5 things in Sitges, Catalunya

   Barcelona is nuts. The people here do not sleep, and I have never seen or experienced night life like this before. As of right now, I'm not exactly sure what day it is, time is irrelevant, and I woke up a few hours ago, in the afternoon. Luckily classes have only recently started, so I'm still slightly free from the 'pressure' of school. Nights last well into the mornings, and from what I've heard, there are clubs that continue into the day, called 'afters'. I'll explain later. Anyway, the night life combined with adjusting to living in a big city has made it hard to keep up with the blog, much less find time to do simple things like shower, eat, or even sit down for more than 30 minutes. While hygiene and nutrition may have both fallen a few spots on the priorities list here in Barça, I decided to skip the shower and head to Sitges for some much needed R & R.  Consider it a 'vacation from a vacation.'
   Barceloneta is the main beach in Barcelona. Because this beach is dirty, crowded with pale Dutch tourists,  and riddled with thieves, most locals go to Bogatell to the north, or Sitges, which is a 30 minute train ride south of Barcelona. You basically hop off of the train and you're at the beach -- it's a nice break from the city. However, Sitges is not for the judgemental nor close-minded, as I will explain with the next 5 things.

1. Sitges is gorgeous. There are 9 small beaches, each with a theme (family, singles, nude, etc...) seperated by small breakwaters. This is the one we settled on.

                                         You can see the Sitges cathedral on the right

2.We explored a bit, and I took this picture of the beach next to us.

There were a lot of guys at that beach. My best guess was that they were all from the Sitges fútbol team, enjoying  some sun at their beach, or maybe this beach was the 'best friends' themed beach.

3. Even though I felt like Sitges was hiding something from me, I was distracted by the fact that they have bear bars! I didn't know what that meant at the time, maybe they have men who drink whiskey and wrestle bears? Damn. Badass. But why would a bad-ass bear wrestling macho man bar be called "Queenz"?

 4. Well, it turns out that Sitges is indeed considered to be one of the gay 'capitals' of europe, and a popular European vacation destination for older homosexual men, nicknamed 'queens' or 'bears' (osos).

                                             I should have realized that after I saw this poster.

5. The gelato in Sitges is absolutely fabulous. Great way to finish off the day.

 Well, my assumptions were correct, as my Spanish friend later jokingly explained to me. Regardless of Sitges's status as the gay destination of Europe, it is a great place to take a break from the city, relax on the beach, and get to know some friendly locals . Sitges was a great time, I got a solid nap on the beach, and I discovered that Christiano Ronaldo (cocky pretty boy fútbol player for real Madrid) moonlights as a stripper in Sitges.

Word(s) of the Day: la playa - beach, el oso - bear
Fuimos a la playa de sitges y pasamos con los osos. We went to the beach in Sitges and hung out with the bears.