Barcelona travel diary

This summer I travelled to Barcelona for the first time and I have to admit that the city surpassed all my expectations! I never knew Barcelona has such an amazing architecture, good job Gaudi! So the beauty of the old buildings directly blew my mind. But Barcelona has so  much more to offer than great architecture this city simply has it all!

You can start your day in one of the sweet cafe’s than go for a morning hike on the mountains Montjuic, shop for a little bit on Barcelona’s shopping streets, have lunch in the old gothic quarter and finish of the day with a romantic walk on the beach. Besides this Barcelona also has so many interesting cultural things you should visit while there. So what else you could you ask for in a city? 

We stayed at the Hotel Claris, which I can totally recommend. The hotel is located in a side road of the popular shopping street Paseo de Gracia. Super central! What I vaulted the most about the hotel was definitely the roof terrace! I loved going up there in the evening to read a book and enjoy the view over Barcelona’s roof tops. If you would ask my brother what he thinks was the best thing about our hotel I’m sure he would agree. Probably not due the beautiful view but rather because of the pool! Sadly we weren’t the only guests who loved to spent our evenings on top of the hotel so it was usually quite crowded. Nevertheless we always got lucky and found a place to sit or lay on.

I’m honestly not a big fan of the La Rambla promenade. The street was way to overcrowded and not even the stores could convince me to enjoy it. If you are looking for great shopping spots I would rather recommend the shopping street Paseo de Gracia, which stores offer highstreet to designer fashion and around a hundred Zara stores, or you can visit the gothic quarter for local and unique items.This old part of the city is best explored with a bottle of water in one hand and a camera in the other also a pair of walking shoes would be convenient. On the la ramble one can also find the „Mercat de la Boqueria“ a huge food market many people advised us to visit. Sadly I also didn’t enjoyed this place so much. I really disliked how raw meat was hanging around in the walking ways and the stinking fish between melting ice cubes. Not even the countless food stalls could made my visit more pleasant.

One thing I really regret now that I’m back in Germnay is that we couldn’t see the Sagrada Familia from the inside. Non of us thought about buying the tickets online in advance, so the tickets were sold out as we got there. But hey, I guess that’s another reason to come back to Barcelona as soon as possible right? Nevertheless I could admire some of Antonio Gaudis other architectural artworks since everything touristy that we did was somehow related to Gaudi. This man kind of builded everything worth seeing in Barcelona it’s quite insane. If you ever find a beautiful building in Barcelona you can presumably be 99,99% sure Gaudi had a finger in the pie, too. 

Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia

Nevertheless I could admire some of Antonio Gaudis other artworks since it felt like everything touristy that we did was somehow related to Gaudi. This man kind of builded everything beautiful in Barcelona it’s quite insane. If you ever find a beautiful building in Barcelona you can be 99,99% sure Gaudi had a finger in the pie, too. So of course we also visited Gaudi’s Parc Güell from where we had one of the best views over Barcelona.

Gaudi’s Parc Güell

But I still felt as if I didn’t got the full Gaudi experience yet since we only saw his masterpieces from the outside. But this was about to change as we visited Gaudi’s Casa Milà. The rooftop of the building already stole my breath but the fully furnished apartment inside was the real highlight! I would directly move in without thinking about it just for a second. Antonio Gaudi was definitely ahead of his time!

Inside Gaudi’s Casa Milà

The last two days of our trip were spent on Barcelona’s beach, which was always very crowded but I’m sure there are also emptier beaches a little bit further away from the city and it’s harbor. Even though the city is usually very crowded it surprisingly never feels like people are rushing – there is a special calmness within Barcelona, well probably that is just the catalan way of living.

A fun thing to do, when you get tired of laying around on the beach or just annoyed of the street vendors, is getting on a boat! If you enjoy being on a boat just half as much as I do I highly recommend to hop on a speed boat tour or relax on a catamaran boot. We fortunately did both! While being on the boot you will get the most beautiful view over the beach and the city surrounded by the mountain range, just trust me on this one.

Fabienne