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 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!