Barcelona Days 1 and 2: Gothic Quarter, Park Güell and Barceloneta Beach

As hard as it is for me to believe, I turned 30 years old last month! I wanted to do something a bit special and different for this big birthday, and naturally, I wanted that to involve travel. So a few months ago, I looked on Skyscanner to see if there were any reasonably priced flights to places on my bucket list, and was happy to find a good deal to Barcelona from Gatwick Airport. (Living in Reading, we are lucky to have a bus that goes directly to Heathrow and a train that goes directly to Gatwick, even though it is a bit of a long journey.)

I've wanted to visit Barcelona for many years, and have previously passed through the airport, but never had a good opportunity to visit. But my birthday felt like the perfect time to visit, as it is in the middle of October - away from the heatwaves and crowds of tourists that you find in Spain in the summer, but also warm enough for a nice escape from the grey and rainy UK autumn.

So on Saturday the 11th October, we took the train from Reading to Gatwick, followed by a plane to Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport, then a train to Passeig de Gràcia, and finally a metro to Llacuna station. After a full day of travelling, it was great to finally arrive at our hotel, Hotel Acta Voraport, and then to see Sagrada Família and Torre Glòries from our window! Further in the distance, we could also spot the W Hotel and Montjuïc Castle.

After getting settled into our room, the first thing we did was go up to the rooftop terrace and swimming pool (yes, this was the main reason why I chose this hotel!) to check out the views from up there. We were blown away by the incredible panoramas of the sea and the city's architecture, and super excited for what the rest of the trip would bring.

After having some pasta at a nearby restaurant, we went for a walk on Bogatell Beach, the nearest beach to the hotel. It's a very picturesque place, with palm trees on the promenade and views of the W Hotel in the distance.

Then we rounded off our evening on the hotel's terrace, enjoying the views of the city by night.

The following morning, we prepared ourselves for a big day of sightseeing with a delicious coffee and avocado on toast at Back to Back Cafè d'Especialitat. It was great to sit at an outside table watching the world go by and enjoying a bit of sun - something I don't get to do when I spend my birthday in England!

We decided to spend our first morning in the Gothic Quarter, Barcelona's historic centre. First off, we visited the city's Roman wall...

...before making our way over to the cathedral. Yes, this gothic cathedral is actually the city's main cathedral, not Sagrada Família!

We really liked wandering around the area's narrow, picturesque streets.

Of course, we visited La Rambla, Barcelona's most famous street, which is on the edge of the Gothic Quarter. I thought that this street would be really busy, but it wasn't too bad - probably because we were there in the autumn. We didn't think there was actually that much worth seeing there (it mostly had a lot of touristy restaurants) but we liked this building with dragons on it.

We continued walking up La Rambla until we reached Plaça de Catalunya, Barcelona's main square. Here we took a little break to have a delicious gelato at Farggi 1957.

Next we walked up Passeig de Gràcia in order to see a couple of famous Gaudí buildings. As October 12th is actually the National Day of Spain, we had the opportunity to watch a big parade going down the avenue. This day is also Día de la Hispanidad, so we saw some flags from Latin American countries (though unfortunately not Chile!) and a big Bolivian parade following the initial Spanish parade.

The two famous Gaudí buildings on this street are Casa Batlló and Casa Milà/La Pedrera. They looked very busy inside but were cool to see from the outside. What most caught our attention were the balconies of Casa Batlló - they almost look like skulls or masks!

We then went to see another interesting building - Casa de les Punxes on Avinguda Diagonal. This was designed by Josep Puig i Cadafalch and looks a bit like a fairytale castle, which I really liked.

Then it was time for us to visit another of the most iconic attractions in Barcelona: Park Güell. We took a bus up a hill to the park's entrance, and were a bit disappointed to find that it costs 18 euros to go inside! The internet didn't work well near the entrance of the park and it took us a while to buy our tickets, but eventually, we were in.

This park, designed by Gaudí, is where you find one of the most iconic views in the entire city: the view over the porter's lodge pavilions and the Mediterranean Sea beyond. The two little buildings are so unique and look like something out of a fairytale, and it was great to be there in person - I'd dreamed of visiting this place for around 15 years.

However, if we return to Barcelona in the future, I doubt we will go back. We felt it was important to explore the park once in our life, but the ticket price and the crowds have put us off going back!

Having said that, the rest of the park was less crowded and also had some interesting structures and buildings to see, as well as more great views over the city. We also saw the first (and only) cat of our trip!

By the time we finished walking, we were really hungry, and went to the nearest restaurant for paella and sangría. It was a bit of a touristy place and probably not the best quality food you could find in the city, but it tasted pretty good after spending so many hours walking!

We then returned to our hotel to try out the rooftop pool! The water was actually a lot colder than we expected - almost like the ocean in Chile - but it was amazing to be up there swimming, looking out across the city and the sea.

We spent the evening at Barceloneta Beach, walking along by the port where all the fancy yachts are, and then along the beach itself by the W Hotel. The design of the hotel, which looks like a sail, is very cool, but the inside looks kind of like a discothèque! We both felt that we preferred our own hotel, with its more welcoming décor and rooftop pool!

The first day and a bit that we'd spent in Barcelona had been awesome! We'd really enjoyed the warm weather and the relaxed vibe of the city, and of course the city's architecture and beaches.

The following day was my 30th birthday, and unfortunately turned out to be the worst day of the trip! We were unlucky to have a bad experience, but there were plenty of nice moments too. I'll be writing about it very soon!