Barcelona, Spain

Best things to do/see when in Barcelona:

1. Plan ahead & pick the top things you'd want to see/do. Especially if you only have a few days you want to make sure you get the most out of those days. 

2. Anything Antonio Gaudi - Casa Mila, Park Guell, La Sagrada Familia, Casa Batllo. I promise you've never seen anything so spectacular. What a vision he had!

3. Las Ramblas - take a stroll through this vendor lined street covered by trees and stop at the Mercat de La Boqueria for some snacks or lunch while you're there. 

4. Potatas Bravos

5. Sangria

Don't forget to pack:

1. Walking shoes, its a big city

2. Layers. If you want to pop in and out of churches your shoulders and even sometimes your legs must be covered

3. A great camera to capture all the sites and memories

4. Translator. They speak a version of Spanish called Catalan and we found that more often than not people did not speak English, so make sure you know enough words to get by (ordering food, currency, where's the bathroom, etc.)

Day 8, Tues 10/11/11 ~ Ciao Italia, Hola Barcelona

Our driver picked us up for an hour and a half drive along the Amalfi Coast and we stared at the the views the entire way to the Naples Airport. It's a quick flight over the sea to Barcelona and before we knew it we had gone from a quiet, quaint small beach town into the midst of an energetic city.

Barcelona is everything I had imagined it would be and more. Where to begin?! We're obsessed with it all .... The city's liveliness, it's history in every detail on every corner, the Catalan way of life, and we're completely infatuated with Gaudi. I couldn't get enough.

All of Gaudi's work is designed with organic structures (meaning he doesn't like hard lines and edges, so mostly every corner is rounded) adorned with bright, Mosaic tiles. When you see his work, its unlike anything we've ever seen and just sucks you in with admiration and infatuation.

We checked into our completely modern and almost trendy hotel room at Hotel Condes and hit the ground running. Our hotel was in a perfectly centralized location on Paseo de Gracia; within eye site of two of Gaudi's most famous buildings, Casa Mila and Casa Batllo, and a view of La Sagrada Familia across the city. If we were aggressive enough, could walk to most places in the city, however the Metro came in quite handy. We took off down the famous Paseo de Gracia, which is a proportional blend of Chanel, Louis Vitton, Hermes and Gucci with more affordable shopping and tons of restaurants to fit every taste, towards Las Ramblas. We walked thru Placa de Cataluna and had to stop for a photo op in front off the two fountains with 3 or 4 grand statues in between. Then we plowed thru all the pigeons (tons, so gross, I hate pigeons, but they don't bother you and do get out of your way), towards another architectural display and onto Las Ramblas.

The large middle section of the road is closed to cars, but they can drive in one direction on each side of it, and is the equivalent of a dozen or so city blocks long by a hundred feet wide (its like third street promenade in Santa Monica on a much grander scale). The street seems so peaceful from a distance as  it's always shaded by the exceptionally large trees that border each side of the walk way whose branches seemed to form the perfect arch over Las Ramblas. Although that aura disappears as soon as you become part of the mix. We took a brisk walk from one end to the other since our real goal was to get to the beach before sunset. It's a mix of flower stands, some selling beautiful bouquets (too bad we weren't  here longer or one would be on my nigh stand), restaurants, cafes and souvenir stands. It seemed like a lot of local tourists (there weren't a lot of people speaking English around) were out and about enjoying the scene just as much as we were.

Las Ramblas

At the end of Las Ramblas we came to Monument a Collon in the Placa del Portal de La Pau. This is also the spot where you can pick up the cable cars that take you on a ride to give you an areal view of the city, we didn't do this, but it looked cool, another time. We had made it to the harbor area. We knew we were close to the beach but weren't quite sure how we were supposed to get there. We stopped at an info booth and asked for Baja Beach Club, but neither of the girls had heard of it and they thought  maybe it had closed and gave us the name of the new place they thought it was. Poor Aaron looked so disappointed, but that didn't mean we were going to give up.  We thought we were heading towards the beach but quickly realized we were more in the midst of the marina, oops.

We kept pushing forward and finally made our way to Barceloneta beach. Despite the fact that it was around 5:30 ish, the beach was still fairly busy. We walked along the strand past these small outdoor bars, each with a unique name, and plenty of volleyball players as well as beach goers. We never found the Baja Beach Club, but we found a few perfect spot to enjoy the beach, looking out out the sea and all the locals which enjoying sangria con cava, cava is the local equivalent of champagne and about half the price (my new favorite Barcelona beverage) and some nachos (my version of nachos anyway, chips with just cheese and guacamole) called Princessa 23. We had another glass and finished just before the sunset. We hopped in a cab and headed back to out hotel to get ready for dinner.

Our friend, Sari, recommended Cerveceria Catalana for dinner and it so happened it was one block from our hotel so it was the perfect choice. Dinner service doesn't start until 7:30 in most restaurants and they don't begin to fill up until after 9pm. So 9:15 we headed to Cerveceria Catalana and the line was down the block! The restaurant was deceptively large, it went far back and filled two entrances off the street and had outside seating. We pushed thru the bar crowd and added our name to the list. An hour wait.

We put our name on the list and found a super cute, almost big wine bar esque, restaurant with plenty of open seats just around the corner called 5Js (cinco jotas). We had a glass of red wine and we couldn't sit without eating some croquettes. Within minutes of us being there the entire place filled in and there was a line when we left.  The front of 5Js was very cool ... Meat is very big in Barcelona, its hanging, yes hanging everywhere. And almost everywhere you look there's some sort of carving station ... There were two chefs setup behind clear class about 5'H (so they were very open) using a perfectly immaculate carving station to carve the meat. This was in the front so you could see them in action from the outside also. The three huge pieces of meat they were carving were on these posts that came about a foot high off their stainless steel counter, and as they sliced off one piece of meet, they could turn on on this concoction a full circle so they used all the meat evenly. It was unlike anything we'd ever seen.

Back over at Cerveceria Catalana, we still had some time to wait, but no bother, it was excellent people watching. The crowd was vibrant and late twenties to mid- fourties, and all sorts of locals mixed with tourists. By the time we sat it was around 10:30pm, we were starved and ready to eat! We split a small jug of sangria (note to us we'll stick to sangria con cava moving forward), which is about a half liter I think, but they order by the jugs here so we figured why not. We ordered the local staple of grilled bread with tomato spread (it's similar to a light, non-chunky bruchetta) and a slew of tapas .... Manchengo cheese (this is on every menu and my favorite cheese thanks to Linds so we ordered it a lot), some mini hamburgers, chorizo sandwiches, prawns, potatas bravas which are fried potatoes with spicy sauce and mayo (another Catalan staple. I unfortunately cannot eat it but didn't stop Aaron from ordering everywhere), and veal.

Despite my best efforts I couldn't understand for the life of me how these were prepared so I can't describe them in detail like all the food we devoured in Italy. What we did do was go off a lot of waiter recommendations and not once did they steer us wrong, or recommend the most $ thing on the menu, which we appreciated greatly. We ate and ate until we couldn't eat anymore. They were still seating people and there was still a wait when we left at 11:30pm.

We love this city.

Day 9, Wednesday 10/12/11

We decided to wake up to an alarm today so we could make the most our of our two and half days in this city. We stopped and grabbed some muffins (yum, we cannot get enough of the pastries here either, its a good thing we're walking so much) and bought our all day metro (the Barcelona subway) pass to get around the city. Most of you know how much I loath these forms of public transportation, so this was a very big adventure for me.

We were off to the Barri Gotic (Gothic Area) to get to the Museu de Picasso (Picasso Museum) as close to opening as we could to avoid wasting time standing in lines. I have no idea if I'm correct or not, but I think this area is referred to the Barri Gotic because of the lack of sunlight that shines in the area. The buildings are tall and the streest and allys are much more narrow then in the area where we're staying, so it feels a lot darker since the sun light mostly shines on the top sections of the buildings vs illuminating the streets. 

We didn't have to wait long to get into the Museu de Picasso and it was quite fascinating. We all know Picasso's famous for his 'abstract' artwork, but it was interesting to see and learn about the extensiveness of his talent from his perfectionism in painting as a child and the progression of him defying traditional art rules and becoming the legend he is. 

From here we walked over to the center of the Barri Gotic to La Seu (the gothic Barcelona Cathedral). We learned that that first stone of the current church was laud in the 13th century, but wasn't until the early 20th century that it was complete. There was a mass taking place as we were walking through and admiring all of the immaculate and extravagant details. The Catherdral was beautiful, spacious and massive. 

We hopped back on the metro and onto La Sagrada Familia.

Before we spent time admiring La Sagrada Familia we had to refuel so we walked just up the street to a Pizzerea and had bikini and trikini sandwiches. Apparently this is a staple on most Catalan menus and very fun to order. My bikini was a grilled cheese with ham (mind you ham here isn't quite what we think of like getting ham from the deli counter for lunch, its much meatier and more flavorful); Aaron's trikini was a bikini with an extra piece of bread to house a layer of bacon. Just what the stomach ordered ...

La Sagrada Familia is the last thing that Antoni Gaudi (began construction in 1882) and was working on and did not complete in his life time. Its stunning and very Gaudi. Its massive, it takes up an entire city block end to end and there is no detail over looked. We didn't go inside (the line was way too long), but we did a complete 360 degree walk around the building and took a ton of pictures of the many scenes created in each nook and cranny on the outside of the building. Words and even photos can simply not do it justice. The building itself is such a work of art that we could stand there and just take it all in.

We basically stalked Gaudi masterpieces throughout Barcelona because our next stop off the metro was his famous Park Guell. Some people refer to Park Guell as the most beautiful park in the world, and we happen to agree. Its set on top of 17 acres at a high point in the city (we had to walk up some aggressive hills, steps and escalators - yes all 3 - to get there). So once we got past the amazingness of the details that went into each structure and fountain, the view of the city extend all the way to the sea. Its a multi-million dollar view for sure.

We came in thru the backside paths leading to Park Guell, which gave us an unobstructed view of Park Guell from above so we could see the magnitude and extensiveness of everything that was a part of the Park. There are so many distinct, unique elements to the Park, so we to a quick walk thru to get down to the entrance of the Parc so we could experience it as it was intended.

When you enter into Park Guell, you enter between two traditional Gaudi houses (which we learned were originally intended for the groundskeepers - I would've been a groundskeeper if I could stay there!) that make you feel like you're entering a children's book. There are two grand staircases that lead up into Park Guell which are joined at a large dragon-like lizard, which is a staple here in Barcelona and the most famous element of the Park.

At the top of the grand stair case is the Sala Hipostla. An open air area filled with 86 columns and the rooftop of this area is tiled with white mosaic pieces in half circle cut outs between the pillars. Every few circles had beautiful multi-colored mosaic artwork elements. Up a flight of stairs to the right, above this structure is an area referred to as the Gran Placa Circular (which is what the pillar structure is supporting). Its just an open area of sand where informal vendors try to sell tourists a bunch of odds and ends (there's no formal organization, the vendors just display their small selections on the ground). Along the rim of this area is the largest bench in the world - Serpentine Bench. Its true Gaudi, filled with colorful ceramic tiles creating a mosaic pattern that continues from one end to the other and twists in a snake like pattern, which gives it its name. 

Back below, to the left of the Sala Hipostla (pillar area) is another snake like structure. This one is made of all brown rocks and is built along the edge below a walk way above. I'm having a hard time describing this, but when walking thru this it feels like we're walking thru a hallway, one side is all stone and the other is open thru thin pillars - it almost feels as though you're walking thru a snake. This section wasn't as crowded so we were able to sneak in some jumping pictures without causing a scene.

We took the Metro back to our hotel area and had worked up quite the appetite, so we stopped at TapaTapa for some tapas. We sat at a cute outdoor table along Paseo de Gracia and enjoyed a small jug of Sangria con Cava, croquettes, patatas bravas and paella. It hit the spot. 

We had only made one reservation on the entire honeymoon before we left. We were watching the Anthony Bourdain TV Show when he was in Catalonia. He was dining at all these fabulous eateries in Barcelona and was eating at a restaurant called Tickets. We were immediately infatuated by his rave reviews and the over the top ambiance of the circus like atmosphere of the restaurant and how Tickets offers reservations 90 days out. Well, this was about 8 weeks before we were going and the restaurant was completely booked.

However, when were online trying to book here we found the website for their 'snack' lounge, 41 Degrees, that's attached to the restaurant. We did a little more research on 41 Degrees and it got phenomenal write-ups all over the place, including the NY Times. We were so pumped when we were able to make a reservation.

When we pulled up, we actually had to check in and walk thru the entrance to Tickets to get to 41 Degrees. I was so glad that we went with 41 Degrees as it was totally up our ally. It was a small lounge. The room had blue mood lighting accenting a grey color palate. The freezer behind the bar was lit up in blue lights and there were bottles of champagne displayed in different arrangements in clear boxes hanging from the ceiling. There was some custom art sparingly on the walls, which fit the vibe perfectly.

Outside 41 Degrees, Barcelona Spain

There were probably a dozen seats at the bar and the same amount of small (2-4 person round) tables throughout. We got the perfect table in the middle of the room and we each sat in a king-like leather chair. 41 Degrees was know for its elaborate drink menu, but we didn't branch out all that much ... Aaron got a Lady Vengence Martini (yes, it was pushing hot pink) and I had a Kir Royal (champagne and chambord).

The menu was set up for 'snacks', but we went into intending it to be our dinner. Everything on the menu was more creative than the next, we were overwhelmed and didn't know what do, so we went with all the waitresses recommendations. My poor descriptions wont do this masterfully crafted food any justice, but I'm not very adventurous when it comes to food and I just let my taste buds go crazy. Everything we had was like nothing either of us had ever tasted before, in an amazing way.

Exploding Olives - neither of us really like olives, but it was their specialty so we went with it. The waitress brought out the olives in the jar they had been marinating in for days and delicately placed one for each of us on a serving spoon. The second we put them in our mouths they exploded in this smooth and sophisticated taste.

Pistachios in yogurt - this came out on a black tree branch display. The yogurt the pistachios were in had been hardened in such a way that the yogurt looked like leaves on the tree branch. 

Prawns in Saffron - these were like a cluster of rice crispies that had the consistency of a rice cake but the overwhelming flavors of tasty prawns

Prawns with a Miso Mayo (off the Tickets menu) - this was more along the lines of a shrimp cocktail

Oyster in a spicy kimchi sauce (I left this one all to Aaron) - served out of a sea shell

Beef Carpaccio on a thin cracker and thin slice of cheese, topped with mint - this was so outstanding we immediately ordered more

Tuna and Salmon Sushi on a marshmallow substance (vs typical rice) - it literally melted in your mouth

Sea Bass in layers of sauces (another off the Tickets menu) - we were told we had to eat this as it was meant to be eaten in the sauce, not to pick it apart, and it was pure perfection

Parmesan Ice Cream - this was craziness. It wasn't dessert as it wasn't sweet. It was a bite size ice cream sandwich with the middle layer being cold and creamy and the top and bottom layers a thin crisp layer of cheese. the result was a cold creamy parmesan explosion in your mouth.

This was such a unique experience. We loved everything about it!

We ended the night at the rooftop bar at our hotel, Al Aire. We each had a glass of cava and Aaron couldn't pass up another order of patatas bravas. As we cheered and looked out over the city we had direct views of both Casa Mila and La Sagrada Familia. It was an awesome culmination of our day.

Day 10, Thursday 10/13/12

After a quick breakfast, of course consisting of coffee and croissants,  at a local cafe near our hotel, we walked down the block to take the tour of Casa Mila. Finally after staring at it and walking by over and over again we were going to go inside and wonder thru it. Finally. So excited. It was just as cool on the inside as it is on the outside. When you enter the building there is a huge court yard in the center with a magnificent winding stair case connecting the first and second floors across the court yard. What an exciting place to live, there's still nothing else like it anywhere. We didn't feel like waiting in the elevator lines, so we walked up the six flights of stairs to the rooftop and had a blast maneuvering thru all the wavy structures.

We can never get enough Gaudi, so from here we walked a few blocks to Casa Batllo. This is the one 'tour' we did with the walking headset that guided us thru each room and gave us the history on all the details. We actually learned quite a lot of valuable information and that Casa Batllo was the renovation that marked his career and made him famous for his unique sense of architecture and design. It made us marvel at the house even more. We were guided from the ground floor up to the roof top (vs Casa Mila which takes you from the roof down). There was a big patio off the backside of the second floor with some colorful mosaic art pieces.

As you walk up the centralized staircase within Casa Batllo you can see the sun beating through the sun roof which shows off the unique tiles and shades of blue.  As you walk up each floor you notice that the shade of blue gets darker and darker as you climb to the top.  The glass dividers between the floors are designer to appear like you are in the water which creates a soothing a surreal appearance.

Once you reach the rooftop we were treated to more incredible tile work.  This rooftop was designed to appear like the back of a dragon.  We took plenty of pictures and soaked in the view of the city for a little while before heading back inside to finish the rest of the tour.

By now we were starved and headed to the Mercat de La Boqueria (open air market) off Las Ramblas for some lunch. Its a huge market where the local restaurants go to buy all their fresh fish, meat, fruit and veggies and its open to the public to come buy and dine as well. We walked right in between two huge fruit stands and we picked up some sliced fresh mango and devoured it as we meandered thru all of the stands. We walked passed a few cervacerias, which had bar stools so you could sit and actually eat and Aaron finally found some sausage skewers that were calling his name @ Rostisseria Ramon. Then we found the bakery counter and I enjoyed a deliciously fresh baguette with salami and tomato spread. Then I found the freshest strawberry-banana smoothie I'd ever had and drank it so quickly it didn't stand a chance. We finished our food tour back at the Rostisseria Ramon and Aaron had paella negro and I helped him with some chicken and cheese crouquetts. All of the food was so fresh.

Back on Las Ramblas we detoured onto Placa Reial. It was an open, pseudo quiet, plaza just off the main drag. There were palm trees and antique lampposts placed throughout the area around the fountain which was the main attraction of Placa Reial. After we gave our feet a rest we strolled back along the Paseo de Gracia and did some shopping and worked up an appetite while doing so.

We popped into Al Aire roof top bar again. We had grilled bread w/ tomato spread, its just so good we cannot get enough, chips and guac. We cheers to our last sunset in Barcelona over two glasses of cava. Perfecto.

We had our last dinner in Barcelona at Citrus (a few blocks down from our hotel). We started our meal with 'Citrus patatas' which was a bowl of skinny french fries topped with almost scrambled eggs (they were scrambled eggs over medium, not runny at all, but so light), and all topped with pieces of shredded bacon. It was probably one of the most satisfying things we ate in all of Barcelona. And also clogged a few arteries with every bite, but so worth it. Aaron had the (waiter recommended) baked hake fish and I had the fillet of sea bass with a savory pastry puff.

We ended our eve with a leisurely stroll through the city blocks around our hotel, the city comes to life in such a different way then during the day. We just wanted to take in all we could.

Day 11, Friday 10/14/11

Today was a sad, sad day for us. Our honeymoon is over and back to reality. Neither one of us is ready to leave Barcelona, we could've spent a few more weeks, maybe even months here. Over the course of the last few days we did come up with some creative business ventures so we could stay, but we have responsibility back at home. Wishful thinking.

We woke up at our usual time around 8:30am and tried out a new cafe we had walked by last night. We savored our caffe americano and croissants and just took in the fun we've had. We had around and hour or so before we had to leave so we just walked the streets and got lost in ourselves and the architecture. We strolled past Casa Mila and ended up back at Casa Batllo yet again. We took one final picture, from a different perspective this time, and just marveled at Gaudi's genius before we had to say goodbye.

We made the most of our two full, and one half days in the city without exhausting ourselves. We remembered we were still on our honeymoon and wanted to relax and enjoy this city as well as see the sites. I was able to take in five of Barcelona's top ten sites and since we share a passion for Gaudi we took in as much of his works as we could (and they're an huge part of Barcelona's attraction that they're all in the must see lists). It was an amazing whirlwind and I already cant wait to go back and continue to immerse in Barcelona.

And then we're off on our journey home. We left Barcelona and 1:30pm local time (4:30am PST) and then fly 11 hours from Barcelona to Miami, 3 hour layover in Miami, then 6 hours to LAX. We land around midnight. Long day.

Sitting on the plane right now is bittersweet, it'll be good to be home and relive the amazingness of our wedding weekend with all our friends and family and we can't wait to share all the pictures and adventures from our honeymoon.

I think a piece of us both will always live for European life, we are already planning our retirement ....