Barcelona | two weeks
This list pretty much started my blog idea because I have sent it to so many people over the last several years, always having to dig it out of my sent emails to resend it.
Now it is here (forever?). No more dredging for it. Yay.
Spent two weeks living in an apartment in the Les Courts <m> literally on the plaza of the metro stop while the kids did a Spanish camp. It was great and I am still missing the kebabs from the little place in our building. Damn TripAdvisor never accepted that review.
-- Shopping --
Biba - handbags on Psg del Born 24 - Barcelona made handbags, they had a good sale when we were there.
Skunkfunk on C/Ferran (also a good outlet store on Ronda Sant Pere, <m> Uriquinoa)
Avarca Castell- authentic Spanish sandals on C/de l'Argenteria 61 <m> Jaume
Dug- cute dresses (!!) on C/ Elisabets, 2-4
Vaho Gallery for bags - they make everything from wallets to messenger bags from recycling the plastic lamp post banners used to advertise Barcelona's arts and culture events. So cool! Several locations. I shopped at the one on Elisabets off the Rambla, the sales people are nice and let me spend 45 minutes touching all the bags and showing me all the stock they had in the back.
Custo- on Placa de Olles corner near Cal Pep restaurant. Funky and bright bohemian t- shirts, dresses, etc.
-- Restaurants --
Quimet i Quimet - C/ del Poeta Cabanyes 25
Cold tapas, no fried, amazing! Teeny tiny place so arrive when they open, noon- ish. No place to sit down so stop by early in the day before your feet hurt!
At La Boqueria Mercat, off The Rambla
Two words - fruit juice. This will be meaningful when you see it for yourself.
Universal Kiosk- fresh seafood cooked to order. Yum. There are many other food stalls there, all of which must be ok to good, as they are always crowded.
A great place for lunch is a Pinxtos bar just past <m> Jaume called Bilbao Berra on C/ Argenteria. All sorts of little-bite sandwiches and hot tapas on a serve-yourself bar. They charge you by how many sticks you have at the end of your meal. They open at 1 pm, good to be there then or after 2 pm when the first crowd clears out.
Cal Pep on the corner of Place de Olles ..... deep in the Born
Opens for lunch at 1 pm and there will be a line, if you are not in the first 20 people come back at 2:30-3 pm because lunch takes awhile and people don't rush. We (two of us) arrived at 12:40 and were the first in line. I think they close at 4:30 and reopen for dinner. Long waits at dinner.
There is some controversy about if it's a tourist rip-off or a Barcelona gem. We had amazing food, awesome service and completely enjoyed ourselves. Not cheap but not too expensive, food is fresh and really well-executed tapas and fish entrees. HANDS DOWN, the best sautéed clams I have had in my life. We ordered them twice. There is no menu, the waiters just ask what you like and start serving you. I guess that's where the bill can get high but the food was excellent as was the atmosphere - FUN!
Osmosis- C/ Aribau, 100 @ C/ Mallorca
Fine dining, five course lunch for €25 make reservations but f you are after 2 pm you may be alone in the restaurant but that's ok. It is really special. We sat at the "cool" table under the air con as it was hot outside.
Alfonsina- C/ Diputation 379
Steak and amazing homemade pastas. Had dinner there our first night dinner. And I slept through the night, which made me know it was good and I ate enough to sleep through my 3 am-hungry-wake up after a transatlantic flight.
Can Valles - Carrer d'Arago 95
Authentic Catalonian restaurant highly recommend by a guy we met at afancy chocolate store and on TripAdvisor. Call for reservations, they don't take walk ins. €18-22 entrees but supposed to be excellent. We could never get in )-:
Sant Carles - Sant Carles, 13 <m> Barcelonetta
!!! Darling!!! gourmet take-away for a beach picnic, paella, salads, fruit. Three of us ate for €12, what a deal.
La Flauta- Carrer d'Aribau, 23 <m> Psg de Gracia
Three course lunch for cheap. Nice restaurant and the food is good. Cynthia enjoyed the Gazpacho and I had a great salad for our first courses. They are open for dinner too, but may not be as cheap. I think our lunch was €13 apiece, for three courses.
Gelato stands are everywhere, but we especially like Amarino (one is at the top of the Rambla and also there is one in the <m> España Bull ring shopping mall). They scoop it into petals of a flower, better than at the Paris locations. Sorry Paris.
Fruit juice & cut fruit- we loved the amazing fruit juices and cut fruit at the Boqueira and Santa Caterina food markets, and sometimes you can get them from street vendors. So nice to have a refreshing and healthy choice and not at all expensive. I had a coconut juice every day.
-- Things to see and do --
First thing we did was to do the Fat Tire Bike fattirebiketours.com tour of the city. We had done tours in Paris and Versailles so we knew it was good. They are led by native English speakers who are a lot of fun and give you great info on the city. They meet at the Placa de <m> Jaume at 11 am and 4 pm. DON'T PANIC because you won't see any sign of them until about 15 mins before the tour starts, then the leader will have a bike with a yellow banner on it at the far left corner near the C/ Ferran. Just show up then. They divide into groups of ten people then take you on a four hour, non-strenuous bike tour to see many of the key sights. We liked it because you can get a lay of the city without all the strenuous walking that takes so much time. €22 pp or so.
Since the kids were in camp all day, we had a lot of time to kill so we bought the Barcelona museum pass, €30 which was admission to seven museums. I think the price per museum is about €18, so it works out well even if you only go to two or three. The best part is that you get to skip the lines (!!!!!) so at the really popular ones like Picasso and the white Gaudi house you can get right in. Otherwise the lines are staggering. Ones we particularly enjoyed were the Picasso, Miro and the palace museum at España just past the magic fountain.
One thing that is not in that ticket but definitely worth the admission is the Gaudi Ocean house, Casa Batillo. My daughter and I enjoyed it and the audio tour is well done. It really gives you insight into his thought process and innovations of the time. And it has excellent air conditioning.
Gaudi's Parc Guell was awesome too. Carefully map the best strategy to get there, it's a little complicated. Go first thing in the morning before it gets hot and crowded. It's a long walk to get there and away but totally worth it - such an amazing place.
Can you believe it? We did not go inside Sagra de Familia, but of course people say it is fantastic. You will need to book your ticket in advance, online (if you are at a hotel the concierge can do it for you) or at a bank kiosk located diagonal to the church. You book for a specific, one hour entry time, and you may have to come back later if you do it in the morning. Apparently George Lucas found much if his inspiration for Star Wars characters in the figures and decor of the interior, so would be fun to see that.
We took two day trips, to Sitges and Monserrat. Both were great but took the whole day, 10 am - 8 pm ish.
Sitges is a small cute beach town with lovely beaches and a big party scene at night. Very charming and a good place to go to the beach. We had a great lunch for €12 pp including wine at Can Marti on Espanya, 10.
Monserrat is where the monastery is built high up into the hill. It's spectacular and if you wear your sneakers/hiking shoes you can take some trails to see cool caves still used for meditation. I wore flip flops not knowing this (no tour books mentioned it) so I didn't hike but my husband did. Really spectacular views and crazy funiculars up steep hills. I would suggest packing your own sandwiches and water, there is a lot of food there but it's expensive and not good. There is a giant cafeteria and a little place for sandwiches. Go early, there are many bus loads of people who stand in line to pray to the famous black Madonna.
Back in Barcelona, we took the funicular up to the Monjuic Castle and walked back down. Getting down was a disaster, we kept getting lost but that was probably just us. Finally, we were so frustrated that we stopped at the hotel and took a taxi down to the bottom of the Rambla for a fruit juice. I would probably take the funicular round trip. Walking around the castle was great - amazing views! There is another funicular that runs across the port, it looked less interesting.
Barcelona is a fantastic city with so much to offer: food, culture, history, food, art, architecture, food, sun, sand, food. I can't wait to go back and eat my way around again.
