Well, Barcelona was off to a rocky start, but ended up being an absolutely amazing Easter weekend trip. Here’s a little recap of our Spanish adventure…
Saturday:
3:15 am wake up call in order to catch the oh-so-fabulous EasyJet bus to Gatwick at 4:30 am. Who would have thought a bus would be packed at 4:30 am on a Saturday??!! So, as we stroll up, just in time, we are told that we’ll have to wait for the next bus, as this one was already full (side note…you have to make a reservation, so we had two reserved spots on this bus). After taking a look inside and realizing that the bus is just like their plane (squeeze a ton of people in, but leave no room for carry-on luggage), we noticed that there were suitcases strapped into our seats! Um, excuse me, but can you not put those suitcases on the floor or up front so that we can get on? Long story short, we made it on, but I was lucky enough to sit next to that guy who opted to stay up all night drinking, since he was going to have to be up at 4:30 am anyways (yea, we all know how people like that smell – sorry to gross you out). Anyways, he pretty much thought I was a pillow…passed out and ended up in my personal space (so awkward!). My nudges didn’t help too much, so I just tried to catch a little shut eye myself (mainly to avoid the moment when he awoke & realized that he had crossed the line). BUT, we arrived at Gatwick on-time & made our flight! Success!
At the airport I realized my husband has truly turned into a Londoner when he decided to order a beer to go with his eggs at 5:30 in the morning…they call that a proper English breakfast here…nice, huh?
We touched down in beautiful, SUNNY Barcelona around 10 am and hit the town running. We dropped our things off at our hotel located on La Rambla (amazing location – Barcelona’s tree lined central square and main boulevard), and strolled down the Ramblas for a few hours. About half-way down the street we ran into La Boqueria – a HUGE, lively market that has anything and everything from the bottom of the food chain to the top!
View from our balcony overlooking La Rambla
We ended our stroll down La Rambla at the Columbus Monument, and made our way down to La Rambla del Mar (an extension of the boulevard into the harbor). We enjoyed our first set of delicious (extremely fresh) seafood tapas overlooking the Mediterranean at Tapa Tapa Maremagnum.
After lunch, we chose to fully submerge ourselves into the Spanish culture by taking a much needed siesta (I wish we could get this concept to catch on in the states). Once we felt revitalized, we made our way over to La Sagrada Familia, which is Gaudi’s unfinished, but most famous creation. It’s currently still under construction, and will most likely remain that way for another 50 years or so. There is so much going on that you don’t even know where to look or what to think about it. The amount of detail on the outside of the church is just mind-boggling! Then, once inside, you get a totally different look and feel…Gaudi wanted you to feel like you were walking through a forest. It’s also very bright inside, which we really liked…wasn’t as "gothic" as most cathedrals.
Following La Sagrada Familia, we decided to continue onto another Gaudi must-see…Parc Guell. It’s quite a hike to get to as you're riding up, what feels like, the stairway to heaven. Thankfully, they’ve installed escalators to help with the uphill hike! It’s definitely worth the time though, as the views from the Park are incredible!
After the park, we awarded ourselves with a few glasses of wine at La Bodegueta (great wine bar we happened upon), and then ventured over to a quaint restaurant called La Pepita, to divulge in more seafood tapas (even tried the anchovies!). We made friends with the adorable hostess, who proceeded to tell us to meet her family at a local Flamenco Bar that night. We were so excited to join in on the Flamenco dancing with the locals, that we made our way to the bar immediately after dinner…only to discover that the place didn’t even open until 11 pm that night (wow, are we old or what?). Hey, we woke up at 3:15 that morning…it was impressive that we lasted until 10!
Anchovies at La Pepita...the sauce definitely helped!
Tapas are dangerous though…you feel like you’re ordering a ton (and the bill proves that), but for some reason you always feel that you can keep eating. So, we did exactly that…made our way back to La Rambla to do a little “Tapas hopping”! I accidentally ordered more anchovies (ugh), but that was made up by the fact that we ended our night at the Gelato shop right by our hotel – delicious!
Sunday:
Another gorgeous day in Barcelona (I think G & I got sunburned just by walking around!)…so, we started off our morning at the Cathedral of Barcelona to watch the Sardana Dances – a symbolic, politically charged action representing Catalan unity. Here’s a pic & short video for your enjoyment (don't you just love the old man in the white hat?! He was so cute...definitely my favorite one to watch!).
Afterwards, we made a short pit stop in a cute square behind the Cathedral to sip on a glass of Sangria. Since it was so beautiful, we then decided to take it easy and rent some bikes, and go biking through Citadel Park & the beach. So, we walked by the Eternal Flame (memorial to a 300-year old massacre that’s still a part of the Catalan consciousness) behind the Santa Maria del Mar Church (built by proud shippers), and rented our bikes.
I’m absolutely terrified to ride a bike through London, so I was a bit nervous about this experience as well. It was perfect though…didn’t have to ride around on too many streets, and there was a bike path pretty much everywhere we went. I do have a newfound respect for bikers though, as pedestrians are completely oblivious to them! I avoided a few catastrophes, thankfully! We biked through Citadel Park and then up and down the beach, stopping for some paella & sangria on the way. I wasn’t thinking too clearly at 3:15 am the morning before, therefore I forgot my swimsuit, but we walked in the sand for a while (water was probably a little too chilly to get in anyways).
We continued to take advantage of the sunny day, and decided to take the cable car up to Montjuic – fortress overlooking Barcelona’s port. Again, amazing views of one of the world's most important ports!
Afterwards, we found ourselves on a 75 minute long waiting list to get sat at the all-so-popular Tapas restaurant, Cerveceria Catalana. So, we put our name on the list, left to grab a drink at our little wine bar, La Bodegueta & finally enjoyed another very delicious Tapas meal. Definitely worth the wait!
Monday:
We started the day off with a relaxing boat ride along the Barcelona harbor, as yes, it was another spectacular day (can you tell I’ve been missing the sun lately??). Then, proceeded to walk by Gaudi’s extremely characteristic houses, and ended our “lazy” day (everything is closed on Monday, unfortunately) at an Italian restaurant…we were both a little “Tapased out” by now.
Roman Abramovich's billion dollar yacht...ridiculous!
View of Montjuic from the boat
We did have some interesting and unexpected entertainment Monday night though, as we sat out on our balcony overlooking La Rambla – an impromptu dance show. It was probably around 11 pm Monday night, and a group of 5 guys set up shop, blared their music, and successfully drew a crowd of 100 or so people. They knew exactly what they were doing…taking FOREVER to “warm up”, and then put on a spectacular show that lasted about 2 minutes. At least we had good (free) seats! La Policia ended up showing up though, so their second (exactly the same) show was cut short.
Tuesday:
It’s never fun having to leave, but we made the most of our last day, and made time for one last tourist stop…the Picasso Museum. Neither one of us are huge fans of his later work (mostly because we just don’t understand it!), so it was very interesting to see his earlier work displayed here as well. By seeing his earlier work, you definitely realize and appreciate how much of a genius he was; and better understand his later work. It’s amazing to think that one person produced such a wide spectrum of artwork!
We ended our stay with lunch outside of the Santa Maria del Mar church, then off we went to return home, to London!
