Barcelona!
Thursday
This October I was lucky enough to be taken
by Kevin to Barcelona for four days to celebrate my birthday. Kevin had made all the arrangements, all I
had to do was turn up on the day with my clothes packed.
The flight to Barcelona was via EasyJet, my
first experience with them. Whilst it
was a basic flight, because of the shortness of the journey, it was perfectly
adequate.
We arrived in Barcelona and after a short
taxi ride, we were greeted at Hotel Ohla with a glass of champagne, then shown
straight to our ‘Designer Room’ in this centrally located Boutique hotel.
Our open plan hotel room was modern, with feature shower, crisp quality linen, upscale mini bar etc. There was no food included in our stay, but there a loads of restaurants near by to take advantage of.
After a short nap, we headed to the hotel
restaurant La Plassohla for a meal.
The menu is tapas style but this is not the
street food tapas of Las Ramblas.
Beautifully presented, delicious flavorsome food. Not cheap, but oh so good!!!! Veal, squid, octopus, and some divine Iberian
ham. This was seriously good food! And
some good red wine. Perfect meal!
A couple of drinks in the hotel bar and we
were ready for bed.
Friday
Friday was my birthday, so we headed out towards
Las Ramblers for a little bit of retail therapy after a breakfast of churros
and chocolate.
Las Ramblas is a street in he heart of
Barcelona where all the tourists congregate.
There’s loads of high street type shops on either side of a wide pedestrian
walkway with little souvenir and artists stalls.
Just off the main thoroughfare run a maze of side streets, offering more shops, restaurants and markets including the wonderful fresh food market. La Boqueria.
Just off the main thoroughfare run a maze of side streets, offering more shops, restaurants and markets including the wonderful fresh food market. La Boqueria.
Here you will find every sort of fresh food imaginable. Wonderful Iberian hams alongside Octopus and Fish. Cheeses and breads piled high, fresh fruits and flowers. And everywhere you look, little pull up stools where patrons can stop and sample the wares. The market ‘stalls’ are a permanent fixture, and you can easily spend a few hours wandering along the lanes taking in the colourful sites.
We stopped and had a few glasses of beer and some tapas lunch of ham and cheese before wandering back to Las Ramblers to continue our shopping.
That evening, after a couple of pre-dinner
g&t’s and some rooftop photography, we went to a restaurant further downtown. This was a mistake. The restaurant looked promising but was
really really bad, a huge disappointment after the luscious meal the night
before. We should really read TA
reviews before embarking out!
Saturday
Saturday
We decided to walk the second part of Las
Ramblers today, down to the Harbour. The
architecture all around Barcelona is a real mixture of styles with some
beautiful buildings on Las Ramblers reminding me of some of the buildings in
New Orleans – they had a real bohemian feel to them with wrought iron railings
and dark paintwork.
The harbor hosts a modern shopping center and a few restaurants, here Kevin indulged in mussels, razor clams and some shellfish – I had cheese and ham and paid 46 euro for the privilege!
After a late lunch we wandered back to the
hotel for a nap, and decided to eat in the hotel for our last night. After another wonderful meal, we headed to
the cocktail bar for some seriously fabulous cocktails – the hotel has won
awards for its cocktail bar and it really showed in the details the barman put
into making them. A wonderful chocolate
and raspberry confection was right up my street. The outside coated in cocoa powder then
dusted in gold foil – scrummy! Not cheap
at over €100 for two drinks each! But a Perfect end to a perfect day!
Sunday
Sunday we packed up our cases, left them
with the concierge and headed t o La Sagrada Familia – a short cab ride from
the hotel. The cathedral was packed with
tourists and if I’m quite honest, very disappointing. It has a wide range of styles, each side/section
of the cathedral a testament to the design of its era. I loved the small details however, the snails
and animals carved out of stone and marble which climbed the cathedral were
wonderful.
After this we cabbed it to the Parque Guell
– we wasn’t able to get tickets into the Gaudi area, so wandered around a bit
before heading back to Las Ramblers where Id seen a couple of paintings I
wanted to buy for home.
After our quick shop, a bit of lunch, and two of the largest beers ever! time
to head home – a cab ride back to the airport via a wrong terminal! Then home.
Love, love, loved Barcelona, cant recommend
it enough!!!
