This was such a last minute trip (booked less than a week in advance) I barely had time to get excited about it, so before I knew it my alarm was waking me at stupid o'clock to be on a 640am flight to Barcelona - it turned out to be well worth it! Darci and Leanna (fabulous New Yorkers, great friends and ex co-workers of mine) were flying from NY so I met them at Barcelona airport. Leanna has really good Spanish, I was designated as trip photographer and Darci has great organizational skills, and she carried half our crap in her bag all week so Leanna dubbed us the 'triple threat' team. I had never traveled more than a night with three people but it was fantastic - no weird dynamic at all and if one person was tired, the other two took over the plans - loved it!
- We stayed at a cool hostel that was more like a hotel a block from La Rambla, one of the main drags. It was central enough but away from the craziness. The first night we got a bottle of wine, some great cheese and snacks from the market, an listened to Leanna's Spanish music while we caught up. It had been over 6 months since I left NY.
- We had mostly sunny days although if we were in the shade and the wind, it was definitely jacket weather.
- We walked TONS! We really felt like we saw a lot of the city and walked a lot of the neighborhoods. I know people say that it can be a bit unsafe or that there are pickpockets around but I'm happy to say we saw none of that.
- There was one bit of shadiness though. When Leanna had lived in Spain before she noticed there were a few more flashers there than in your average cities. She bet that before the week was out we'd see one. Wednesday morning we got up a little early and rounding the corner at 830am on the way to breakfast, I hear Leanna yell 'YAY!'. I turn to see what cool thing she'd seen, as she's pointing across the street - 'look, an exposed penis! - I told you we'd see one'. Not what I was expecting to see before my morning cuppa, some dude casually leaning against a lamppost with his lad out. Definitely quote of the trip though.
- We were wandering around one night trying to find a restaurant recommended to me by Josep, a former New Yorker and Barcelona native. We stumbled upon a tiny little bar called Zim. It had about 8 bar stools in the whole place and that was it, my living room is bigger but it was fantastic. Really good Cave which is my new favourite drink now.
- Lunchtime consisted of tapas and a glass of either Sangria or Cave. I wish every lunchtime was like that.
- The Sagrada Familia was amazing, really cool to get the lift up to the turrets and walk all the way down. Park Guell was great but it was really packed so it was difficult to take photos.
- After 3 days walking the city we decided to get the train an hour out of the city to visit Montserrat for some hiking trails. It was a really sunny day and so lovely to be out and hiking. The views were stunning and once we got on the trails we didn't pass by many people at all.
- Our last evening, we went down to the beach, had some drinks beach-side and then dinner. A lovely end to a super fun city break. The triple threat team are already thinking about the next vacation.
You can check out my photos here.
Hasta luego,
Jen
xo
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