Oh Barcelona! To celebrate his 25th birthday K flew me over to Barcelona (as his gift for my own upcoming birthday) where he was staying for a job training. He put me in charge of making the travel plan as we’d only have 24 hours of free time together (and I had 8 extra hours on my own). With a little help from my friends I made said travel plan, which ultimately became a shortlist of places I wanted to get food from. We threw in the Sagrada Família and Parc Güell at the end of our day, because we (well, mainly I) felt like it would be a shame if we didn’t at least took a peek while we were in the neighborhood.
First things first! I got off the plane in Barcelona El Prat T1 and took a direct train to Passeig de Gràcia. If you ever visit Barcelona and want to save a few euros, I advise you to not take a shuttle bus into the city, but to buy a T10 train and metro ticket (costs €10 for 10 rides). Busses cost around €6-11 while the train is only €1. When I got out on Passeig de Gracia (look around to spot Gaudis work) I immediately got to “work” and walked to Carrer del Carme (a side street of the Ramblas) to find Chök, heaven for all chocolate lovers. I had only 32 hours to eat everything on my list, right? Since choosing is losing, I picked up a chocolate biscuit lollipop, a donut (not pictured) and a cronut to get me through the morning.
From the Ramblas I wandered down to the Colombus monument and then I followed the promenade along the Passeig de Colom, past the port of Barcelona. I found a bench with and excellent view to enjoy my chocolate treats and the beautiful weather. Gosh, it was 20°C and underneath the palm trees it really felt like it was mid summer already. It was gorgeous out there! I walked further down to Sant Sebastià beach and looked at the waves for a while before finding my way back to Plaça de Catalunya through the many small streets of the old town.
On day two K and I wanted to have brunch at Picnic but we were too hungry to wait for it to open and opted for this pretty place in the old town instead. I can’t for the life of me remember what it was called or where exactly it was located, but that yogurt was SO freaking good. The weather was nice enough to have breakfast outside, which immediately got us in a good mood. I can’t remember the last time we acted so much like a cutesy lovey couple as we did in Barcelona this weekend, haha. The streets around the breakfast place were absolutely gorgeous too.
After breakfast we went for a walk through the Parc de la Ciutadella. There were people blowing bubbles near the Arc de Triomf, where a little boy jumped into my picture frame, and the Cascada monument which resulted in Disney-like photos. After visiting the park we had lunch at Cake & Brunch. That right there is how they serve acai bowls in Barcelona: in a cut-out pineapple and with the prettiest toppings. It was soooo good. K had a nacho salad and went back after I flew home to try out more of their menu. If you’re ever in Barcelona: GO HERE! They have various locations, but keep in mind that it they seem to be the most popular place in Barcelona.
Like I said, we threw in some of the main attractions at the end like Parc Güell, which apparently you have to pay for and wait to enter these days. Since we didn’t have any time we just climbed up the hill, enjoyed the view and went back to the city center to do some shopping. The stores in Barcelona are open until 9-10PM and almost all chains that belong to the Inditex group are much cheaper in Spain (and Portugal) than in the rest of Europe. The results of my spending-hour at Massimo Dutti will be up on the blog soon, but don’t worry: one of the bags in from the boyfriend!
It were two very intensive days. Even though I had a T10 ticket and used the metro a few times, I walked 22km on both days. My left leg stopped working at the end of day two and I’m probably out for the rest of the week. I literally hobbled my way through the airport on Saturday, haha. Well, it was totally worth it. Since I didn’t take many photos, this is all you’re going to get from this trip. There’s a few more bits on my Instagram if you want to see more. Hope you guys enjoyed!
That’s an awesome birthday present! It looks like it was a blast!
I think I’m keeping him 😉 I had a great time indeed 🙂 xo
Barcelona is one of my favourite cities! I love Parc Güell, it’s so pretty! I like your photos, they brought back memories and your food looks and sounds amazing!
Parc Guëll was super busy and the waiting line was hours, so we skipped the platform, but did see the views over the city. And the food WAS as amazing as it looks. xo
OMG al die prachtige locaties en da foooood omnomnomz
So fun! What a great getaway. The food looks amaaaazing.
It sounds like you had an amazing time, even with the painful leg from all the walking! You got some great photos, and that food looks so good! I shouldn’t have come to read this post hungry…now I want a doughnut haha!
Away From The Blue Blog
can i just say yum to those cupcakes! the scenery is amazing in Barcelona, you captured it well!
http://www.samanthamariko.com
Thank you. It’s a beautiful city with something new to capture behind every corner. It was lovely to be there again and simply enjoy it. xo
Absolutely adore Barcelona, I could wander around forever taking in the architecture. I love Tickets. It’s such a fun contemporary tapas bar.
Aaah, too bad I didn’t know about it sooner then. We had tapas for dinner every night, but went to the same place twice. xo
awesome post! love!
http://www.bstylevoyage.blogspot.com
Oh nu krijg ik ongelooflijk veel zin om naar Barcelona te gaan! Wat een prachtige en gevarieerde stad is het toch! En dat eten doet mij echt watertanden! Yummmm
Prachtige foto’s! Het eten in Barcelona is echt super.
x Karen
http://dressinginlabels.blogspot.com
Amai niet, ik heb mij rond gegeten! 🙂
Oooh leuk 🙂 ik krijg al goesting om nog eens te gaan, doen we geen bloggerstrip naar barcelona? 😉
JA! Maar wel pas als ik terug een inkomen heb haha 😉