Barcelona!!!

This is when we felt like our adventure had truly begun.  Both New York and Toronto are very familiar to us.   We recognize the buildings, the stores, the language, the food, …  But when we got to Barcelona, we really felt like we were somewhere different.  Both Brett and I have been here before, separately, but we were young and probably saw a much difference slice of Barcelona life than we would as parents.

Taking the 10pm out of Toronto flight was brilliant.  The kids fell asleep almost immediately and probably slept for 7 out of the 8 hours.  We landed at noon and easily made it to our apartment by taxi.  The journey was too easy.  We were an hour early for check-in to our Airbnb and had to wait out on the street.

It was worth the wait, the apartment was perfect and our host ‘Pepe’ was very friendly and very helpful.  Two bedrooms, full kitchen, high speed wifi, and a park across the street (with a basketball court!).  Jet lag was minimal, we stayed up until a reasonable time on the Wednesday we arrived and we were on local time from there onwards.  The apartment was downtown and we got everywhere we wanted in Barcelona by foot.  Iain was very excited about hitting 27000 steps on one of our days. 

Since we need our money to last an entire year and Europe is definitely not cheap, part of our challenge on this trip is to spend as little as possible without sacrificing too much of the experience.   We try to find things to do that don’t cost very much, we pack our lunches most days, and we generally buy groceries and cook our own dinners.  When we do eat out, we want to make sure we are eating somewhere authentic and hopefully somewhere that has been recommended to us.  Even buying groceries we have found to be a fun experience.  There are a number of large markets throughout Barcelona where you can buy everything from fruit/veggies to meat, fish, eggs, bread, etc. Each from individual stalls.  Everything is arranged so beautifully and the buildings are so impressive.  There is apparently a network of municipal markets in Barcelona.  We visited two of them.  The Mercat de Sant Antoni is one of the most popular and was only a 5 minute walk from our apartment.  Like some of the other markets, it is housed in a spectacular iron-structured building.  The architecture was impressive, the displays were beautiful, and the food was delicious.

We would buy wine on the way home from the market at this awesome place.  I splurged for the pricier option – 2 euro per liter.

We got two pieces of advice from our taxi driver on our initial ride into the city from the airport that would prove to help us enjoy Barcelona while saving money.  The first one was to avoid eating at any of the restaurants on La Rambla – none of them are authentic to the region and the quality of the food is very low.  So on Day 1 in Barcelona, we packed lunch and walked to La Rambla.  We ended up stopping in a pretty plaza and ate our sandwiches by a fountain while watching some street performers.  Perfect. 

We enjoyed our day, then bought supplies at the Mercat de Sant Antoni and cooked a great dinner at our apartment.

The second piece of advice our taxi driver gave us to go to the light show at the Plaza de Espana that happens every Wednesday to Saturday nights during the summer.  We went there that same evening after we had our dinner.  It was fantastic.  The kids loved it and there’s just something memorable about being a kid and still being out on the town late at night.  The light show didn’t start until 9:30 and it was past 11pm by the time we walked back to the apartment.   For the first part of the show, the water and lights are choreographed to pop and rock music, the second part to classical music.  We all had a lot of fun, even though Riley and Iain’s faces might suggest otherwise.  In addition to being a great show and a memorable experience for us, it was free!

When telling us to avoid food on La Rambla, our taxi driver told us that we should visit Port Olympico for some good quality authentic fare.  On Day 2, we walked about 5k from our apartment through town and along the waterfront to the Port Olympico.  It was a beautiful walk and the weather was perfect. We had lunch at a restaurant near the water and Brett finally had the Paella he’d been so excited about.  

We promised the kids that we would go to the beach after eating.  As soon as we got to the beach, the sun went behind the clouds, the wind picked up, and the temperature must have dropped 10 degrees.  I huddled on the beach wrapped in a beach towel for warmth while the kids played in the sand and the water.  Luckily Brett kept them safe and happy while I concentrated on staying warm.  Not how I imagined the beach in Spain!

On our third and final full day in Barcelona we walked to the Sagrada Familia to see the Gaudi designed cathedral.  We had been told that it wasn’t worth the wait (and the cost) to see the inside since it is under construction so instead we just enjoyed the incredibly impressive exterior.   We were glad we had been given the advice to avoid the interior since there were hundreds of people lined up.  The building is really awe inspiring.  I’ve seen lots of cathedrals before but this one is different.  It looks sort-of Gothic but the design almost seems whimsical, at least in my eyes.  It almost seemed like something out of a Dr. Seuss book but with such incredibly ornate detailing.  The cathedral has been under construction for the last 130 years and is a complex arrangement of new and old construction.   The construction has relied entirely on private donations and it wasn’t until the last 2 weeks that they finally got a building permit for its continued construction.

Overall we have really enjoyed our time in Barcelona.  We did enough walking to really feel like we got a taste of the city.  The buildings are beautiful, there are so many grand boulevards to stroll along, the city is clean, very multi-cultural, and we felt safe the entire time we were there.  We had been warned by many about thieves and pick-pockets and, while I’m sure they exist, we had nothing but good fortune.  On our last day as we were walking back from Sagrada Familia, a man stopped us in the street.  I couldn’t tell what he was saying at first but he went back and picked up my wallet for me that I had just dropped and didn’t even notice that I had dropped!!!  How amazing, and how truly fortunate I was.

Here’s a brief summary of the key points of our Barcelona visit:

Accommodation:  Highly recommend Pepe’s place on Airbnb. https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/2333994?source_impression_id=p3_1561128162_vw6%2FHcGZSJMpjcA0

The apartment was very central, clean, had everything we needed and very friendly hosts. The nightly rate was approximately $160/nt in June.

Food:  Shop at the markets.  They are fun and the food is great.  For eating out, avoid all the restaurants in the city that have pictures of their food.  They are the same pictures everywhere and are just frozen and distributed to the restaurants.  Quality is low.  The Port Olympico did have lots of options for more typical fare, and prices were pretty reasonable (but not cheap).

Budget:  We spent an average of USD300/day during our time in Barcelona.  This was above what we had budgeted but honestly was the best I think we could have done. This included taxis to/from the airport and the cost of a prepaid SIM card (as well as accommodation and all food)

Favorite Memory:  The light/water show at the Plaza Espana and the walk/from the plaza. The show was great, everyone was in a good mood and the walk was beautiful.

Most surprising thing about Barcelona: Very few people seem to have basic English. I communicated with my embarrassingly poor Spanish more often than I thought I would need to.

Favorite things about Barcelona: Beautiful buildings and boulevards to stroll along. Beautiful waterfront. Walkability and feeling safe everywhere we went.

Least favorite thing about Barcelona: People seemed very aggressive to us. While we felt safe, people seemed very pushy. Someone tried to take Ronan’s basketball from him at the basketball court and play on his own. Someone pushed in front of Riley and I in the line up at a public washroom. It sort of felt like being in NYC again. We needed to learn to stand our ground.

Onwards to Chiva!!!