In January this year, my friends and I flew to Spain for the remainder of our Christmas holidays. Despite being in UK for over a year, this is my first Europe trip. So, over a course of 6 days, we traveled to Barcelona and Madrid. But, for the sake of not overflowing this post with too many photos and information, I decided to split this travelogue into 2 posts, starting off with Barcelona.
Day 1
We flew out from London Standsted to Barcelona on Ryan Air. Because it was a morning flight and we weren't based in London, we had to camp overnight at the airport. Probably the first and last time I ever want to do again. Having to watch over our belongings and being paranoid that someone will take it away while we were sleeping, I barely slept. We were all zombies by that morning. After touching down in Barca, we checked in to our hostel, cleaned up and headed out for lunch.
A peek into our 4 bed room with a private bathroom at Generator hostel
Bunk beds with storage lockers below the beds. Paid about 17 euros a night which is really worth it.
Extension cables are always a must for me. The room did come with about 3 power points, including one with the bed but obviously an extension is needed because we just have too many devices..haha.
This sink area is outside where the beds are. There is a bathroom for shower and another room for toilet. With every thing separated, cleaning up gets so much more efficient.
We wanted to visit the musical fountain but it was closed. Hence, we ended up roaming around the city center.
Dinner was at Arume - something we found out of trip advisor. In fact, trip advisor become our best bud throughout this trip. We literally did not plan anything prior to coming here besides booking for flights and accommodation.
Complimentary appetiser. I can't remember what this was, think it tasted like pumpkin.
When in Spain, eat paella.
Rice with organic Catalan sausage and wild mushrooms.
Because 1 paella is not enough.
Arume paella with Galician seafood.
Preferred this over the mushroom one.
Off the bone lamb with kalamata olive parmentier, onion and herbs
Starters - Crispy Galician octopus with paprika, potato foam and seaweed
This was soooo good but overly rich at the same time. Despite sharing between 4 of us, we had trouble finishing it.
Went back to the hostel after dinner to have a good rest. After all, we barely had any sleep in the last 24 hours.
As I have mentioned earlier, we did not plan an itinerary for this holiday. So, besides trip advisor, we also sought the help from the very trusty receptionists at the hostel. They provided brochures and gave us recommendations on where to tour. Thus, for day 2, we went on a guided tour around the city center. These guided walks are technically 'free' but at the end of the tour, you can tip the tour guide on any amount.
The guided tour ended at noon, so the other half of the day was visiting other attractions on our own.
First stop: Sagrada Familia
Entrance fee: €13
Sadly, the place is still under construction. Would have been a prettier sight without the cranes.
Back of Sagrada Familia
The interior of the church. Always love the sight of sun shinning through glass stained windows.
2nd stop: Park Güell
After flights of escalators and stairs, we reached the starting point of the park.
on top of the world! Such a beautiful sight with sunny weather. In fact, we were really blessed with warm, sunny weather throughout the trip.
Headed back to the city after for some seafood dinner. But because the place only opens at 8pm (Standard Spanish dinner time), we went for the famous llao llao froyo.
Dinner at La Paradeta
Reservations cannot be made here, so its best if you go early and queue! I think we were about half an hour early and there were a couple of people in queue.
How the restaurant works: You enter to a counter full of seafood, pick what seafood you want and tell them how many people you have in your group and they can roughly estimate the amount for you. After that, they will give recommendations on how you want each seafood cooked - grilled, fried, etc.
Fried calamari rings and fish.
fresh oysters. I don't really enjoy fresh oysters, maybe because the ones I have tried before weren't that fresh and had a very strong fishy taste but this was so good. Absolutely no fishy taste at all.
Octopus, probably grilled or something.
Bamboo clams
This wasn't it, we had a whole lot of other seafood as well which I didn't get a chance to take photo.
This is how it looks on the outside, and yes, that was the queue after we left at around 9ish? My reviews on this restaurant, it is slightly pricey but seafood is pricey to begin with. Considering I have been seafood deprived for a long time, this tasted really good. hahaha. It's quite different from seafood back home in terms of cooking style. Back home, seafood is mostly steamed, stir fried with sauces or barbecued. So for a change, it may be worth trying. :)
Call us gluttons, we went for ice-cream again after dinner.
Manna gelats.
Knowing that we wouldn't be back probably for a long time, I had to get 3 scoops of ice cream because I wanted to try it all. Hahaha. I think the flavors were dark choc sorbet, speculoos and salted caramel.
Day 3:
Montserrat! (DEFINITELY MUST GO)
Took a train and rack rail down to Montserrat with the help of the reception people at our hostel.
While on the train to the Monserrat, transitioning through the clouds.
And here we are above the clouds
taking the rack rail to the top
Things we do while having our mini picnic...
Continued to hike up the mountain in very inappropriate hiking gear - talk about dress, tights, trench coat and long boots...hmmm....but we made it all the way up!
this isn't the top...
this is the top! Took quite many photos with this breath-taking view but its all in my friend's camera..so yeah.
We spent so much time hiking to the top that we didn't get to explore the other part of Montserrat. By the time we came down, the sun was setting, so we did a quick tour of the church.
I felt that Montserrat was really the highlight of our Barca trip and is definitely a must go destination if you are going to Spain. Be prepared to spend the whole day there and if you are into adventure and hiking, gear up properly to hike the mountain. It is really worth it.
That is all from part 1 of my Spain travelogue. More to come in part 2 where we explore Madrid.
Till then.
xx
