Barcelona and Valencia for a Bayesian Statistic Course

Post date: Jun 11, 2019 6:24:9 PM

This year, I used my whole personal development budget to go on a Bayesian Statistics Course in a small town outside of Barcelona.

Do you remember how during my PhD I was convinced that Spain is cursed? I mean, I must have planned 4-5 different trips to Spain and none of them ever happened. Why? Because Spain is cursed.

In 2016 I broke the curse with a trip to Barcelona! And ever since then I have been to Spain 4 times… 3 of those times I went to Barcelona. The spanish curse has become the barcelona curse! Curses!

So I had planned to come to Spain and go to Madrid the weekend before and Valencia the weekend after the course. But then the price to get to Madrid became… absurd. BUT I remembered I have colleagues in Barcelona (N26 has an office there), so I reached out to the fine fellow below and asked him if I could stay in his lovely flat (above).

And the Barcelona curse continues….

Luckily, another one of my colleagues was also in Barcelona for the weekend! We were chatting in the kitchen at work and it came up she was also going to be in town. Taryn was visiting her best friend for their birthday, but her friend had to work most of Saturday. So we met up and wandered around town for most of the day, while Dennis did other things.

She was a delightful tour guide with an enthusiasm for finding cool places that I really adored. 10/10 would recommend for a traveling companion.

My personal favorite? The market. I’m becoming more and more all about eating in places I’m traveling.

I remain a huge fan of Gaudi, although this time I only admired from the exterior rather than venturing within.

Dennis had dinner plans, but they canceled at the last minute. I had a place in mind that was recommended by a good friend who’s a foodie (https://www.vianabcn.com/en/ for the record), and Dennis decided to join me.

It was beyond delicious. I would write songs about this burrata. I simply adored it from start to finish. And then when we were contemplating desserts… we decided instead on another burrata. It was covered in a hazelnut/olive oil concoction and I will dream of it for my remaining years.

Our walk home was delightful as well.

The next morning we ventured towards the beach. Taryn’s best friend’s birthday party was going to be a bash there with a whole gang of people and I was invited. After such a delightful day wandering around the city on Saturday, I happily accepted.

And it was true, her best friend was delightful, as were all the guests and it was a really nice afternoon spent in the sand.

But now the vacation portion of the trip has to take a backseat to the work portion of the trip, and I took off to Capellades.

The course is held at a small boutique hotel in the countryside, so you can focus on the course. All three amazingly delicious meals are included in the price, which makes the whole thing WELL worth it.

As usual, I swanned around the house, pretending that in some other world I owned this place as a vacation home. I mentally started knocking down walls and thinking about which room would be the master bedroom.

Below, you’ll see the view from my bedroom.

And the view from what would be my bedroom, after remodeling the place.

The second night there, they organized a tour for us through an archaeological dig site, which was just… fantastic.

We got to get really down into the pit where they have found thousands of human remains and tools.

Again, the food was amazing. Home cooked! But the two meals that really blew me out of the water: paella (meant to be eaten for lunch, us silly Americans have been doing it wrong all along):

And the bbq on the last lunch. Delicious corn and amazing veggies grilled in what can only be described as a massive grill.

Between the divine food I had in Barcelona, and the amazing eating I did all week, I was eager to continue the trend. So I treated myself to a fancy dinner in Barcelona, strongly recommended by Jessica.

Saturday AM I jumped onto an early morning train to Valencia. See, not all of Barcelona is cursed.

Valencia used to have a river that ran through the center of town, but it kept flooding and causing no small amount of damage. As a result, it was rerouted. But, that left a big swath of land, right through the center of town that used to have water. So the city turned it into a park.

I wandered down and sat around reading a book I was enamored with and enjoying watching puppies play in the water fountains nearby.

But the best part is that I didn’t have to do this part of my trip solo! My friend Kelley and her friend Brittany (not pictured) joined me!

Although the two of them are way more insta savvy than I am, and it made me feel a little bit like a DUFF, it was delightful to roam the city with them.

And what a city! Similar to Barcelona, a lot of the wonder in Valencia lies in the adorable streets that have adorable little bits to them that makes you want to stay and see what else there is to do.

And what we did was mostly, shop and eat and then repeat.

But the guide book had told me that one of the things to do is to climb up to the top of the church tower and take in the view from the top. So we obeyed and climbed on up.

It was a lot of stairs, but they were so very worth it.

My hostel was in an older building, with original tiling and an adorable balcony. Who am I that I now thrive on good food and a comfy place to stay while I’m traveling?

Sunday I had to head back to Barcelona. But first, we needed to head to the beach. Which, coincidentally was having a kite flying contest.

Barcelona may have replaced the curse of Spain, but with sheer determination (and friends willing to travel) I will persevere!