Ola!
Our journey to Spain started with a very early morning. We left the house at 4am to catch our bargain priced flights! We arrived at Reus Airport, Barcelona at around 9am and jumped on a shuttlebus for the hour long trip into Barcelona city. It was already pretty warm outside but the sky was really overcast. Apparently it’s really common for Barcelona days to start out this way and develop into hot and sunny afternoons.
Once the shuttlebus dropped us off we figured out how to catch the Met (the Barcelona Underground) to our hotel. After commuting to work everyday on the London Tube, we were pleasantly surprised by the Spanish underground system. The carriages we spacious, clean and air-conditioned- no pushing up against strangers!

Our hotel (a mystery deal on a last minute accommodation website) was AMAZING! Our room was huge and very luxurious with an incredible shower (most English showers leave a lot to be desired!). However, we had way too much to see to spend too much time there. We had a quick nap (to refresh after our early start!) and then jumped back on the Met and headed into the city.

We started our exploring at the famous La Ramblas, a long street leading down to the bay full of restaurants, bars and shops. La Ramblas was alive, bubbling with protests and masses of people in Barcelona colours preparing the Champions League Final later than night. After working up an appetite we stopped in at a little Tapas Bar. We enjoyed lots of local beer, sangria and lots of different kinds of tapas.
With full bellies we continued to explore the markets. Mark picked up a bargain priced Barcelona Football shirt with ‘Messi’ on the back, before we found somewhere to watch the big Final. Every time Barcelona scored the city lit up with fireworks!

The following day we started out with a fantastic coffee and then walked down to the bay. At the edge of the bay we saw people gathered feeding huge schools a fish- not your regular goldfish, more like salmon sized! We explored markets and shopping centres, stopping off for the occasional ice-cream to help combat the heat of the Spanish sun. We eventually winded back through narrow Spanish streets that looked as though they hadn’t changed in hundreds of years. So much colour, and lines and lines of washing hung from every window sill!

We then joined a long queue to visit the Picasso Museum (the queue was particularly long as we went during the ‘Sunday free after 3’ session!). It was definitely worth the wait. We got to see a whole range of complete and incomplete Picasso works from right throughout his career, going right back to works by ten year old Picasso.

Feeling ready to rest our legs, we found a quiet bar off the main streets. Here we made friends with a vivacious elderly Spanish lady, who, despite being told we did not speak Spanish by us and the bar tender, still continued to talk on and on!

That evening we travelled back to La Ramblas to enjoy our first Spanish paella. So tasty, full of mussels, calamari and prawns straight from the bay- complete with 1 litre mugs of beer and sangria!

The following day was our last full day in Spain. We were lucky enough to stumble across the celebration parade for the Barcelona football team on their return from London. We made our way out to the iconic Sagrada Familia- a large Roman Catholic church designed by Antonio Gaudi in 1882. Although the building is world heritage listed, less than half of it is actually complete, due to Gaudi’s passing in 1926. Its anticipated completion date is 2026 (exactly 100 years since the death of its architect!)

After this we checked out The Nou Camp at Mark’s request- this is the home of Barcelona FC. It is an impressive stadium that holds over 90,000 people, and was buzzing that day due to the recent win.

On our last afternoon we returned to the city centre and had a look at the Central Cathedral and Gaudi Museum. Most memorably, we saw some amazing markets right in the centre of Barcelona. Full of fresh fruit, meats, cheeses, breads and more. We were overwhelmed by the colours, smells and tastes! Definitely one of our highlights in Barcelona.

We celebrated our final night in Spain with another big serving of tapas, paella and, of course, more sangria!

We definitely haven’t seen the last of Spain- such friendly people and a bohemian, cool vibe that’s very appealing after living in London!

Adios!