To recap, Jack and I were on our way to Spain for our first extended trip together as a couple for two weeks with the first leg of our vacation starting in Barcelona. Our flight over to Barcelona was a smooth and easy one. We flew from Chicago to Barcelona with a short layover in Philadelphia and had no complications which is always a great thing. I’m (Missy) not the greatest flyer, so when we get uneventful flights, that always lets me start our travels off on the right foot. Yes, I know, not a great flyer but love to travel. I’m a living example of travel irony. Customs ran very smoothly in the Barcelona airport. So smoothly that we beat our bags to the carousel. This gave us a few extra minutes to verify last second pricing on cabs, buses, and the train. We decided to stick with our original plan and take the train to the city center which was so convenient. The train service is called RENFE which you can catch right at the airport. It’s about $4 one way and runs roughly every 30 minutes. It was so much cheaper than a taxi or a private car service (Barcelona doesn’t have Uber because their taxi union is so strong, more on that later😉) and just more efficient than a bus.
Upon arriving in the city center, we knew that 1. We were nowhere near our Airbnb. And 2, we had A LOT of time to kill before we could check in to our place. In preparation, Jack pre-booked a couple of storage lockers to put our bags so we wouldn’t have to drag them all over the city. There are plenty of options around the city and the airport, so depending on where you’re staying, there’s a good chance there is a facility close by. A tip to help find a facility, put where you’re staying in Google Maps or the area where you’d like to store your luggage, click the search option called “Nearby” and type in Luggage Storage. It will at the very least give you options that are in the area. For example, there are 4 within a block or so of La Sagrada Familia. It can also be used for restaurants, bars, subway stops, etc. We’ve used this tool quite extensively to help in a pinch.
Since we had plenty of time on our hands and our bags safely in a locker, we wandered through a couple parks (Parc de la Ciutadella was a favorite of ours), stopped and got some espresso and something to munch on for a later breakfast/early lunch. This early exploration really gave us a chance to learn the lay of the land and explore a couple of the big areas we knew we wanted to see including seeing what all the talk was about for La Rambla and where the famous La Boqueria market was located. After a couple additional stops for drinks, we made our way back to Plaça de Catalunya to get a cab, (if you’re around La Rambla and need to get a cab, walk up to this square, I feel like this is where all the cabbies hang out) and head up to our Airbnb to unload our luggage, get out of our travel clothes, get situated and really see the city.
Our apartment was a 3 story walk up, which luckily had a tiny elevator just big enough for our suitcases. We had a shared rooftop terrace that gave us a sprawling view of the city and La Sagrada Familia. We took a minute to enjoy the view and take in the fact we had each other and all the time in the world to explore Barcelona. After getting ourselves and our luggage situated, we walked down Avinguda de Gaudí to explore. Avinguda de Gaudi is one of the oldest streets in Barcelona where parts of it are 100% pedestrian foot traffic. It has great Barcelona architecture, a lot of bars and restaurants (just be careful of the tourist trap places) and it was the connection between our apartment and Segrada Familia. Seriously watch out for tourist trap restaurants, they’re terrible. If it’s not crowded or if it’s filled with just tourists or servers are begging you to sit down…. run. There’s such great food all over the city, don’t waste a meal like we did. Learn from our mistake. One of our courses was tomatoes on toast or as the restaurant served us, plain bread with quartered tomatoes. This sounds right but a true Spaniard would be horrified.
The following morning, we both woke up refreshed and hungry. Before heading to our tour of Sagrada Familia, we took the advice of the owner of our AirBnb and stopped by the local café chain, 365 Obrador, that was right across the street from the apartment building. Perfect for a quick pastry and a coffee. We had booked our time slot for Sagrada Familia in the morning, on the advice of other travelers as to beat the rush…. At the time I wasn’t convinced about beating the rush because there was a huge line but take our advice and book your time in advance and do it earlier in the morning on a weekday if possible. By the time we finished our tour, the amount of people was noticeably larger, and the wait seemed like it would be an eternity. It was also nice to have an excursion booked a little earlier in the day and gave us time to partake in the famous Spanish siesta.
To say the Sagrada Familia is astounding would be an understatement. Both of us were familiar with the cathedral, seen pictures, but that, of course, did not do it justice. The artistic flare of Gaudí gives you a cathedral like one you’ve never been in, kind of gothic and whimsical at the same time, much different than other cathedrals we’ve seen throughout Europe. It’s renowned for being under construction for almost 150 years and when it’s finally completed, which who knows when that will be because the latest date of 2026 has been pushed back, will be the tallest religious building in all of Europe. Gaudi felt nothing man made should ever be higher than God’s work. The irony.
The first thing we noticed while walking in was how grand the entire facility was, the high ceilings, the large stained-glass windows, everything was larger than life. Despite having hundreds of people inside, it never felt crowded. We took our time venturing the five Naves (typically a church has 1 nave or central area for mass, Sagrada has five of these), the Crypt, and the museum, before eventually going up into the spires. An important note, you will need a separate ticket to access the spires.
I (Missy) am afraid of heights, so this was not something I was especially excited about, but we were here so needed to try everything we could. Luckily the heights didn’t bother me, especially since the trip to the spires was to basically look outside at all the artwork on the roof. The spires provided a truly breath-taking view of the city and all the intricate details of the roof architecture. From the ground level or really any view from outside, you’ll never get a full grasp of all he was looking to display unless you are up and looking at it closely. Although would go back to Sagrada, I don’t think we’d do the Spires again. It’s great for first time visitors.
If you take anything from this blog post, please book any popular excursions well in advance. As we mentioned, the line was still long, despite having a time slot already booked. We chose to not have a guided or audio tour, because that’s not our thing, but looking back we, both agreed it would have added so much to the tour. I’m embarrassed to say that we did start trailing a guided group once we were in the basement to try to gleam a little more information on what we were looking at. If you do have the funds and tours are something you enjoy, splurge for a private tour. It’s a one on one, intimate experience with the ability to ask and enjoy all aspects of the site, rather than sitting in a large group of people listening through an uncomfortable headset. Costs can be eye popping, especially at well-known destinations, but again if it’s your love, give a look and maybe it’s worth saving up for to experience something you will love and remember forever.
Parc Güell is another Gaudí masterpiece comprised of colorful mosaic sculptures around this beautifully lush green park. On such a beautiful day a lot of locals had the same idea as us, which was a great experience to hear and see all the kids running and playing while the adults relaxed and enjoyed their day. We spent the next couple hours roaming the grounds of the park, having a picnic and taking in all the mosaic artwork until we felt like we had walked all the different routes we could. This was a good indication to venture back to our apartment to change and get ready for the evening. It’s a unique site, but in our opinion not one of Barcelona’s showstopper destinations.
On our walk around town the day before, we found this cute plaza called, Plaza Real, which is a beautiful, bustling square (kind of touristy), but still enjoyable. We decided to go there for dinner. The prices were a bit higher than other areas of the city, but not too bad in comparison to other European cities. As we sat and enjoyed a bottle of Cava (Spanish sparkling wine), taking in all the kids running around the Plaza, salesmen trying to sell to tourists or dance groups putting on performances. To us we rather enjoyed the entire package. It was nice blend of real life we were able to take in and appreciate. If you want to go to a quiet dinner and be unbothered, it’s best not to head here or sit at an interior table.
The next day we headed to Mercado de La Boqueria. This is one of the most popular attractions in Barcelona and something we had circled as a must prior to arriving. It’s a huge open-air market filled with countless food vendors of all types of meats, cheeses, seafood, vegetables, fruits, as well as restaurants, and shops. It’s a treat for the eyes and stomach.
When we walked in the first thing that greeted us was a rainbow assortment of fruits and different kinds of juices, all neatly placed on tiered shelves covered in shaved ice. I had the strawberry kiwi and jack had watermelon. The freshest fruit juice we’ve ever had. As we enjoyed our juice, we explored the butcher area. One of our first purchases was a meat cup. When you go to Spain you learn that most butchers, especially those in markets or high traffic walking areas, offer these mouthwatering, very affordable meat cups which are, as the name states so obviously, cups filled with different kinds of cured meats. We had so many of these cups on our trip that our hands and feet swelled like sausages from all the sodium, but it was so worth it (one of our favorite places within the market for meat cups was Boqueria 886 S.C.P.)
Once we were towards the back of the market, a restaurant caught our eye, Bar Boqueria. After peaking at some of the plates people were enjoying, we decided we should try a dish or two. Note, we were under no illusion that this would be affordable, being in the market we assumed it would be pricy in comparison to the rest of the stands. It was, but not nearly as bad as we thought it was. If you go tapas style like we did and get a couple items, you can easily get 2 plates under 15 Euro. Where it gets expensive is when you order a whole meal. Our goals when eating as we travel is try local dishes to the country and the city, so we had decided to order a cold octopus potato salad and then papas bravas. Both were very good, but the Octopus salad was the star. Our travel advice while you’re in Mercado de La Boqueria, snack at the stalls and if you want to dine at one of the restaurants within the market, get a small plate or two to get the most bang for your buck. Also, there is quite a long line for seats, especially for multiple seats together. Be patient, we were lucky, and it was an instance of right place right time, but don’t be surprised if you have to wait around an hour. Your on vacation, grab a drink, take in the ambiance and enjoy your day.
Once we finished our tapas we decided explored the exterior of the market, stopping into a small store that specialized in wine called El Celler de La Boqueria. Wine vendors are all over the city and even though this location was smack dab in the middle of a heavily trafficked area and tourist destination, it’s well worth a venture in. Going into the trip we wanted to bring home nice bottles of wine for our parents as souvenirs which we easily found here. The wines recommended were incredible and we were so disappointed we didn’t bring home a bottle for ourselves. Note to self, buy more wine abroad.
We continued to try all sorts of stores and bars and restaurants. We had with dinner at a small neighborhood restaurant by our AirBnb that was recommended by our host that is unfortunately no longer there. We enjoyed another delicious octopus salad, tomato toast (correctly made this time, thank God) and fried eggplant drizzled with honey that proved to be an unexpected treat. We followed our dinner with gelato from Cremeria Siciliana. It’s very close to Sagrada Familia and we highly recommend. Going to Spain to get gelato seems blasphemous, but it was almost as good as what you get in Italy.
After indulging in gelato, we took a leisurely walk back to the La Rambla, knowing it was our last day in Barcelona and walked to soak as much in as we could. A travel tip, walk the cities. Don’t always take a cab, bus, subway. We have found some of the most incredible local establishments by wandering and popping in to see what it’s all about. Once it was finally time to end the night, we went to catch a cab, only to learn that the cabs have gone on a 24-hour strike starting at midnight…. and we needed to get to the airport very early the next morning. This situation was not ideal, because our flight was leaving around 7a, and we were situated far away from anything without a car, and none of the trains were operating by the time we needed to leave. Jack turned into a ball of anxiety, but he sprang into action looking for a private car service while I stayed calm and collected, assured that everything would work itself out. Well, thanks to Jack it did. We had a private car hired, from our AirBnB to the airport for about $100. It was an expensive ride, but at that point we didn’t have a lot of other options. A word of caution planned transportation strikes do occur in Spain. Be prepared, there are always options, to help you get to where you need.
Our time in Barcelona went too fast and left like we didn’t get to see all we wanted to see in the city. We do have some solid recommendations.
Travel Tidbits for Barcelona:
- Public Transportation to and from the airport is quite affordable and has a few different stops that are centrally located in the city.
- Ubers do not exist in Barcelona because of the strong Taxi Union, but we didn’t find pricing unfair on the few cabs we took.
- If you do want to go to some of the prominent sites like Sagrada Familia, Casa Batlló, etc., go there in the morning and prepurchase the tickets. It’s much less congested and allows you to enjoy the sites a bit more.
- Food wise, don’t shy from just popping into local places for cafe or little markets/butchers for meals. The quality can be much better, eating more local cuisine and ultimately the pricing is much more reasonable.
- If you do fear a language barrier, most do speak English and those that don’t will still try to help, as long as you make an effort to at least try to say some words in Spanish or try in some way to show what you’re looking for.
- Despite us having transportation issues to the airport, there are several options to go with. Cabs are about $30, the train as you know has a route there, and there is a coach bus near Sagrada Familia, and I believe close to La Rambla that has direct trips to the airport. Just be mindful of the timetable and get something that works for your schedule.
If you want more information on any of the food/restaurants we tried, go to our blog here: Dining out in Barcelona