4.26am aircoach.
Back to the aircoach. We kind of fell out with aircoach for a while–a lot of meeting at the airport from work (for which I use airlink because it picks up outside my office). But the blackrock stop is at 4.26 am. I got there a little early. The aircoach pulled up. I got on. We waited two or three minutes until 4.27am and departed. THIS IS WHY I LOVE AIRCOACH AND LOATHE DUBLIN BUS. Dublin bus would have just kept on going and got all off schedule. Aircoach. Man oh man. They stick to their schedule.
Airport was uneventful. Ryanair has a new cabin bag policy. I don’t mind it at all. I’m happy to be free of my “baby Bertha” cabin bag and pick her up at baggage claim because customs always takes a while anyway.
Landed in Barcelona. Since this was MY trip I was pretty organised and had a 3 day transit pass for Barcelona already (though I don’t really recommend, this because I didn’t save any money on it only time/peace of mind/etc). The metro from Barcelona airport is a little bit of a hike from the airport (as a Dubliner I’m not actually allowed to complain about the metro being far from the airport because our airport is not connected to our LUAS, Dart or trains). A couple metro changes later and I was at the Barceloneta stop.
Matt recommended Barceloneta to me. I would recommend Barceloneta to someone in the summer, when you can hit the beach. Since it wasn’t quite beach weather, if I could do it again, I probably would have stayed in the Gothic Quarter or El Born. But Sunday was nice enough to drink Cava on the beach with my kindle so who am I to complain? Also the Barceloneta train station is gorgeous. I love old Victorian European train stations.
So Sunday I checked in at my hotel (H10 port vell) and my room was ready with a little Juliet balcony. Took a quick shower and I was off the explore. I literally wandered. And it was amazing. Las Ramblas. Gothic Quarter. El Born. Barceloneta. Wander. Wander. Wander. (Watch your handbag. Watch your handbag. Watch your handbag). When you’re tired of wandering sit on the beach. Drink cava. Use your handbag as a pillow and have a nap.
At night I hopped from tapas bar to tapas bar. Happily ending up at one (Petit Bar)where no one spoke english, football (soccer) was on the television and the sangria was amazing.
Monday, I had to be up early for my pre-purchased timed tickets (read: things I can’t do with Matt) to Sagrada Familia. OK, I had to be there at 9. So not like super early. But early for vacay. Too early to be bothered to grab breakfast (I had to settle for a cappuccino and a churro after my cathedral experience. Life is hard). The cathedral was so so so so amazing. I really recommend it.
The tower climb was cool…..ish…..but I probably wouldn’t insist on it (at present). The views are cool but you don’t experience anything extra for the cathedral. Also. There’s only one way down so you’re kind of locked into the experience you share with the tourists / families around you. But I don’t think it was that much more money than my ticket anyway. But I do recommend going as early in the day as possible because it was certainly more crowded when I was down from the tower then when I first arrived at 9am.
I will add that I spent the most time nerding out in the (way less popular/crowded) museum under the cathedral.
After refueling
I metro’d over to the Mercat de St Antoni. I had read that this is an ACTUAL market where Barcelonians shop. It’s actual building looks super fancy but currently out of commissioned. The market is in a series of “market buildings.” (It’s like the inside of the NC state farmers market building where the hoop cheese is) and the shopkeepers only speak Catalan. So I overbought cheese, blood oranges and clementines.
I walked back over to Las Ramblas and to Mercado de la Boqueria. This is the market for people to come and see a market. Before diving in, I grabbed a beer at Beer Linale. Once inside the market…..I was overwhelmed. So much meat. And fried things. Yum. Yay. Yum.
Not one to rest too long. . . I knew it was time to go UP. To Park Guell.
I didn’t actually go inside the pay for park, and I don’t feel like I missed out on much / anything. Someone will probably correct me. But I came up to the park by aiming for Turo de les Tres Cruses first (BEST views). Also this way has escalators.
And a convenient store on the way to pick up a purse beer.
As the sun set, I hopped a bus back to Barceloneta to recharge my stuff and myself. I went to the tapas bar, Perikete, around the corner from my hotel that I was too nervous to go to alone when it was truly crowded. I had a cava and oysters.
What happened next…. I can only blame my coworker. She sent me to a bar, L’Ovella Negra Ramblas . I ordered the Cava Sangria she told me to. Um. It comes in a pitcher. A pitcher.
I mean it was only €12. But like. Not what I would have done. I drank some. It was delish. I shared some with some American study abroad undergrads. I left. A little drunker than I intended. I guarded my handbag the whole Las Ramblas walk home and crashed after a long day.
Tuesday. My flight wasn’t till later in the day, so I had until 5 or 6pm to check off any Barcelona things on my list. My list included a trip back to the Mercado de la Boqueria for more cured meats. A visit to the Museu Picasso (meh?). Some window shopping. A cheese specialty shop. Parc de la Ciutadella. I feel like I should have more to say about this day, but I think I just kept popping into shops for an empanada here; a pastry there. A “lazy Sunday”…except it was a Tuesday. And I was in Barcelona.
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