It's painful more than expected, so be cautious
• The area near the tomato trucks is dangerous
• You have to wait a long time for temporary restrooms
• Temporary restrooms are dirty
• Sometimes there’s no toilet paper in the temporary restrooms
• It's easy to get lost due to the crowd

I participated in the festival after having to use the restroom without toilet paper in the temporary restroom lol

It was super gross, but after drying off with a towel post-festival and disposing of everything, it was okay lol

Waiting in line for the temporary restroom is a huge waste of time, so make sure to use it early!!

There were Japanese people who got their valuables snatched, so if you go, please be extremely careful!!

If possible, staying in Buñol for a few days after the festival might be better to avoid the rush of returning.

Thus, the La Tomatina tour ended like this.

Finally, enjoy the snapshot photos of Barcelona.

Snapshot Photos of Barcelona

If you enjoyed this, please check out my Instagram as well ^ ^

Instagram (@taroken1210)

Well then~~