3 nights in Barcelona

On 29th May, I woke up at 5am ready for a short trip to Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. At first I wasn't sure what to expect, I had heard many different things from both family and friends which had me ready for an adventure. I'd purchased a travel guide from eBay for £2 and browsed Trip advisor which lead me to many places I wanted to visit. Knowing there was only a short amount of time to squeeze it all in, along with wanting to enjoy the sun, heat and glorious weather I knew it was an impossible task. So instead, we took each day as it came and tried to fit in a tourist spot along the way.

I booked our stay at Acta Atrium Palace hotel with rooftop terrace complete with jacuzzi. I wouldn't normal splurge out on a room like that on my own, but the entire trip was a 25th birthday gift to my travel partner. The room offered some lovely views day and night with the hustle and bustle of the forever moving city, but more on the hotel here.

Our room wasn't ready when we arrived due to our early flight, so we dropped our bags at reception and went off by foot to explore. After an early flight and no time for breakfast we were getting hungry and stopped off at the first place we could  find. This was 'Bitte! Wurst' where they serve German beer in steins and frankfurt sausage. Which just happen to be my favourite and I only get them when the German market comes to Birmingham at Christmas. So as you can imagine I was in my element. The streets were busy and so we took a few side alleys to explore and stumbled across 'Oggi gelato' (more food) we couldn't help ourselves and quickly ordered. I got dark chocolate and pistachio gelato pot, utterly divine. Sadly we couldn't find this side alley again, much to my disappointment. 

We took our walk all the way down to the harbour front. We sat for a while admiring the giant boats docked up with their luxurious style, some with their own helicopter. What dreams are made of! On the walk back up we walked into a square where the Cathedral is. There are many people here admiring the Gothic architecture, on guided tours or simply enjoying time seated with family and friends. The cathedral is free to enter, but I'm unsure of waiting times and maximum capacities, but your shoulders must be covered to enter.

Back to our hotel and our room was ready. So we decided to have a little afternoon nap after the early morning rise and a late night the night before had us both pretty tired. 

Refreshed after our nap we got dressed and headed out to find somewhere for dinner. We found an authentic restaurant where we ordered beer, cuts of meat for starters with tomato bread, paella and pizza! I wish I could remember the name of is because it was really enjoyable and the service was friendly. We strolled the streets a little longer to see if we could notice anywhere suitable for breakfast and then finally headed back to the hotel to make use of the jacuzzi before sunset. We picked up some Estrella bottles and some crisps (food is life) from a small corner shop and headed back.

Dress from Mango. Sandals from Birkenstock. 

The second day i woke up early and chilled on the roof terrace whilst John slept in. We had busy day planned so we headed out for a spot of brunch, which was from a place called Vienna. Neither me or the assistant knew what either of us were saying and so it turned out to be a green spinach sausage with pine nuts inside a bare baguette...John got a bacon butty. FAIL! We continued our walk on foot back down La Ramblas to find the market. I was secretly hoping for more food but instead found numerous amounts of juice stalls, priced at €1/1.50 along with fresh fish and restaurants which were full to the brim. 

As we were located close to Catalunya Square we purchased our bus tour tickets which cost us €28 each for a one day pass and joined the never ending queue. As it was mid afternoon by this point the queues were very long and it took us around 30/40minutes just to get on our bus. 

First stop was Sagrada familia, where we hopped off and took a long walk around the building. Gaudi  started working on the Roman Catholic church back in 1883 where he put his own architectural twist on the building and devoted the majority of his later years to the project. Sadly, he was killed by a tram at the age of 73 and didn't get to finish the church. Work continued on the church fully funded by donations from locals and also tourists from around the world, and today you can see the strong contrast between old and new, as shown in my photos below. The estimated finish date is set to 2026 which is a centenary of Gaudis death. You can queue to enter the church where you can climb the steeples for views of Barcelona or you can book tickets online HERE and save yourself hours of time! I would of liked to of gone inside, but John didn't and so we got back on the bus.

We took the ride all the way round to Camp Nou, where John had purchased tickets online HERE a few days previous for €23 each to prevent queueing. We were sent away with our phone tickets to a desk where we had to wait for them to be printed (kind of defeats the purpose) Upon entering there was little guidance but we found our way into the museum. In here there are endless amounts of trophies, cups and relics from not just football, but other sporting events. There are photo opportunities located at various different points, but all against a green screen. We opted out of these. 

We visited the away changing room, press box and the media/interview room. The main event for me was just seeing the sheer size of the pitch, along with tiny seats right at the top. It's the largest football stadium in Europe with the capacity of 99,354 so I can only imagine what the atmosphere would be like on a match day!!

We headed back to the hotel after this, relaxed a little, got washed and dressed then headed out again for dinner. We had been passing an all you can eat restaurant called 'Frescco' for a while and decided we may as well give it a go considering we had been given a discount voucher for it whilst on the tour bus. The salad was amazing, much like the 'Harvester' in the UK, but it also had a grill where you pick your meat and its cooked for you. There were a good range of drinks, but the desert bar was tiny. Sad times.

We continued our night into 'Dunnes' an Irish bar we just couldn't resist any longer and had an enjoyable night talking to the Irish man(can you believe it) at the bar on places to go and tasting cocktails and beers like no tomorrow. 

Dip hem skirt made by Facebook.com/sewitseams14

It was our final day and we had a lazy morning, headed back to 'Bitte! Wurst' again because i really do love the place and just strolled the streets, and accidentally did a spot of shopping. I found a lovely little shop the day before and couldn't remember where it was or even what it was called. All i know it had California in the name. Any ideas? I did however manage to find a bohemian shop called 'Florencia Fontanella' where i got a real leather bag, lightweight jumper, lightweight trousers and a necklace all for £38!! (I didn't realise it was real leather bag until yesterday in a shop called 'Aspire' in Earlsdon, Coventry where they were selling them for £40! Mine was €9)

We picked up some snacks to tie us over until dinner from 'el Fornet'. John got a mixed meat baguette and i got a calzone carbonara cold pastry, which was DIVINE! We sunbathed some more, then the rain came down... The air was much cooler now and so I popped on my new trousers and top ready to head out for a stroll down to the harbour. On the way back we called into a cool cocktail bar called 'Ultramarinos Santa Monica' which was decorated like Pinterest and had graffiti on the walls. After, we headed back into 'Dunnes' and had dinner. We stayed here drinking beer until late when we decided we really should pack ready for the early morning flight home.

Overall, I enjoyed my short visit to Barcelona, but only wish there was more time to visit more places like the Arc de Triomf, the beach, park Guell and day trip to Montserrat.

Have you been to Barcelona?

Where did you go when you visited?