Ole Spain! - Day 1 Recap

It feels so good to blog again, the past week I have been travelling through Spain! Spain is the best place I have ever visited in Europe...okay it's the only. During my trip I visited Barcelona (3 days), Sevilla (1.5 days) and Madrid (1.5 days). To recap I am going to do a day by day summary because their is so much to see in each city. :)

Day 1 - Arrived in Barcelona around 7:30am and rode the bus from the airport to hotel...okay not completely true. We got dropped off in the square where all protests were going on and then took a short cab ride to our hotel.

Our hotel was the Gran Torre Catalunya and it was great. It was about a 20 minute walk to the beach but close to the train and bus station. As soon as I unpacked my stuff I took about a 3 hour nap...oops. The plan for the day was to just walk and see whatever we ran into. :) The weather was perfect around 75 degrees and not muggy at all. See the map below to see where we walked and how much ground we covered.

1) Plaza Espana - This plaza was huge! The "round-about" was 4 lanes wide and the center of it was a huge statue. I am just not used to seeing this kind of architecture in the middle of the "round about." :)

2) Snack @ Port Vell - This was my first tapas experience in Spain and it didn't disappoint. The food was delish but I was expecting more bold flavors...everything seemed a little bland. The octopus, shrimp couldn't have been fresher. The pan tomate bread and spanish omelete were just okay but the potatoes bravas saved the day...think less greasy mexi-fries!! It was awesome to sit outside and enjoy Sangria, beer and tapas!

3) Barceloneta Beach - The beach was beautiful and BUSY! It was so nice to walk the beach and soak up the vitamin D...oh and enjoy GELADO! Gelado stands are everywhere. Walking the beach we came across numerous pieces of art that were very interesting to say the least.

4) Santa Maria del Mar Cathedral - We were just walking and came across this cathedral and when I walked in I was in complete shock of how beautiful it was. I have never seen a church with this much detail and beauty. We just happened to stumble across it in the middle of the city...no huge signs to signify that it was a big deal. I couldn't wait to see more architecture in Barcelona!!

5) MarisCo in Plaza Real - We just continued to walk the streets and stumbled across another thing of beauty...Plaza Real aka Royal Plaza. This was a square filled with restaurants, a beautiful fountain, tons of shops and even some street vendors and performers. I wasn't super hungry so I just had a tuna salad and glass of wine because I was still stuffed from my earlier snack. :) This square was so beautiful at night that we just sat their and enjoyed the atmosphere.

6) La Ramblas - This is supposed to be the busiest tourist street in Barcelona and it was. Restaurants, shops, markets and tons of people were here. This street was pure excitement for me and I couldn't wait to come back during the day to see all the shops open.

7) Gran Torre Dessert - After walking a ton, I felt as though I deserved dessert before hitting the sack. I ordered an almond hazelnut dessert that was simply the best thing ever! I mean if you look at the picture below and don't start drooling we probably can never share the same passion for desserts. :)

My first day in Spain was so much fun and a good taste of Europe. But I couldn't wait to see all the big tourists spots. :)