Barcelona has never really been a city I'd put at the top of my 'to travel to' list, but last year one of my friends swapped gloomy London for sunny Spain, so I decided to pay her a visit and fall for Barcelona myself. As I recently started a new job and didn't want to take any time off while I'm still settling in, I was only there for two days which wasn't really enough...well, we did see everything we wanted to, but it involved walking over 32,000 steps in one day so I'd really recommend a three or four day trip if you're thinking of visiting! Regardless, I thought I'd share how we spent our weekend in case you're in need of any inspo!
Saturday
Saturday was a *very* busy day, I'd arrived late Friday night and we were out of the door by 9am on Saturday, ready for a day of exploring. We started our day by hopping on the metro (which has air con, thank god as it was 78% humidity and over 30°) to El Born, an area with loads of pretty independent shops and restaurants. We stopped off by the cathedral to admire the building before it got busy, before going for brunch and to rehydrate before making our way to Barceloneta for the beach! If I was able to stay longer I'd have loved to do a beach day, but on this occasion it was just a flying visit to dip our feet in the sea.
We then took the cable car to Montjuic, one of the hills on the outskirts of the main part of town. The cable car gave us views across the whole of the city, we could see the Sagrada Familia and the cathedral from above and it really shows you just how small the city is. When we got to Montjuic, we headed straight to the Gardens of Mossèn Costa I Llobera, a really pretty cacti garden and a real hidden gem in Barcelona. After wandering around, we headed down the path and took in the views, before stopping for a drink overlooking the Olympic pool - the perfect place to cool off.
After we were feeling significantly refreshed, we headed back on the metro to Parallel to go to Carrer Blai, a street famous for it's Pinxos bars. Pinxos are like little tapas on sticks, you go into the bar and choose which ones you want and they bring them to you heated up - they're super cheap at around €1 or €1.50 each. It's a great place to stop for a bite to eat and each of the pinxos I had were amazing.
We then headed to La Rambla, which was in all honesty, a little disappointing. You hear so much about it before going to Barcelona but it really is just a very busy street where you're constantly worried you're going to get pickpocketed. However, the market just off the street, La Boqueria, was really fun. There's so many amazing looking smoothies, tapas bars, Spanish meats and cheeses, etc and another great spot to pick up a bite to eat.
After heading home for a quick change and a much needed cold shower, we made our way over to Casa Batlo on our way to dinner. The Gaudi buildings dotted across the city are really interesting and so unique, you wouldn't get to see this on your way to dinner in any other city! Our dinner spot was Exiample, a really cool building which I think is an old converted market. It's now home to four or five restaurants and a large bar. We had dinner in the Italian restaurant which may seem odd as you'd think we'd go for something more traditionally Spanish, but it was the only restaurant without a line and we were starving. We really enjoyed our dinner though, and had a glass of Cava to give the meal a Spanish touch!
Sunday
On Sunday we were up bright and early to head to Park Güell. We booked the first slot at 9am as we'd read that in gets insanely busy and as we were leaving you could really tell that the crowds were starting to pick up, so definitely go early if you're planning on going. We headed straight to the Greek Theatre, the giant mosaic terrace which gives you that iconic view of the park, as we read that this is the busiest spot and we wanted to get a photo while it was quiet. We then wandered around before leaving the park and stopping off for brunch.
After brunch, we headed straight to Anita's for ice cream where I had perhaps the best ice cream I've had in my life - I'll be forever hunting down their white chocolate and passionfruit ice cream but luckily for me, they've just opened a store in London!
We then took a (very slow - it was so hot and humid!) walk over to the Sagrada Familia. It was about 2pm by this point so it was obviously packed with it being the most famous tourist destination in the city, however if you cross the road and head to the park across the street, you can get a really good view of the church where its a little quieter, its perfect for getting that iconic photo too! We sat here for a while enjoying some of the Fanta flavours that you can get in Spain but unfortunately not in the UK, I'd kill for a peach Fanta again!
Eager to make the most of our final hours, we headed over to Parc de la Ciutadella and cooled down in the shade before heading back to El Born to enjoy some tapas before heading to the airport!
Have you been to Barcelona?
xo Becky
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