Dan’s birthday Bonanza. We stayed at Hotel Duquesa de Cardona which is located right on the harbour so we had a lovely view from our room and wasted no time in heading straight to the rooftop pool to enjoy the sunshine and of course, some fizz.
That evening we were meeting Dan’s sister Fran who was living in Barcelona at the time. We went for dinner at Caravelle which was tasty and just behind Mercado de la Boquiera. We then had drinks in a couple of bars in the cool neighbourhood of El Raval.
The next day was spent walking around the city taking in as many of the landmarks as we could. We kicked off our DIY walking tour at Placa Reial, where we first enjoyed a jug of sangria and gasped as the street entertainers performed acrobatics a few feet in front of us. We then headed inside Mercado de la Boquiera and up the leafy Las Ramblas, through Placa de Catalunya and beyond to Casa Batlló, a mesmerising apartment building designed by Gaudi complete with dragon like roof tiles and skeleton like balconies. After this a building caught our attention down an alleyway so we headed inside what turned out to be El Nacional, a high end Art Deco food market. On our way back to the hotel we passed by Cathedral de Barcelona and explored the shady streets and boutiques in the Gothic Quarter.
That evening we did our best to wait as long as possible since dinner is much later in Spain, and walked to the El Born district, famous for its tapas and bars. We started the evening at a place called Bormuth. After waiting for a table, we indulged in some tapas and enjoyed a bit of people watching. After settling up we walked the streets and found a spot in one of the many bars for drinks and pintxos aka tasty food served on cocktail sticks. Afterwards we sipped cocktails at the very cool Guzzo Club before stumbling back to our hotel!
Next day was beach time, meeting up with Fran again we spent a few hours on the sand, and were supplied cold beers by the local sellers before venturing to one of W Hotel’s beach restaurants for lunch with was delightful! That evening we had tickets to see Barcelona play Eibar at the Nou Camp, the home team won and the atmosphere was electric, an awesome experience!
Our last day we were excited to visit Sagrada Familia and it honestly was breath taking, the detail and grandeur of the building is unbelievable, despite not being finished! Afterwards it was up the steep hill to Gaudi’s park Güell but unfortunately tickets were sold out so we walked round the perimeter and still managed to see quite a bit plus a great view back over the city.
Our flight was later that evening, a brilliant weekend spent in a city that really does have it all!
If you like Piña Coladas... 