We were excited to arrive in Barcelona after the long overnight flight. Our hotel was in a central area, right around the corner from the Gaudi house. This is the view from our hotel room balcony, looking down Arago towards Passeig de Gràcia.
We walked up towards the Gracia neighborhood and stopped to grab our first vermouth of the trip.
After walking around the Gracia neighborhood. We ducked into our first tapas bar. This one turned out to be a great choice for a first meal in Spain.
The second spot we found was much more casual, but delicious. Not as tasty as the first, but it was fun to try multiple places back to back (this would be a common theme throughout our entire trip).
Lisa surprised me for my birthday with a trip to two metal bars in Barcelona.
La Sagrada Familia was a highlight of Barcelona. It was breathtaking from the inside and out.
On top of it being visually mind-blowing, it was really cool to see it still under construction. It’s wild to think it’s been under construction since 1882.
We booked a tour of the cathedral, where we got a detailed explanation of the architectural elements both inside and out. The columns are designed to be reminiscent of trees, with the branches supporting the ceiling.
Every element on the outside was thought through and represents something.
As part of our tour ticket, we got to go up into one of the finished towers. This is the view of Barcelona from the tower.
The Arc de Triomf
We stopped in a pastisseria in the gothic quarter and tried some meringue.
We found a tapas spot named Fa Patxoca that we really enjoyed.
The waterfront and beach area goes for miles and miles, which turned out to be a great spot to go for a run.
We were in Barcelona during one of the largest holidays observed there, St. George’s Day. The Gaudi house was decorated in red roses for the holiday.
We made our way up to Park Guell, which is famous for several works by Gaudi.
The park is accessible only with a ticket, and tickets are limited. Lisa had the foresight to get tickets early which meant we didn’t miss this Barcelona bucket-list place.
The park is pretty large, and easy to get lost in.
These arches are one of the more famous landmarks in the park. They were designed by Gaudi and support the land above.
The view of Barcelona from Parc Guell. The buildings are at the entrance of the park.
Columns support the main park terrace above. The entire structure is decorated in these mosaics.
La Boqueria market was absolute insanity. We slowly made our way through the crowds and picked out a couple of things to try.
We passed by a gelato shop that had a line wrapped around outside and knew we had to try it. It turned out to be a small chain from Argentina, but the gelato was delicious!
Probably one of the more famous areas of Barcelona – the Gothic Quarter. It is mostly pedestrian-only and is filled with shops and restaurants.
Our last night in Barcelona (until our return from Zaragoza).
The day we left Barcelona was St. George’s day. Many of the streets were shut down, and the area around us was ground zero for the celebrations. We could see the crowds from our hotel room balcony.
