Be Warned...Comfy Shoes are IMPORTANTE in Europe - Day 3

On day 3 of Spain I woke up having a bit of gym withdrawl...I know ridiculous. I woke up craving a workout even though I would be walking all day long. I headed down to the hotel gym and did 20 minutes of cardio (10 minutes on ellipical & 10 minutes on the treadmill). It between my two cardio intervals I did two sets of push-ups (15) and sit-ups (100).

It was nice to work up a sweat and appetite for the hotel buffet that was awaiting me. On the schedule today was to finish up the hop on hop off tour bus, bus train tickets to Sevilla and hit the famous La Ramblas market. Below you will see the ground we covered on the red line!

1) Today it was time to purchase our train tickets to Sevilla and I was sure glad I was travelling with someone who could speak a bit of spanish because if I were in charge of getting tickets we would of ended up in France or something. The convenience of our hotel's location was amazing today...simply buy our train tickets and hop on the tour bus without walking. :)

2) We hopped on the bus but soon realized that we were on the wrong color so we got off and started walking to Plaça de Francesc Macià. While walking I realized I had made a horrible footwear decision...within 20 minutes of walking I had a blister on each of my feet. We stopped at the farmacia for band-aides but honestly the damage had been done. Thank goodness we were riding the bus today. :) FYI Don't wear cute shoes...wear COMFY shoes! Once we arrived at Plaça de Francesc Macià I was again amazed at the beauty of the plaza. I just can't get used to it!!!

3) We hopped on the bus and were ready to enjoy the gorgeous Barcelona weather. Our first stop was Placa de Catalunya. This is usual a beautiful spot but it was full of protesters, posters and fired up people so we didn't really get to enjoy it. Next we were finally going to see some of Gaudi's other work. Below you will see Casa Batlló and Casa Milà aka La Pedrera. Casa Batlló is so unique, I never thought I would think skull balconies were so beautiful. La Pedrera is just GORGEOUS!

4) Our next stop was the Sagrada Familia Cathedral. We saw it yesterday and were so glad we didn't have to stand in the 1/2 mile line around the church. :) After the cathedral we continued to enjoy the red line tour...but forgot to get off at Park Guell. :(

4) Next stop Parc de la Tamarita or Jardins de la Tamarita. This stop was beautiful and sooooooo peaceful. We thought this was Gaudi's Park Guelll....oops. :)

5) We continued on the red line until we reached FC Barcelona's Stadium. I couldn't wait to see this because of my childhood love affair with soccer. I had heard that this stadium was simply amazing and the largest in the Europe. For me it was totally insane thinking that a stadium of this size would be sold out every game for futbol! The tour of the stadium was great you got to see almost every square inch of it. :)

Really...prayers before the game??? :)\

6) After loving the stadium tour we jumped back on the bus to get to Plaça de Catalunya. I wanted to see the famous La Ramblas market during the day. I had heard that it is quite a sight and experience. Sorry for the picture overload below but I was in heaven and shock all at once. I was so glad that I got to see this market!

So much meat....

So many cheeses....

Have you ever seen sour candy like this?

So many fresh spices....

So many nuts and fruits...

After drooling at the freshness of the La Ramblas market I decided that I had to try one of the waffles had been seeing all over Barcelona. This waffle was to die for...toffee topping with bananas was the perfect end to sightseeing. :)

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!