Bon Dia Barcelona
Day 1: We arrived in Barcelona Wednesday afternoon and went to our hotel in Gothic District to check in. Once we settled we explored the area including the Barcelona Cathedral and multiple gelato shops as we wandered toward La Barceloneta, a neighborhood area of Barcelona stretching out towards the sea with a harbor for yachts on one side and a beach on the other. Here we had Paella for dinner, a Spanish rice dish filled with seafood essentially. Afterward, we went back to the hotel and enjoyed our rooftop views of the city before going to bed. I honestly don't have many pics from this day because I was pretty cranky from being sick / traveling / lack of food LOL.
Day 2: Thursday we had much more excitement than the day before starting off at Sagrada Familia, a church that construction began in the late 1800s but has yet to be completed. It was one of the most amazing architectures I have ever seen and would love to go back to visit it when they hopefully complete it in about 10 more years. Talk about a project... The artist, Antoni Guadí, who began the Sagrada Familia and whose designs they still follow to this day had numerous projects going on that shaped a large majority (in my opinion) of Barcelona such as Park Güell.
Park Güell was probably my favorite part of Barcelona. It was originally supposed to be a neighborhood for upper class complete with a guard house, water filtration system and market. Guadí passed away and never got to complete the project so it because a public park for the city to enjoy. You do have to pay to get into the area that was constructed such as the "market" and the terrace, but it is well worth it. Most of the sites said it wasn't necessary to buy your tickets ahead of time, but when we showed up the time slots were all full for about 4 hours. We ended up having to come back later and re-walk up this hill that trust me, you probably don't want to do twice, so I suggest definitely buying your tickets the day before for the time slot you want.
Because we had some time to burn we ended up purchasing a one day pass for the hop-on-hop-off bus that took us all around town to see more sites such as Casa Batlló (didn't go inside) and Del Miramar Gardens (great place to have a nice lunch overlooking the water and city by the Miramar Hotel).
One of our stops by the metro we also found a mall (called Arenas de Barcelona - it is not a sports arena FYI) that had the best gelato in life. This was probably the only place people didn't speak English because it was definitely off of the beaten path and not a normal tourist spot.
We ended the day having tapas at Bar Lobo which was so amazing we went back the third night (Fried Eggplant and the Spicy Potatoes were my vegetarian favorites - the Sangria was amazing just order a whole pitcher right off the bat, you'll want it)!
Day 3: This was more of a chill day for us. We got up and walked the two or so blocks to the La Boqueria Market since it is less busy in the morning. We probably could have spent most of the day exploring the market and eating food here especially if you are a meat or seafood lover. Afterward, we went to visit a few stores and drink our third (or fourth) cappuccinos for the day before heading to the Barcelona Aquarium. For those of you who don't personally know me, my family is a huge lover of the ocean and most things saltwater so in most cities if there is a semi-great aquarium it is a must see for us!
The aquarium was fun to see and it was interesting to see the names they have for fish that are different from what we call them! Plus there were penguins. After an hour or two exploring the aquarium, I headed back to the hotel to relax while my family went back to the market for more food. I got some sun on the roof before finding a couple cute stores off of the main road - Las Ramblas - we ate dinner again at Bar Lobo (no shame).
Overall Barcelona was so much larger than I expected and such a unique place to see. I loved the colors, being by the water and the architecture. If you ever get the chance to go, do it and explore as much as you can because there is a lot to see!
