Sunday, July 8th Natural Environment

     We all woke up to our alarm at 8:00 and headed downstairs to breakfast, all excited for our first full day in Barcelona.  After we ate breakfast, we all took our showers and relaxed.  Knowing that we might get wet later on in the day, we went ahead and put our phones in plastic bags to hopefully protect them from the water.  When our alarm telling us to be ready for our guide went off at 9:45 AM, we all headed down to the hotel lobby with our private guide coming a few minutes later.

Parque del Laberinto de Horta

     During the drive to Tibidabo, we chatted with our guide, Eloi.  Once we got to Tibidabo, we entered Parque del Laberinto de Horta, Barcelona's oldest garden.  According to Eloi, it was designed in 1792 by Domenico Bagutti, an Italian engineer.  It is an elegant example of gardening as an art.  Now, it is a total of 55 hectares or partially landscaped gardens full of decorations and hidden nooks to be discovered.  While we were going through it, David was fascinated by a statue of Aethon, almost getting lost by the others who didn't notice him lagging behind.  After we explored the garden, we continued to the main part of the tour, ascending Tibidabo Mountain.
     As we ascended Tibidabo Mountain, we all marveled at the sights surrounding us, from the magnificent view of Barcelona to the fantastic Tibidabo Amusement Park, the real reason why Matt was so excited for the day.  Once we got to the summit of the mountain, we looked out on the breathtaking view of the surrounding city.

Tibidabo Mountain // Natural Environment

View from Tibidabo

     According to Eloi, Tibidabo is unique because it is the highest mountain in the Collserola mountain range and it shields Barcelona from the weather of the hinterland.  Additionally, on a clear day, you can see all the way to Montserrat, over 30 kilometers away.

     Although both David and Evan Cope would have loved to be able to stay as long as possible, the tour had to stop, so we had to descend back down the mountain.  We were able to get Eloi to drop us off right outside Tibidabo Amusement Park, something Matt had looked forward to the entire trip.

The Plane on Avió

     We went into the park, having already bought the tickets previously.  We quickly went to the Adventurer's Club, a restaurant just inside the park.  After we ate lunch, we headed to explore the park.  The first attraction that we visited was Avió, the first ever flight simulator where you are flying in a replica of the first plane to ever fly from Barcelona to Madrid which is powered by its own propeller.  We all enjoyed that attraction, although David did feel a little queasy afterward.
     The next ride, Muntanya Roller Coaster, David completely skipped out on as he gets too scared on roller coasters, especially ones that go up to 500m above sea level and go at times faster than eighty kilometers per hour.  Much less scary than the roller coaster, everyone ended up riding on the L'Embruixabruixes aerial railway, which was the first attraction in the park, updated in 2016 to include holograms, virtual environments, and much more technology that was not available in 1915 when it was originally opened.  It works by having a cart, like a roller coaster, hooked onto a bar above the riders be brought along by a track slowly.

The Hurikan

     After quite a lot of persuading by the rest of the group, David finally decided to join them on the Hurakan, a ride that spun the rider in 360-degree turns.  However, that ride was deeply regretted by both Evan Cope and David, who both spent the next fifteen minutes trying their hardest to not throw up.  After their stomachs had calmed down, we headed to the Marionetarium to watch some puppet shows in a theater before heading back onto more rides.  However, as we were approaching, they began closing the doors, and we were not able to make it into the show before they closed the doors.  Because the show had already started, we decided that we should try riding the Gold Mine, which resulted in us all getting drenched.  To be able to dry off, we went to Dididada, a 4D theater, and relaxed watching some 4D shows.  Once the show ended, we decided to go to the Diavolo.

The Diavolo before we got on

     The Diavolo is a ride where you are spun around a giant mushroom-like shape in swings at high speeds, giving the illusion that the rider is actually flying above Barcelona.  It was not as bad as David had anticipated, but we still decided to go ahead and eat some dinner before continuing with rides.  We ate dinner at Station Bar, a restaurant at the heart of the park.  After we ate some dinner, we went to Interactibi, a simulation ride that mixes technology and skill to get the highest score in the game.  After we played one film of that, we headed to the Interactive Water Fountains section to watch the lights and get ourselves and each other wet.  Because we all got absolutely drenched, we decided to go on the Talaia Vantage Point to dry off while taking in the beautiful sights of the city.  After about a half an hour, we headed to Crash Cars, a bumper cars ride.  While on the ride, David was trying to actually drive peacefully while Matt was trying as hard as possible to crash into David and Evan Langebeck, who was also being trailed by Evan Cope.  After a few rounds of Crash Cars, we headed to Miramiralls, a hall of mirrors to get some laughs out at the distortion in the mirrors.

     After about a half an hour, we decided it was probably about time to leave the park if we wanted to get much sleep.  When we got back to the hotel, we all fell asleep almost instantaneously after the long and fun day that we had experienced from exploring Tibidabo Mountain to wandering Tibidabo Park.