I'm sorry I've fallen so behind on posting. My excuses are 1. I've been so busy with having visitors and 2. I wrote a whole long post about Barcelona that got deleted and I haven't had the heart to re- write it yet, so here I go...
So, I know that I always say every city is my favorite one, but Barcelona really is up there on the list. It is just such a beautiful, romantic, unique city with so much character. Paris gets all the credit for being the romantic city (which it is!) but Barcelona is definitely the underrated city of love. I also may be slightly biased because I went with Alex :)
We arrived in Barcelona in the evening and went straight to find our hotel. We spoke with a man who was so helpful and gave us a free map and lead us straight there! Our hotel was so nice and serene. It had a large window in the bathroom that opened to an amazing skyline view of the city and the mountains surrounding it. We relaxed for a bit but were both really hungry. We walked down to the water to an area named Port Velle, a harbor with lots of amazing seafood restaurants with outdoor seating on the harbor. We picked a nice candle- lit restaurant and shared wine and seafood. Alex even splurged and tried foie gras (duck liver!)
The view outside of our hotel window.
Our hotel room.
Yummy seafood dinner the first night.
On Friday we had the full day ahead of us and lot of things on our list to see. We started by taking the metro to Catalunya and walking down La Rambla, the main touristy street with tons of shops, restaurants, vendors, street performers, etc. Off of La Rambla, there is a huge market called La Boqueria. It was full of stands selling amazing fruit, cheeses, meats, eggs, wines, etc. The butchers were interesting. First of all, they were mainly all women butchers and they mostly chopped and prepared the meat in front of their buyers. Although at times, it was a little hard on the stomach to see full rabbits, pig heads, chickens, and cow intestines, it was a nice difference from the perfect, packaged way we buy our meats. It's nice knowing exactly where your meat come from and who prepared it. Alex and I both got amazing smoothies and roamed around for awhile. After the market we were both hungry and ready for lunch, so we went in search of a restaurant. However, we totally forgot that people in Spain take siestas in the day! Most restaurants don't open again until one or two, so we decided to just come back. Instead we headed to La Sagrada Familia, the famous church designed by Antoni Gaudi. The construction of the church was started in 1882 and still continues today! It is truly incredible and no picture can do the details of the church justice. We walked back winding our way through small streets in a neighborhood called Barrio Gotico. There were lots of great shops and restaurants. We ate lunch at one of the best places I've ever been and shared a litre of Sangria!
La Rambla.
Amazing fruit and smoothies at the market.
La Sagrada Familia.
Sangria with lunch.
After lunch, we headed to a place called Park Guell, also designed by Gaudi. This spot was recommended by a friend as a must see and I was not disappointed! It is an amazing park full of mosiac details and character. The view from the park is also argueably the best of Barcelona. It overseas the whole city to the ocean. We spend a lot of time there taking pictures and watching beautiful musicians play.
View from Park Guell.
Us with Barca in the background.
Such a interestingly designed park.
After all of our exploring we were both really tired but had more places we wanted to see. Alex wanted to go home to nap, but after a little pressuring I convinced him to go with me to Montjuic, a mountain overlooking the city (also, where many Olympic events were hosted). It ended up being an amazing place and we were both happy we went! We took a train up the mountain, then a cable car to a castle at the very top. As the highest point in Barcelona, the views were spectacular. The final place I really want to see was the Museu Nacional d'Art de Cataluny (MNAC), because I heard it was an amazing building with a fountain in front and also great views of the city. When I looked up pictures of the fountain in front of MNAC they looked incredible. When we finally found it, I was so disappointed. The fountain was off and I assumed that maybe we just missed it for the day. We took a few pictures, then intended on going home. However, as we were leaving we noticed more and more people gathering around the fountain, so we figured something must be going on. A couple minutes later the fountain turned on, plus about 50 more in front of MNAC and down the beautiful street in front of it. It ended up being an incredible light show with music. It was seriously one of the most beautiful, romantic things I've seen (even up there with the Eiffel tower at night!) It made it even more fun that we stumbled on this all by accident. It was my favorite part of the trip! We had a late dinner in an area called Place Reial and a restaurant called Les quince nits (the fifteen nights). It was the perfect way to end the trip. On Saturday when we left, it was pouring so we were grateful for the warm weather we had. It was so warm and refreshing to be on the water and surrounded by palm trees. It was a nice break from rainy Ireland :)
On the way to the top of Montjuic!
Alex overlooking the port.
At the top of Montjuic.
Us in front of MNAC, another great view of the city.
MNAC before the lights were on.
Let there be light!
So incredible!
I took this picture of this couple on La Rambla by accident, but I'm obsessed with it.
Placa Reial.
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