Look here, look there, look everywhere.
A girly trip to Barcelona for five days, I decided to stay outside of the La Rambla around 15 minutes walk. Our hotel also had a small rooftop pool, which was a welcome relief in the afternoon after a few hours of walking around as the city can be very hot in the Summer. The journey around Barcelona was very easy and straightforward, the metro, taxis, cable car, and of course, walking. Most days we walked for around 3-4 hours, a visit to the Aquarium was a nice treat. I have to say our first day was a bit of a shocker, within hours of walking around the town we spotted someone doing something they shouldn’t be doing in public in the middle of the afternoon outside a shop. Hence my opening to this post; ‘look here, look there, look everywhere’.
Crepe Suzette
The food in Barcelona was very tasty indeed, good tapas (when you stay away from the touristy spots). Having an Aperitvo at the end of the day made the long walks around the towns worthwhile. The architecture in Spain is simply remarkable.
You’ll most certainly want to visit the Gaudi Park during your visit, the views as you walk around the park are so gorgeous, it is truly remarkable. We quickly learned to keep an eye out at night when walking around the La Rambla, if you are a girl visiting alone I wouldn’t suggest walking around here in the evening by yourself. As we looked out for an evening restaurant along La Rambla, the daytime market views of the colourful produce quickly changed into shadowy figures darting in and out of corners and behind doorways. We realised some of them were ladies of the night.
We found a restaurant overlooking LaRambla, during our dinner we witnessed an attempted mugging literally outside our restaurant. Other than the two negative incidents the rest of the vacation was really nice. Lots to see and do, you don’t have to spend a lot of money as you can walk around and take in the views or you can visit all the tasty restaurants and bars. During the time we visited we were on a tight budget, and we didn’t feel shortchanged at all. There was so much to see and do.
Also, try taking the day trip to their world-renowned Portoventura amusement park, it’s very easy to get to from the city-centre. We took the metro and then a special line to the resort. A tip remember to check the return train times back to the mainline metro link to get back to the city-centre. You can always take a taxi but it’s much cheaper to get the train if you are on a budget.
VERDICT
This is a great city for a long weekend trip, it was much better to experience it with a friend as there was so much to see and do. The Gaudi Park is a must-see, if there is one thing we came away it, it was looser clothing as we walked so much hitting 10,000 steps a day was achieved before lunchtime.