What would you like to drink? Sangria.
What would you like to drink? Sangria.
What would you like to drink? (Hiccupp)…more Sangria!
Most people think it’s crazy to go to Barcelona for only three days, but Grant and I felt that we saw everything, we ate everything in sight, and we definitely drank enough Sangria for life. The trip might have been brisk, but we packed as much into it as possible. The end result was us seeing Barcelona for what it is—a beautiful city to walk around and eat, but not much more.
Our adventure began with a new airliner called Iberia, which contracted the flight out to an even smaller company called Level. Grant and I vowed we would never fly Spirit oversees, but we definitely did just that with this airliner. We were fortunate enough to upgrade early and got the exit row for the flight, otherwise we would have been squeezed into our seats like sardines for 12 hours. While the space was excellent the service aspect was atrocious. Would you like a water? That will be 2.5 euros ($3) per beverage. What about a meal? That will be 9 euros for a small thing of nasty pasta. I am supposed to write this to memorialize this forever: Grant and I will never fly Level again.
Upon landing we were to have a car waiting for us. So we went around looking for our names on a sign only to find the driver was running a bit late. Technically, we made our way through security extremely fast so it is not entirely his fault. The driver arrived and took our bags to the car. Thirty minutes later, we found ourselves at the Weflating Suites San Antoni Market, which would serve as our home for the next few nights. The 2-bedroom/1-bathroom apartment was housed in the “hipster” part of Barcelona, which meant that there were loads of excellent restaurants and markets to walk too.
Grant was a bit jetlagged the first night, but was a good sport and went out with me to walk around and find dinner. We walked Las Ramblas, which was the tourist epicenter of Barcelona, and then stumbled upon a quaint little Tapas Bar on our way back called Pasapalo. The food was epic here and so was the Sangria. I knew the food was going to be amazing, but this definitely exceeded my expectations.
The next morning, we were supposed to go on a rather expensive tour of Barcelona, but I goofed and booked the wrong date. I partially blame the tour company as I did send them my flight itinerary and they did not say anything. Needless to say, I am not great at military time nor understanding when flights actually land. As a solution to this major malfunction, we ended up getting a two-day pass on the “Hop-on/Hop-off” bus tour that let us explore the 44 main attractions of Barcelona. The tour was great and took us to all of the key sites of Barcelona including Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia, Casa Batilo, Park Guell, Barrio Gotico, and even Camp Nou Stadium (home of FC Barcelona).
The main highlights of the trip for me were the Park Guell, Montjuic Cable Car, and the Barcelona Cathedral. We lovingly dubbed Park Guell, the park with the gingerbread houses and is one of the most iconic sites in all of Barcelona. It is kind of an odd thing to be so iconic as it is a failed planned housing community by Gaudi that the state turned into a park for tourists.
Montjuic Cable Car is a gondola lift that brought us to the Montjuic castle on a mountain that overlooked the entire city. The views were incredible and also highlighted how insanely spread-out Barcelona was. Another fun event that we stumbled upon was a street festival happening outside of the Barcelona Cathedral. Random vendors, lots of food, free cheese, and a really fun marching band drumming up and down the aisles. Who doesn’t love a good street fair, right?
No trip to Spain would be complete without seeing a Flamenco show. This show was a bit different because before it started we were given lessons as to how to dance the Flamenco. Needless to say, Grant and I had no rhythm and often times finished well after everyone else participating did. A tad embarrassing, but all in good fun. The actual show was a lot different than what I was anticipating. The show was more river dance than tango, but I guess that just shows my limited knowledge of the dance world.
The trip wrapped up organically with one final stroll through Las Ramblas, me hopping on a lion on the Columbus monument and one final round of tapas and Sangria for the road!
Here’s to not drinking Sangria for a while! Ole!