Barcelona

Once again, our journey started at Frankfurt International Airport. Our flight to Barcelona was at 20:20 pm, we knew that we are going to arrive in Barcelona late, so we had to be careful with our search for the hotel (not every place allows such a late check-in). We book easy Hotel Barcelona Fira. And we were very happy with it. We also bought a Hola Barcelona Travel Card. Hola card allows you to travel around, an unlimited number of times, using the metro, bus (be careful not every bus, just the red ones), railway (Zone 1), Montjuïc funicular, and tram. You can choose between 2 to 5 days, depending on how long you are planning to stay. We bought the card online because they are offering a 10% discount if you buy online. It's not a lot, but hey why not save some money for food and sightseeing. Is Hola card worth it? Well, it depends on how many times you are planning to use public transportation. Because our hotel was out of the city center, and we didn't want to worry about buying the tickets all the time, it was a good choice for us.

Our first stop was Plaça de Catalunya, a city's central transport hub. From here you can go almost anywhere.

From Plaça de Catalunya, we took a walk along La Rambla, Barcelona's liveliest street. No matter what time of the day it is, this place is always crowded. La Rambla is packed with restaurants, flowers, souvenir stalls, and street performers. But I would advise you not to buy souvenirs and go eat there, because you will pay a lot more than you would like for it.

After La Rambla, we decided we wanted to experience how local lives, so we went to Mercat de Santa Caterina. This place is not so famous among tourists (and not so famous as Mercat de la Boqueria) but is a nice place to try some fresh local food at reasonable prices. I don't know why, but I didn't take a lot of pictures from this place (just this one with Cava, a sparkling wine of Spain).

The next stop was, in my opinion, one of the most interesting neighborhoods in Barcelona, Barri Gotic. We just strolled around its beautiful narrow streets. This place is also packed with tourists so prepare yourself for bumping into them. La Catedral is one of the many attractions in Barri Gotic. The entrance to the Cathedral is 9€. Unfortunately for me, I can't tell you if it is worth it to go inside, because we had to make some budget cuts, and we decided to spend our money on something else (tapas and cava, but don't judge, next time I'm definitely going inside).

The rest of the day we spent exploring Barri Gotic, eating Spanish food, and drinking cava.

Rain has stopped us to do some of the things we wanted to do that day. But we still managed to do some of them and we had a lot of fun. We planned to spend our morning strolling around Parc de la Ciutadella. But in the end, it was just a quick walk through the park. Nevertheless, it is a very nice place, so if you are luckier than us, make sure to explore it.

On our way to find someplace where we can hide from the rain, we stopped at Pastisseria Hofmann. We bought ourselves a delicious croissant filled with mascarpone. Yummy!

As we waited for the rain to stop, we bought ourselves tickets for Palau de la Música Catalana. This place wasn't on our list, but as I've already said, rain has changed our plans, and we were looking for something we can do inside nearby our location. Tickets for Palau de la Música Catalana are 14€ for a self-guided tour or 18€ for a guided tour. Although it wasn't my first choice, I'm really happy that we visited this place. It was so beautiful, and I recommend it.

Our next stop was The Box. Delicious Mexican food, amazing cocktails, so many different rum sorts, and friendly staff. I was more than happy with this place.

The last stop was Camp Nou. My boyfriend is a huge Barcelona fan, so it would be insane to visit Barcelona without watching the game. Luckily for us, the rain stopped, and we could really enjoy the game.

We started our day with a visit to Park Güell. Park Güell is a beautiful place to explore, if you don't mind crowds or if you are an early bird and you manage to go there before anyone else. Unfortunately, I am far away from being an early bird. Park is very big, so you will manage to find some quiet place, but if you are planning to visit The Doric Temple (where all those beautiful photos of people standing between stone columns came from), you should count on some waiting time. The same goes for the Casa-Museu Gaudí. As we were there, the line was so long for both attractions, so we decided not to wait and use that time to see something else in Barcelona. But I am sure, next time I'm taking all the time I'll need, because I really want to see those things.

Our next stop was Bunkers del Carmel. My favorite place in Barcelona. Views from there are so amazing. I really loved just sitting there and watching the city. But reaching this place wasn't that easy. We walked at least an hour to reach it (or it just felt like that, I'm not sure anymore). If you are going there make sure to take some water with you.

After an exhausting hike, we decided to treat our self we delicious food at a little place Bodega la Peninsular. The food was so delicious!

We also went for dessert at Granja Dulcinea.

Finally beach day! But before going to the beach, I wanted to visit Columbus Monument. I saw that you can climb it, but as we came there it was closed. I don't know if that has anything to do with Covid restrictions, because I couldn't find anything online or at the entrance.

It was the end of October, so we didn't go for a swim (we saw some people that did), but it was still warm enough to lay on a beach and charge our batteries.

After spending almost the entire day on the beach we went to Mercat de la Boqueria. Aside from the crowd, this place offers so many kinds of food, from local specialties to exotic fruits. Definitely, a place where you should stop by.

Another must is La Pallaresa Xocolateria Xurreria. Here you can try the best Churros in the world (just my opinion, but I'm still dreaming about them).

This day started with another visit to Camp Nou. But now we did a tour of the stadium and visited the museum.

Then we walked around Quadrat d'Or which is packed with fashion stores but also some of Barcelona's most important sights, like Casa Batllo and La Pedrera (we didn't go inside).

Next stop was La Sagrada Familia. Sagrada Familia has left me speechless, and I think everybody should see this masterpiece at least once in a lifetime. Sun's rays passing through the Stained-glass windows make the inside even more beautiful and there are so many details and so many stories on every corner of this place. But as I was leaving this place, I didn't have that "oh God I have to visit this place again!" feeling. Do you know that feeling? When you visit someplace, and you immediately say to yourself, I must come here at least one more time in my life! I don't know why that is. As I've already said, I was really amazed by it. But there are so many beautiful places in Barcelona, and if I had to choose one place only, I don't think it would be Sagrada Familia. And if we talk about finances, visiting Sagrada Familia isn’t an inexpensive experience. The entrance is 26€, so if you are traveling on a budget, that could be a deal-breaker. Nevertheless, you should at least see it from the outside. Just go to the Placa de Gaudí, sit on the bench, and enjoy the view!

The last stop was Tibidabo Amusement Park. We bought a ticket for the Panoramic area of the park (19€), which also includes a funicular ride to and from the park. Visiting the Panoramic area is actually free, so if you don't want to go on rides, you don't have to buy the ticket. There is also a bus that drives to the park, so you don't even have to buy a ticket for a funicular.

We finished our day and the trip with a good old Paella at Audaz Barcelona Restaurante.