Hop on Hop Off Bus is da BOMB! - Day 2

Today started off with a plan! The plan was to see as much Barcelona as possible and the cheapest and most efficient way to do this was to buy a two day pass on their "Hop On Hop Off" tourist bus. This is the most fantastic way to see the city because they drop you off at sites and pick you up whenever you are ready! Oh and it is on a double decker bus so you can get a tan/burn! The longest wait was seven minutes...I love this concept.

Below you will see all the ground covered on Day 2. The black lines are all the walking we did and the red is the hop on hop off tour bus lines. :) We pretty much covered the city in less than 5 hours and had plenty of time for a nice siesta before dinner on La Rambla street!

1) Started the day by walking to the Plaza Espanya and walking through the "Magic Fountains" and up to the National Museum of Art of Catalunya. The building had a great view of the city and was massive! You will hear this alot from me but I couldn't believe that a building that was this beautiful was simply just a museum.

2) After having a stiff cup of coffee (that is the only kind here in Spain) and a pastry we decided to just explore and stumbled upon a beautiful garden and eventually come across a cable car that takes you to the Montijuic Castle at the top of the mountain. The cable car takes you high above the city and gives you incredible views. :)

3) Castle de Montijuic is the first castle I have ever been to and it didn't disappoint. It was a thing of beauty and gave me a chance to how big the city of Barcelona really is. The castle was constructed in the 1700s and was used as a prison and fort for most of the 1800s. I loved exploring the castle and taking pictures of pretty much everything. But my favorite part by far was just looking at the incredible views!

 

4) After we took the cable car back down to the road we decided to purchase a 2-day pass for the Hop on & Hop off tour bus. We hopped on to the bus and sat up top to enjoy the sun and beautiful weather. The bus took us down to the piers and beaches. It was really nice to sit down and soak up the vitamin D.

5) We hopped off the bus in the Gothic Quarter which is called the "Heart of Barcelona." We wanted to see the gothic cathedral Le Seu aka Barcelona Cathedral. The construction of this cathedral began in th 13th century but wasn't complete until to 20th century. The area around the Cathedral has a charm and beauty that makes this location a must visit when you come to Barcelona. FYI in order to enter you have to cover your shoulders. :)

6) After enjoying the peaceful Gothic Quarter we decided to walk to the most visited site in Barcelona which is Gaudi's Sagrada Familia. I have heard that this piece of architecture is one of the most original and ambitious modern buildings ever built. When we arrived I couldn't believe my eyes, this was so ginormous, odd, beautiful and the most original thing I have ever seen. The construction started in 1882 and won't be complete for another 25-50 years. The inside was just AMAZING...the pictures below just don't do it justice. It's something you have to see in person to truly appreciate.

7) After walking through one of Gaudi's many masterpieces I was starving. We headed down to Port Olympico to find a restaurant on the beach and finally try Spain's famous PAELLA. We found the perfect restaurant Hijo de Lorenzo. We both ordered salads and then a serving of seafood paella. The servings were enormous...my salad had an entire brick of goat chesse on it. But it was super tasty! As they brought out the paella I was realized that I would not be having dinner because this was it. The paella was pretty good but to me it was missing lots of flavors. Lunch was of course served with SANGRIA because it is so perfect in the perfect Spain weather.

8) After eating my face off it was time to have a siesta. I just love that naps are a part of everyone's day in Spain. :)

9) It was time for our snack on La Ramblas, we both really wanted to sit on this busy street and just soak up Barcelona. We started off our late dinner snack with two jugs of SANGRIA...amazing. We both were feeling snacky so the perfect plate would be TAPAS. We had a greek salad, meatballs, potatoes bravas and octopus. Again the potatoes bravas and octopus were the BEST. Sitting outside on La Ramblas is so far the one of the best parts of my trip to Barcelona. :)

After enjoying our jugs of Sangria we decided to end our night right with GELATO! I had kiwi and coconut from Dino's Gelato and it was soooooooooo good. :) Perfect ending to an amazing day in Barcelona.

Gelato is so perfect in Barcelona!

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. :)