We Went to Barcelona
Last month, my boyfriend and I took our first trip to Barcelona and it was the best decision we could have made. We fell in love with the city!
We are both Barça fans and we always wanted to watch a match at Camp Nou, therefore that was one of the mean reasons for us to do this trip (If you are a soccer fan like us, you will understand). I’m also an art lover and Barcelona is full of it. So, wandering around Antoni Gaudí’s architecture, was a reason too.
As first-time visitors, and with only one week, there were lots of things we wanted to do but budget tight. After reading a bunch of advice and tips, make a list of the main attractions, and study the map of the city, this is how we spent our week:
We booked our flight to Barcelona to be at night since we live in Montreal. If you live in a different time zone, or as I like to call it: the other side of the lake, I’d definitely recommend that you do the same.
Day 1 – The arrival!
We arrived by plane at 11 am and we took a bus from the airport. We made a reservation at Smart Rooms hotel in Sants neighborhood which was exactly what we were looking for: and hotel room with a private bathroom and breakfast included. Lucky to us our room was already available when we got to the hotel (usually check-in time starts at 3 pm). It gave us time to take a shower and get some rest before heading to our first spot.
We had a late lunch/early dinner at La Vermuteria, one of the best Paellas I have ever tried, aside from my grandma’s.
Our first stop was the Basilica Santa Maria del Mar, known as the “cathedral of La Rivera”, the only surviving church in Gothic style. We did not take any tour but on their website, they offer guided tours to the rooftops and guided tours at night.
We made our way to Parc de la Ciutadella, wandering around the Born neighborhood and making a stop in the Mercat del Born, the Old Born Market, now the Born Cultural and Memorial Center.
The Ciudatella park is Barcelona’s central park and is just amazing. A beautiful cascade on a great monument, the Castillo de Los Tres Dragones (Three Dragon Castle), which is now Zoological Museum, a lake, Barcelona’s zoo, landscaped and the Catalan Parliament are part of this unique green open-air space.
After exploring the park, we sneak up Arco de Triunfo (Arc of Triomf) built as an entrance to the 1888 Barcelona Universal Exposition that took place in Ciutadella Park. The walk there is full of street artists.
Day 2 – Gaudi and Barcelona’s architecture!
Our second day was filled with Gaudi’s and Barcelona’s architecture. We did a walking tour through Barcelona’s houses: Casa Mila (La Pedrera), Casa Batllo, Casa Vicens, Casa Amatller, Casa Lleo Morera, Casa de Punxes. Unfortunately, we failed on buying tickets online, and the lines were a bit long. If you have the opportunity, I would deeply recommend the most iconic ones: Casa Mila, known as “La Pedrera” (Quarry House), built in 1910 as a residential building, and Casa Batlló, built for the Batlló family.
We got lunch not too far from there, and we were ready to head over La Sagrada Familia. We wander around Plaça de Gaudí, just across the street from the church, and admire the cathedral from aside while it was time to make our tour.
We got our tickets to climb up to one of the towers of the church and by sunset, also tickets were half price for under-30s after 4 pm. Sadly, it was a rainy day, but the view is still amazing. We went up to Nativity Tower, which is the oldest one and the one that Gaudí actually worked on. It also allows us to get a full view of Barcelona, while the Passion Tower offers an ocean view. We also opted for the audio tour, it totally completed our experience there with all the history behind.
This church took our breath away, it is been under construction since 1882 and is expected to be finished by 2026.
Day 3 – Camp Nou Experience!
Did I mention that we are Barça fans?
Well, this was a must-do and an important part of our trip.
The Camp Nou is Barça football team home and one of the biggest stadiums in the world.
We got the VIP tour and spent a good 4 hours here. We went behind the scenes, places where only players and staff are permitted, the players’ dressing room, press room, press box with a panoramic view of the stadium, and posed with the trophy. We also sat in the players’ benches, walked into the field and accessed to the FC Barcelona Museum with an audio tour that made our experience more than enjoyable. It was definitely worth it every penny.
When we finally realized that it was 2 pm, we left to have some lunch. This day our lunch was not too far from there, and after a full bottle of wine (that was included in our Menu del Dia) we were ready to get some rest at the hotel.
At 6 pm we headed over to Montjuïc, we took the bus right up to the top. The visiting hours for Montjuïc Castle were over, but we still enjoyed the view.
After spending some time there, we decided to walk our way down, so we could make a few stops on the road, and enjoy the journey. We were planning to visit the Poble Espanyol, but by the time we got there, we were exhausted. So we went straight to the Magic Fountains and got some rest in this beautiful square. Luckily, the water show at the Fonts was later that day, so we took pictures, enjoyed the performance of some street artists while waiting for the spectacular display of light, colors, music, and water.
We finish our tour walking down to the Torres Velencianas, and Plaça d’Espanya, one of the most important and biggest squares of the Catalan city. The beauty of this monument at night, it is just amazing.
Day 4 – Got lost in the Gothic Quarter!
We started by visiting the Catedral de Barcelona, also called the Gothic Cathedral. We tried to go inside during the mass, but it was too crowded, so we just admired its delightful façade.
Then, we led our way to get lost in this beautiful gothic architecture’s home that was built by the Romans 2.000 years ago, the Gothic Quarter. We did not have much of a plan so we just started walking and get stunned by the beauty of this quarter, stopped to take some pictures at Plaça Sant Felip Neri, and managed to get to the Basilica Santa Maria del Pi, another overwhelmed Gothic church in Barcelona.
Our morning passed really fast (it always does when you are enjoying), so we got lunch and kicked off the second part of the day in Plaça Catalunya, the center of Barcelona, famous for its fountains and pigeons. My boyfriend got so excited that we stayed for a while just watching people give them food and walking by.
Nearby, it is La Rambla street, one of the famous tourist point.
To be honest, I did not find anything amused about the street, but walking was free. Besides, in La Rambla was La Boqueria, one of the oldest and most famous food markets in Barcelona, and it worth the visit.
Right on the bottom of Las Ramblas, is the Columbus statue, we did not see the point of entering since the harbor view from the bottom is still amazing and the statue itself has so many details.
On our way back, we went up to La Rambla street stopping to Plaça Reial, also where Gaudi made one of his first work: The lamp post.
We finish our walk at El Raval neighborhood.
On our way to the hotel, we stopped at Taberna La Pampa, a new restaurant in the Sants neighborhood. The treat, the food, the desert, the creamy potatoes, the sangria, we loved it all.
When we got to the hotel that night we realized that we walked right through the Barcelona City History Museum, we were so delighted by the beauty of the area that we forgot completely about the museum.
Day 5 – Matchday!
Okay, our game was at night, we needed to do something during the morning to avoid the anxiety of the game and I had the perfect plan: A labyrinth!
In secret, we all want to be in a labyrinth at least once, and Barcelona has Parc del Laberint d’Horta. This is the oldest garden in Barcelona, with a lot of sculptures, fountains and ponds, stage of theatrical performances, and various cultural events. The entrance is really cheap, about 3€ per person, the labyrinth itself is not too big but the place is cute.
Finally, it was time to go to the stadium and watch the match.
I will tell you, make the tour and visiting the museum was great, but watching a match in the Camp Nou is another experience, even if you are not a football fan, 90 minutes of excitement, the atmosphere was electric. Our seats were near the field, just behind the players’ bench. Barça won 3-0 against Atletico Madrid with Messis’ and Suarez’s goals just one minute apart.
Day 6 – Stick it all!
It was our last day, we had planned on going to Picasso Museum since it was Sunday and it was free. However, the night before we got to the hotel at 3 am and it was impossible to wake up early, so by the time that we got to the museum, the tickets were gone.
Since we could not make it to the museum, we led to the beach.
Yes, I know, I could not believe either that we have been for 6 days in Barcelona already and we still have not gone to the beach, but the weather was not that favorable for it.
Anyhow, we spent our morning walking down the harbor until we reached the beach. This time it was me who was excited about the sand, the sun, the people, everything.
Later that day, we had tickets to visit Park Güell, this was our third must-visit while in Barcelona. Gaudí created this Park between 1900 and 1914 and UNESCO declared it World Heritage Site, the history of its creation is fascinating and we enjoyed another landscape of Barcelona.
To finish our visit to this amazing city, we went to Carrer de Blai, hunting for tapas. Each bar has tapas and pintxos laid out on the bar counter and the price variate from 1€ to 2€, so we did a small food tour for each of them eating tapas and drinking beer.
There it is! Our self-guided tour of Barcelona, eager to return and keep enjoying everything that this city has to offer.
