Barcelona Day 5: Arc de Triomf, a Tram Ride and Bogatell Beach

Our fifth day in Barcelona was unfortunately our last! We didn't want to leave the sunshine, beaches and relaxed vibe of the city and return to cold, grey England, but such is life! Our flight was in the late evening, so at least we had almost a full day to enjoy before leaving.

First of all, we had yet another tasty breakfast at Spice n Brunch, a short walk from our hotel. Being both millennials and Chilean/having lived in Chile, of course we love our avocado on toast!

Now fed and caffeinated, we began a leisurely walk over to our last sightseeing stop of our trip, passing through some attractive areas, including Parc de l'Estació del Nord, with its very Catalan sculpture, the striking Estació del Nord, and this cool staircase, which brought back memories of Valparaíso. 

The Arc de Triomf was the last of Barcelona's iconic landmarks that we were yet to see. At 29.8 metres tall, it is nearly 20 metres shorter than its Parisian counterpart and you can't go inside it, but it has an interesting Spanish/Moorish architectural style and is definitely worth seeing.

During the rest of the morning, we did some souvenir shopping and also took the tram, just for fun! Taking the tram is always a great way to see a city and feels like a very European experience.

We then headed back to the Poblenou neighbourhood where our hotel was located. For lunch, we decided we fancied something a bit different, so went to a Mexican place called Matt and Marshall. My burrito was spicy and full of flavour, and I feel like it was a lot better than most of the Mexican food you can find in the UK.

For dessert, we enjoyed ice creams sitting on the hotel's rooftop terrace, next to the swimming pool - something I could definitely get used to!

Our last activity of the trip was a final paddle in the sea at Bogatell Beach. It was so nice being there in the sun that we really had to drag ourselves away to go back to the hotel and collect our things.

We both felt a bit sad to have to return home, especially as it wasn't the easiest journey to get back. We eventually arrived back in our flat at almost 2am the next day, feeling very cold!

Despite the negative experience of Claudio's phone being stolen on my birthday, we had an amazing time overall in Barcelona. We wished we could have stayed longer and will definitely try to go back at some point in the future. In fact, we could even imagine ourselves living there!

It was also super nice to enjoy a last bit of warm, sunny weather in the middle of autumn, especially as we didn't go abroad over the summer. Though we like the UK, it definitely does us good to go somewhere else from time to time! Hopefully, it won't be too long before we'll have another adventure like this!

Barcelona Day 4: Montjuïc, Tapas and Another Birthday

After the not entirely positive events of my 30th birthday the previous day, I decided that our fourth day in Barcelona would also count as my birthday!

This second birthday didn't get off to the greatest start, as the piña coladas we'd had the night before had been the size of a pint and probably about half vodka. I woke up in the night to use the bathroom, and felt the room rocking like a boat! And when it was time to get up in the morning, we both felt a bit worse for wear.

Fortunately, after a very aesthetically pleasing and tasty breakfast at Mono Cafè, we felt ready for the day!

Our activity for the morning was visiting Montjuïc Hill. To get there, we took the metro to Paral·lel and then were able to continue our journey on the funicular railway without paying extra (we found the public transport in Barcelona such great value compared to London).

Once at the top of the funicular, we queued up for the cable car to go up to the castle at the top of the hill. The ride was a lot of fun, with amazing views of both the city and the sea.

I've always loved castles so I enjoyed the visit to this one. It has a sort of medieval aspect to it that reminded me a lot of places like Mdina and Valletta in Malta.

We chose not to go inside, as it has been converted into a military museum that you have to buy a ticket for, and that didn't really interest us. But we had a nice walk around the outside of the castle, taking in the great views of the shimmering blue sea.

We took the bus back down the hill, which gave us an opportunity to pass by some other interesting sights, including the Olympic stadium and Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya. We got out of the bus at the bottom of the hill, by the Venetian Towers.

By this point of the day, we were super hungry, so popped into Tapa Tapa. Here we tried several different Spanish dishes, including patatas bravas, tortilla española and pa amb tomàquet (a traditional Catalan dish). My favourite was the tortilla española and Claudio's was the mussels, and we both also loved the patatas bravas.

With renewed energy, we entered the nearby Arenas de Barcelona, a former bullring that's been converted into a shopping mall. It has a rooftop terrace that offers great views of Plaça d'Espanya, across to the Venetian Towers and Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, as well as other parts of the city.

We headed back to the hotel and spent the late afternoon at Bogatell Beach (bringing only our towels and room key!). This time we had a long, drama-free swim, which was one of the highlights of the trip. Swimming in the sea is something we both absolutely love, and Bogatell Beach is a beautiful, peaceful location.

In the evening, we both fancied some more tapas, so went to a different Tapa Tapa over at Westfield Glòries, where we ordered a couple of our favourites from earlier (tortilla española and patatas bravas) and tried a few new dishes. We also enjoyed big glasses of sangría!

It was the perfect way to end my (second) 30th birthday!

Sadly, we only had one more day left in Barcelona after this, but we made the most of it, mixing a last bit of sightseeing with some time relaxing and enjoying the warm weather. A post will be on its way soon!

Barcelona Day 3: Sagrada Família, a Sushi Robot Cat and an Eventful Birthday

It's actually quite rare for me to spend my birthday outside of the UK. For my 18th birthday, I went to Paris with my family, but not on the actual day itself. On my 27th birthday, we were living in Chile and celebrated at home in Santiago. The only previous time that I'd been on a trip away on the day itself was on my 22nd birthday, when I was living in Austria and went on a weekend away to Udine. So it felt very special to spend my 30th birthday in Barcelona!

We started the morning at Madeleine by Ferrières, a French café just around the corner from our hotel, where we had one of the best pains au chocolat and coffees that we've had in our life! I love France and French pastries, so it was the perfect birthday breakfast.

After breakfast, we went to a barbershop, because Claudio had wanted to get a haircut while in Spain, and after that, we went to Westfield Glòries mall, where we picked up some Spanish turrón to take home as gifts. Claudio also got himself a new shirt from Zara.

When leaving the mall, we passed by Torre Glòries, Barcelona's most famous skyscraper.

Our first sightseeing stop of the day was one of the city's most unmissable sights: the world famous Sagrada Família basilica.

This building, which is set to be finished next year, is so much bigger in real life than I imagined it to be. It also has a lot more little colourful details to it than can be seen clearly in photos, such as a Christmas tree and bunches of fruit. It's a really unique place.

It was also, unsurprisingly, the most crowded attraction we visited during our trip. We didn't fancy spending hours waiting in line and then shuffling through the building in a massive crowd, so decided we were happy to have seen it from the outside. Maybe on a future trip, we'll go inside.

For lunch, we went somewhere extra special: Más Que Sushi. This is actually a restaurant that was recommended to us by the barber who cut Claudio's hair in the morning. There were two reasons why we wanted to go:

1) We really like sushi.
2) One of the waiters is a robot cat!

It turned out to be a really special experience. The restaurant is beautiful, and the food was delicious. It was also great value, at 15 euros per person for all you can eat. The cat robot was so much fun - it smiles and talks to you when it comes to your table! 

It was after this that the day took a turn for the worse. We decided that a great way to continue the birthday celebrations would be by going for a swim at Barceloneta Beach.

As we knew that there was a risk of our belongings being stolen while we were swimming, we decided to leave our backpacks behind and take the paper bag we'd got from Zara earlier. We also left behind my phone and our cards and money, just taking towels, our room key cards and our metro cards. In the end, Claudio decided to also take his phone in order to find the bus route to Barceloneta.

We arrived at the beach, laid out our towels and put Claudio's phone at the bottom of the Zara bag, covering it with clothes, and made our way into the sea.

We spent a few very nice minutes enjoying our swim in the surprisingly warm water. Swimming in the sea is one of our favourite things in the world, and it was especially nice to get to do it on my birthday.

We were regularly checking back to see that our belongings were still there. However, we must have both looked away for a matter of seconds at one point, because the next time we looked, the Zara bag had completely disappeared. We asked people sitting nearby, and no one had seen what had happened. I was worried we were going to have to walk hours back to the hotel in our towels and flip flops, as most of our clothes along with our metro cards had been taken.

Eventually, we ended up meeting a Colombian family who had also been robbed. They told us they had seen the thief going down a particular street with the Zara bag. We went to that street and found the bag ripped open on top of a car. The clothes, along with my metro card and hotel room key, were strewn across the street, but unfortunately, Claudio's phone (which had his metro card and room key in the case) was gone. The Colombian family were kind enough to give us one of their metro cards so that we could get back to the hotel.

We then spoke to two police officers, who told us to come with them to the station. We sat in the back of the police car, where I was trying not to have a panic attack, as the space was so cramped. At the station, Claudio tried to log in to his Apple account in order to find his serial number and make a report, but in the stress of the moment, he wasn't able to remember the password.

We then went back to the hotel room, where Claudio spent some time on my phone, changing passwords and making sure that nothing important could be accessed on his phone.

Thankfully, his phone was old and had problems with its battery life. He had been planning on replacing it soon anyway. What happened was a massive inconvenience and very frustrating, especially after the measures we'd taken to make it look like the bag had no valuables in it, but it could have been a lot worse.

We finished my birthday on a positive note with a surprisingly strong piña colada on the rooftop terrace. It did feel like my 30th birthday had been ruined more than a little bit by what had happened, so I decided then that the following day would also be my birthday! And luckily for us, it turned out to be a much better day than this one. I'll be writing about it next!