Barcelona Travel Diary

In my last blog I said that another travel diary would be featuring soon, and here it is! In the first week of September two of my uni friends and I decided to go on a city break to Barcelona for five days. Although it was a girls holiday, it wasn't one of those holidays, as we did do a lot of sightseeing during the day. If I could name this trip, I think all of us girls would call it 'Barcelona on a budget', as we did make the most of the culture whilst not spending loads of those euros.

Monday 2nd September:

On the Monday I met one of my gal pals (Ellen) that was embarking on our Barcelona adventures at Farringdon station, where we got a Thames Link to Luton airport. There we met gal pal number two  (Laura) and after a confused wander (oh how British we learnt this term was) around Luton airport we made it to security. After losing my shoes to airport security, and walking through the metal detector like a Victorian orphan looking for bread, I soon regained my shoes and we had finally made it to duty free. Luton felt like quite a small airport so we weren't worried about getting to our plane, but we didn't realise that our terminal was just a bit of a walk for us! Once on the plane, it only took us about two and a half hours to get out to Barcelona, so the flight went very quickly. We then got a bus into the town centre which cost about 5€; it was fairly easy to navigate way the bus, we just made sure to follow the signs and have trusted google maps out and ready! Getting off of the bus we walked up through a part of El Gòtic that was full of shops to reach our hostel. It was so lovely that it was about seven pm and that even though the sun was only just setting it was still so warm. Also seeing the architecture for the first time was so beautiful. I think one of my favourite things about Barcelona was definitely the architecture; parts of it seemed very traditional and almost medieval, whereas some areas seemed like parts of South America, and others more like Paris.

Arriving at the hostel was an interesting experience because there was a huge red door, with an Alice-In-Wonderland-styled mini door carved into it. We joked about there being a separate mini door for the vertically challenged (a.k.a. me) to go through with the 5"8 and above (Ellen and Laura) using the tall door. The joke turned into reality, except everyone had to enter through this tiny door. I realise trying to explain an inside joke may not seem funny, but I can't express how funny it was seeing everyone trying to get through this minute door, whilst I being a solid 5"1 walked through with no trouble. After walking through this colossal Gothic hallway, we had a little wait around in another tiny room, we were shown our room. The staff were really flexible with our payment, and spoke good English (despite their lack of coherence over email) so our stay was pretty easy. As we had our own separate room in the hostel we were given a separate key, which I think definitely put our minds at ease given all the horror stories about Barcelona and pick-pocketing, (despite the fact the layout was rather reminiscent of the hostel in Taken). That evening we decided to head out for some food, and stopped off at a restaurant in the Plaça De Ramon Berenguer El Gran. However, it was the most surreal experience as about ten minutes into sitting outside, it didn't pour, it tipped it down. I know it was the first week of September, but it felt like we were in the middle of a British storm! It was funny though as you could tell who was used to these conditions; all the Spanish ran inside straight away, whilst we remained outside with a Swedish family joking about how hardcore we were. Eventually we gave into the rain, and not only took shelter inside but took advantage of the cocktail menu. Once the rain cleared off, we headed back to the hostel.

Tuesday 3rd September:

We decided for the holiday that in order to get the most out of exploring we should split Barcelona into sections. Therefore, on our first official full day we decided to explore El Gòtic. As we set out mid-morning the heat in September was still very much strong so we went for a little stroll down what was essentially a high street of stores in the Gótic Quarter. We also found the Mural Del Beso and it was so cool to see the individual photos that captured the 'kiss'.

Mural Del Beso

What was so much fun about Barcelona is that it is like an extremely aesthetically pleasing maze, so we were constantly weaving our way through.

There were so many different Plaças that we walked through once the sun wasn't so strong such as: Plaça de Sant Josep Oriol, Plaça del rei and Plaça de Sant Jaume. At Plaça de Sant Jaume we saw the Palau de generalit, Saint Jordi chapel and the city hall, and at Plaça del rei we saw the royal palace and the Santa Agata Chapel. One thing we noticed in Barcelona is how important religion is; there were so many chapels with such beautiful architecture.

Palacio de la Generalitat de Catalunya

One tip I would give is that if you do want to go into the cathedrals to take layers- they won't let you in if your shoulders and knees are not covered. Also, I think when you are visiting it is important to budget where you actually want to go into. As there are a lot of tourist spots, it is easy to succumb to the persuasive marketing and to be distracted away from the price. For example, there are so many cathedrals in Barcelona- all of which I am sure are beautiful for different reasons. However, some charged quite a bit for simply a little walk around, so don't be fooled and feel obligated to do all of the sites, unless you want to.

The Barcelona Cathedral

On our way to dinner we were stopped by a woman asking if we wanted to have two for one cocktails. Initially we were a bit skeptical and thought 'oh what's new', but the woman said that because a group hadn't showed up, their barmaids would teach us how to make one cocktail of our choice and make the other for us. So essentially we were only paying for one, and got to make the other one ourselves! As we were feeling spontaneous we decided to go for it, and made some great cocktails as a result! The bar had a cool aesthetic as well, and felt a bit like a wine cellar crossed with a pirate ship. After feeling very merry we stopped for some tapas and yet another jug of Sangria, that eventually got the better of us. We had a little wander around the streets, and came across the eternal flame- purely by chance, which was fascinating to learn more about- and also to see at night. Although we debated going out, we decided to save it for the next day.

Wednesday 4th September:

Us girls decided that for one of the days we really wanted to chill on the beach, so Wednesday called for a 'beach day'. We also wanted to explore the nightlife in Barcelona, and after the first day of walking, we figured we'd conserve our energy for the night out. The odds actually worked in favour, because I am not joking we were bombarded by promotors during our attempt to sunbathe. After what felt like an Apprentice style meeting between Ellen, Laura and I on our towels we accepted one deal that seemed reasonable. They said if we paid 35€ then we would have access to a free bar and entry to one club for that night, then free entry to any of the other clubs in the Barceloneta area for the rest of the week. Weighing it up, we realised that entry for a lot of clubs was between 10-20€, with drinks prices ranging from 7-15€; technically for one night out alone we would probably have spent between 50-60€, so for once this was a wristband worth purchasing (not like all those fresher rip-offs).

You can see the W hotel in the background

After going for dinner in the Barceloneta area and having a noodle paella (check out @veganlivinguk_ to see that😉) we ended up going for Opium night club that was fun, and the free bar before was so actually quite funny and was REAL. I think if you are planning on going on a nightlife style of holiday in Barcelona try and look for deals, because like most night clubs they can easily rip you off if you're not careful and next thing you know you've spent half your budget on one night out. 

💗

Thursday 5th September:

Feeling slightly (very) less perky, and having sadly lost Ellen to illness, Thursday was a bit more scattered. Laura and I decided that we would section the day into parts so that we could rest our limbs a bit and also check up on Ellen! For the first part of the day we went to Sant Pere Santa Caterina i la Ribera and explored the streets there, that almost felt like we were in South America. We also went back to see the Eternal Flame in daylight.

The Eternal Flame

Palau de la Música

We stumbled across the Palau de la Música that was beautiful, Santa Maria del Mar and also el Born centre cultural that was the market hall. When it hit midday we topped up on the suncream and saw the Arc de Triomf, and explored the park just behind it that had an epic waterfall. It was really nice to just sit and soak up the sun as well as seeing how big and well looked after the park was.

Arc de Triomf

After checking up on Ellen, we decided to hop on some foreign transport and see one of Gaudí's houses up at Park Güell and I have to say that was honestly one of my favourite parts of the holiday.

The house was incredible, but for me the view at the top was unlike any view I have ever seen before. Laura and I managed to climb up to where el Turó de les Tres Creus was, and that was the most epic viewpoint over the whole of Barcelona. We wished it wasn't so overcast that day as we would have loved to have seen the sunset, but as we got on the bus the heavens quite literally opened and we just missed the rain. That night we had a very quiet one and caught up on some sleep after walking around all day. 

The view from the top

Friday 6th September:

The Friday feeling took us to the Art Nouveau Quarter. We went house-hunting; specifically for Gaudí. Below are some of the ones we saw. We didn't actually go inside the houses as it is recommended to prebook them, but some of them had airport style queues with bronze, silver and gold levels of queuing! In total honesty if we had gone inside all of the houses it would have been expensive, and the outside of the buildings were epic enough as they were all very quirky and alternative.

After that we set our google maps to Gaudí's unfinished masterpiece: La Sagrada Familia. I have to say the fact that it isn't finished shows how huge it is going to be. I know I'm only 5"1 but even at the Park Güell it stood out like a Bratz shoe does on a Bratz doll. I think it will be fascinating to see if when it is completed, as there are so many intricate details that almost got lost to the scaffolding and distance.

After a good craning of the neck we headed back towards Las Ramblas, which was extremely busy but full of the traditional high end and high street stores. Before heading back to the hostel we also saw La Boqueria market briefly, which was again very busy but full of just about every cuisine there is! One thing I would say to be careful around the back of the market; we got approached by a man who was very lovely but could very well have been distracting us for pickpockets. Luckily as we had our backpacks strapped to us like koala bears to a tree we were fine, but it was an observation worth noting. That evening we went went for dinner at Las Ramblas; again be careful for costs! We got these Sangria jugs that were probably bigger than my head but one cost about 18€! We finished our last evening bar hopping and soaking up the culture at one of the Plaças. 

Saturday 7th September:

On the last day our flight wasn't until the early evening so during the morning we went to Rambla del Raval and saw the cat sculpture that made my inner mad-cat-lady very happy. We also saw one of the oldest churches in Europe that I believe was called the Sant Pau Del Camp. We also visited La Boqueria again during the day, before heading back to the hostel and heading to the airport. 

Sant Pau Del Camp

The best statue ever

Overall, I absolutely adored Barcelona and despite going for five days could definitely go back as there was still so much we didn't get to see- such as Montjuic and a fairground on a mountain?! It was also so nice to go away with two uni friends and bond in another city abroad! I think if you're looking for a city break, this is one to go for as there is so much to do and see. Also for a city I actually found the people quite laidback and far more chilled than most workers in say London for example! We also did not have a bad experience with pickpocketing; we were careful with small over the shoulder and bum bags. The only negative experience we had was more at night where men would harass us, but once we gave them some blunt British rejection they soon got the hint. There are also some beautiful beaches if you want to have a more chilled holiday, and also good clubs if you fancy a party. All in all, I feel like Barcelona has something for everyone so I would highly recommend!

                                                                         Odette xo