Barcelona, Spain - the place that steals your heart!

BARCELONA, a city on the coast of northeastern Spain, is a place filled with fun and liveliness all around. It's a place which can be seen filled with people all round the year and throughout the day. This city is an amalgamation of modern art, architectural beauty and the hustle-bustle of daily life.

MY ITINERARY:

We had visited Barcelona before the pandemic in the year 2019 for a couple of days. Our main intention was to see the architectural beauty of the city and enjoy the beach-scape of the place.

We had booked our flight from Scotland (Glasgow) to Girona (a small town which is almost an hour long journey from Barcelona). Our flight was at morning 8AM and we reached Girona at around 11AM. From Girona we took a bus/airport shuttle to our destination Barcelona. The airport shuttles are frequent and would cost around 15€ per person. It takes close to 1-1.5 hours to reach Barcelona from Girona. It was around 12:30PM-1PM by the time we had reached the Barcelona bus depot and from there our hotel which we had pre-booked was around 15 mins on foot.

We checked-in to our hotel once we reached there. (Usually the check-in time at hotels across Europe is around 11AM-3PM, but can be checked-in later as well depending upon the city/area). We freshened a bit in our hotel and soon headed out for lunch as we were very hungry. We started exploring restaurants in and around our hotel and after a few minutes of walk, found a lovely one which had vegetarian as well as non-vegetarian options. We had Pizza and desserts at the place and were pretty satisfied with the taste.

Once we were done with lunch/brunch, we went back to our hotel to plan our day. First, we wanted to book the Travel card in Barcelona for 2 days which would help us to travel in buses/metros and even to the airport. We went to our nearby bus station and purchased the card which cost us around 15€ per person in 2019. Once done, we took a bus to our first destination in Barcelona, Parc Guell.

Parc Guell is a beautiful green space is Barcelona which is famous for its ceramic decors and pathways built by one of the famous architect in the world, Antoni Gaudi. Its developed around 17 hectares of land and consists of many open view points as well as small architectural decors within. Some aras of Parc Guell are absolutely free like the view points and garden areas whereas the monumental zone requires admission and charges for the same. We had decided to carry on with the free zone initially as it was vast and took around 2-2.5 hours overall for us to walk around. After spending some hours exploring the park, we decided to head back to the city near out hotel.

Once, we reached in the area where our hotel was located, we decided to spend some time at the Ciutadella Park. Barcelona is a place which is filled with many parks and all the parks have a different aura and architecture around it. Ciutadella Park also known as Parc de la Ciutadella is also one such park which consists of a historical waterfall, a pond, some small bonsai hedges, an English garden and two boulevards lined with trees. The park looks exceptionally beautiful at sunset especially near the waterfall. Visit to this park is free of cost and its open to all. I would recommend spending some time around this park during the evening.

By the time we explored these 2 parks in the city of Barcelona, it was 9PM and we were extremely tired from all the journey since morning till now.So, we headed for dinner to a nearby Tapas place which sells an amazing variety of both vegetarian and non-vegetarian tapas. Even a few tacos are found as part of the deal at the diner. We had a sumptuous appetizer and main meal at this place and headed to our hotel by calling it a night.

We were excited for Day 2 as we had planned to cover majority of the tourist attractions today.

Our first destination for today was the famous Casa Batlló designed by the famous Antoni Gaudi.This building is considered as one of the masterpieces of Gaudi and is the remodel of a privately held building.This is also a UNESCO world heritage site. There are many small rooms within the building and some museums as well consisting of many ceramic and wooden items. Tickets to enter this place are available in their official website and its highly recommended to purchase them at the earliest. The general ticket price is 35€, however different categories of tickets are also available such as fast track and private tour experience. Entry is free for children below the age of 12.

We had purchased our tickets online for the time slot of 9:30AM and hence, we reached there early. Purchasing tickets for early morning was a good decision indeed as the place stays heavily crowded post 10:30AM. We explored the different rooms, different floors and fine architectural beauty around the place and were in awe with the modern architecture mixed with science by Gaudi. It was definitely worth a visit.

It took us around 1.5 hours to explore the place and once done, we went for breakfast at a nearby McDonalds Walk-In. After a quick eat-in, we headed to our next spot which was another magnificent architectural beauty as well as the last private residence designed by Gaudi himself, Casa Milà. This building was created with a lot of modernism cultivated within and it consisted of different types of stones and patterns with the amalgamation of science. It is also known as La Pedrera (stone quarry) because it resembles an open quarry in appearance and features forms drawn from nature. The entrance to this building requires pre-booked tickets which cost around 25-28€. Again, there are different ticket and prices depending on the types of experience you want to have such as a night tour, premium experience etc.

The time taken to explore this place was around 1.5 - 2 hours and the clock ticked 1:30/2PM by the time we were done venturing it out.

Our next booking was for the famous La Sagrada Familia, which is one of the greatest designs by Gaudi and is still being constructed. It's a basilica in Barcelona which is supposed to be one of the tallest buildings of the city once the construction is complete. It took us around 10 mins by metro to reach the famous basilica. Similar to the other tourist attractions, the entrance to this church requires tickets to be pre-booked at a cost of 25-30€ depending upon the different categories. Until 2019 before pandemic, entrance was also allowed to the top of the basilica via a set of spiral stairs. (These stairs are not ideal for people suffering from claustrophobia, hence ensure to watch some videos/read FAQs before booking the entry to the different stairs once they re-open).

The church is beautiful both inside and outside and is very huge. There are different sculptures carved around the monument with tiny writings from the Bible as well at some places.

We took around 1 hour to look around this place and once done, we headed out in search of some food. By the time, we had finished exploring it was 4:30PM and most of the restaurants were closed for lunch. And hence, our only option was a KFC opposite to La Sagrada Familia. Since, we were exhausted and pretty hungry, we decided to stuff in some food from KFC into our stomachs along with some refreshing drinks.

After a quick lunch, we headed towards our hotel via the metro which took around 20mins. Since our hotel was very close to Arc de Triomf, we decided to stroll around the area as it had some wonderful pathways around.

We spent some 20-30mins walking around the place and then headed to our hotel for a quick break.

We freshened up at the hotel and then after a few minutes of rest, we decided to go to the famous Platja de la Nova Icària beach. There are multiple beaches in Barcelona and you can go to any as its a long stretch of water.

We took a bus to the spot and reached at around 7PM. As it was summers(month of August) when we went to Barcelona, hence the predicted sunset timing was around 8:30PM. We strolled around the beach for quite some time and found a spot to sit and cherish the subtle breeze swooshing in.

We were lucky enough to view the sunset by the beach at around 8:30PM. The colours in the sky were resplendent and it was a nice view to watch the birds and sea gulls travel back to their homes in the midst of orange hues in the sky.

Once the sun had set, we decided to go to our final destination on this trip which was the Magic Fountain of Montjuïc. The spectacular Magic Fountain is very popular, and is best known for its sound-and-light shows. This place is free of cost and requires not tickets. During the summer, the music shows run till 10:30/11PM and can be watched anytime. The show takes place for 20mins and is great to watch.

After watching the 9PM show at the Magic Fountain of Montjuïc, we strolled around the city of Barcelona to catch a glimpse of how the city looks like at night and I must say that it was spectacular. The city was filled with a lively vibe at night with people dancing, playing music, chit-chatting and having fun together on the streets.

After spending some time on the streets of Barcelona, we headed to our hotel where we had dinner at a small Tacos cafe near our hotel. Most of the restaurants were nearing closure at that time as it was around 11PM and onlt small cafes/take-aways were available. So, we had to settle in for a quick bite.

We, then went back to our hotel to call it a night as we had an early morning flight the next day.

Our experience in Barcelona was filled with fun, excitement and awe. Barcelona has a lot to offer and we could not capture everything in this short span of our journey. However, we have a plan to come back one day to explore the inner parts of Barcelona and get a feel of the local culture in this beautiful and radiant city. Until then, Adios and Te veo pronto!!!

TRAVEL TILL YOU DROP!!!