travelicious: barcelona

8/12/2016

My knowledge of Barcelona prior to this trip is not what you'd call inspiring. In 2011, shortly after B and I visited France for the first time, my mother went to Barcelona on a work trip. Long story short, a thief ripped her heavy gold necklace right off her neck in broad daylight. So there's that.

Before that incident, all I knew about Barcelona was that it hosted the 1992 summer Olympic Games, because I adore the Olympics, especially women's gymnastics (side note: can I get a hands UP for Team USA this year? Aren't they KILLER?!).

Needless to say I approached Barcelona with a certain...ah...apprehension. As far as I know no gymnastics were going on during our trip, but I'm guessing the petty criminals were still in business.

If they were, however, they had the good sense to leave us alone. And we had a fabulous two days in Barcelona. The shopping was spot-on, and I was able to stock up on some of my European favorites (Caudalie Divine Oil and Longchamp Le Pliage totes, I'm looking at you!). I fell in love with all the gorgeous, colorful mosaic tiled everything in the city, paying homage to Gaudi. Sagrada Familia was beautiful (if crowded), and Parc Guell was a gem. And we got some good snacks and a great meal or two. While it's certainly no Paris or Florence, or even London, I liked Barcelona a lot. Read on to see what we did.

xoxo,
E & B

where we stayed

AC Hotel Diagonal L'Illa // This is a Marriott property. And you can tell. Holy mother of comfort, Batman. Our room was HUGE, with what felt like the world's biggest king bed and a sizable sitting area with a couch and a desk. The bathroom had a large walk-in shower, and the whole hotel was - get this - on top of a huge shopping mall/area/thing. Can you say SCORE? It was also very close to a bus stop, which we used to get around the city. I could happily have moved into that hotel. Great, safe, convenient location and a perfect room. You can't ask for better than that.

how we got around

Hola BCN travel card // Similar to the Oyster card in London, the Hola Barcelona card offers unlimited transportation for a set fee. We did an unlimited 2-day pass, but you can go up to five days. It allows you transportation via subway, bus, or tram. It was 14 euros for our 2-day pass, and it was well worth it to use a combination of buses and subways without having to deal with a ticket every time. Buy it online, redeem your code for actual tickets at a metro station, and you're in business.

what we did

Sagrada Familia // If you go to Barcelona, Antonio Gaudi's half-finished (but being worked on!) cathedral is the can't-miss item on your agenda. You may be half-hearted about cathedrals in Europe because honestly, they all start looking alike after a while. As we say, ABC - Another Bloody Church. Not this one. It's beautiful and unique and, well, trippy. The brightly colored stained glass is amazing, the detail and decoration are over the top, and the architecture is beyond impressive. I especially love the tree-like pillars holding it up on the inside and the plethora of colorful stained glass. I really don't know how to describe it. All I can do is tell you to visit. Purchase a ticket ahead of time for a specific time slot to avoid waiting in line. And beware of beggars/pickpockets.

Parc Guell // I found out about this the way I find out about most things: a book. Specifically, this book about a mother who takes her young daughter on trips to Europe, including Barcelona. I'm SO glad I read that book, because I LOVED this park. There's a free section that anyone can explore, and there is a paid section that has much of Gaudi's work. The paid section really is worth it - it's so whimsical and colorful and FUN. We had 9:00 a.m. tickets to the paid section, and all I can say is, if you're going to go, GO EARLY. I would schedule your time at 9:30 or earlier if you can swing it. While some say you should have a taxi take you, we took the 24 bus up and it dropped us right off. And it's included if you buy a Hola BCN card.

L'illaDiagonal // This is the shopping mall below our hotel. It could have been extremely dangerous, except they didn't have a Longchamp store or a parapharmacy, so the stuff I wanted wasn't here. However, they did have some really cute stores I might have liked to explore more if I hadn't been saddled with, you know, my husband. And they had a macaron stand. Again, it's no Laduree, but then, what is? You take what you can get.

El Corte Ingles // Also another giant shopping center, but this one with a plethora of Longchamps (on sale, no less!), as well as a parapharmacy in the basement that had Caudalie, Klorane, Biotherm, and other French skincare goodies, and a grocery store that had tons of fifths of Blanton's bourbon for cheaper than in the U.S. (for my brother and his wife). Can you say success? And B encouraged me to buy more Longchamps because they were on sale here. He FOUND additional Caudlie for me. Wonders never cease.

where we ate

Cafe de la Pedrera // We ate here on a tip from a coworker of Mom's in the WFU Study Abroad office (thank you, David!). The building, designed by Gaudi, is of course gorgeous and elegant. But the FOOD. We were blown away. We were expecting an overdone tourist trap, but the set "Summer Nights" menu was DIVINE, and included a glass of wine and a coffee afterwards. At 35 euros a person it's a treat, but for the quality of the food it was exceptional value. The dessert was especially good - passion fruit baked Alaska-type business. Seriously.

DelaCrem // It was basically pouring, but we wanted gelato and B found this. He's good in a pinch, let me tell you. This was some damn tasty gelato. He got chocolate chip (meh), but I got passion fruit, and have mercy. Even in the rain, it was totally worth it.

La Tramoia // We stopped here because it was rainy and we were hungry, but it was a good find. We had a decent white wine and split an order of mixed paella - chicken, fish, and seafood. While not as good as the Lazy Goat's paella, it was pretty darn satisfying, as we drank our wine and sat outside under an umbrella as the rain came down.

where we drank

Dow Jones Bar // We found out about this one by a tip from a former coworker of mine who had been here. All the drinks are listed on a stock-ticker kind of thing, and the more folks order certain drinks, the more the price of that drink goes up. Apparently, once the price hits a certain level, the stock market "crashes" and the drinks all go really low, so everyone scramble to the bar to grab a drink while they're cheap. Unfortunately, we were the only ones in there at the time, but at least we drove up the price of Paulaner for the next guests. It's a cool concept, honestly. I can imagine it's a lot of fun when it's crowded, although stressful. My only beef? They don't have wine, just beer and liquor drinks. So there's that. You've been warned.