Barcelona – Artsy and Full of Life !

This is my first post in KV and hopefully there will be many more 🙂

I recently visited Barcelona and fell in love with the city. It has everything to offer that one is looking for – architecture, good food, culture, beaches, shopping.

Where to stay –

Barcelona is divided into new city and old city. The old city which is called ‘Ciutat Vella’ in the Catalan language is made up of Barceloneta, Ribera, El Raval and Gothic Quarter. If you look at a bird’s eye view of Barcelona its almost a rectangle with aligned streets except for the old city area which has narrow winding roads and cobbled streets and most of the areas are foot only giving it the more European feeling. Sant Marti and Eixample are part of the new cities. Eixample which means extension in the Catalan language is around the old city of Barcelona and contains of a lot of the top tourist attractions. Sant Marti area has all the top class beaches.

So depending on what you are interested in either stay in the Gothic Quarter area or in Sant Marti but make sure you are close enough to a metro station.

I stayed at Four Points Sheraton in Santa Marti –  it was 7 min walk to a metro station and 10 mins walk to the beach 🙂

Transportation –

The public transportation is great in Barcelona and Metro is what I used to visit all the places of interest. Almost every major tourist attraction is 10 mins train ride away except for a few which are a 30mins away depending on your location. I had purchased the 3 day Metro pass online in advance which gave me a 10 % discount and showed my receipt at the Airport tourist office to get the pass.

Link for buying the Metro Pass – http://www.tmb.cat/en/barcelona-travel-card

Weather – 

Weather in Barcelona is pleasant most of the year so almost anytime is a good time to visit. Most websites suggest the ideal time for visit is May to end of July.

My visit was in October and the weather was just perfect, did not need the jacket either. Even the ocean was warm enough for a swim !

Day 1 –

My arrival was late evening. I took the cab to hotel but could have used pubic transport too. A1 line outside the airport goes to the main city center from where you can catch Metro to reach your destination. Note – A1 line is not covered in the Metro pass and costs 5 euros.

Places visited –

1. Plaza Espanya

Plaza Espanya has the famous magic fountain which is best enjoyed at night when you can see the light and music show. Its really spectacular. I reached there at 10 pm and was surprised to find it packed. People were standing, sitting on the steps, dancing. It was a wonderful sight !

You can easily spend an hour to two hours here.

2. Las Arenas Shopping Mall

Las Arenas Shopping Mall is 4 mins walk from the Magic Fountain and actually the first thing you see after coming out of the Metro station.

For 1 Euro I took the elevator to the 5th floor and stepped out onto the 360 degrees viewing platform. It gives an ideal panoramic view of the city. There are a bunch of restaurants on the 5th floor which looked really nice but did not try. A good idea would be to visit the shopping mall first for dinner before heading to the Magic Fountain.

Day 2 – 

My day 2 started early at 8.30 am and was very packed and can easily be broken down into two days. The reason I did so many spots in one day because I had only one more day which was a Sunday where in almost all shops and restaurants are shut.

Gaudi ruled Day 2. You can find the influence of Gaudi in almost each and every nook and corner in Barcelona. He has many famous quotes, one of which is “Color in certain places has the great value of making the outlines and structural planes seem more energetic”.

1. La Sagrada Familia (Ticket – 19.5 euro)

Buy tickets online to avoid lines  http://www.sagradafamilia.org/en/tickets/

Take metro to reach here.

Gaudi’s last work and one which he spend most time on. Get the the tour with audio guide. Tip – When you start the tour there are 15 or so points to cover. You will find each point label on the wall. Points 1 and 2 are where you pick up the audio cables and 3, 4 are difficult to find – go in the Church and come out on opposite side to find 3,4.

2. Casa Mila (Ticket – 20.5 euro)

Buy tickets online to avoid lines https://tickets.lapedrera.com/site/LaPedrera/product/37-la-pedrera-by-day/type/29?lang=en

Take metro to reach here from Casa Mila.Terrace is the best part.

3. Casa Batlo (Ticket – 21.5 euro)

Buy tickets online to avoid lines  https://www.casabatllo.es/en/visit/prices/

Walk from Casa Mila to Casa Batlo. Passeig de Gràcia is the street you will walk on. Its like 5th Ave in NY, you will find all big designer brands on this street.

Casa Mila is the perfect example of don’t judge by exterior until you see the interior. I think it was the best tour among all in Barcelona.

They have an augmented reality tour which is amazing.

4. Placa De Catalunya

Take metro to reach here from Casa Batlo.It is a large square in central barcelona where the old city and Eixample meet.

5. Gothic Quarter – Cathedral of Barcelona  and Placa Reial 

Walk from Placa De Catalunya towards Cathedral of Barcelona and enjoy the Barri Gothic area. You will feel transported from the new modern era to the Medieval times. I skipped going inside the Cathedral of Barcelona , the entry is 10 Euros. I spend time walking around and soaking in the culture and beauty of the place.Placa Reial is a square in the Barri Gothic area and has many restaurants and night clubs. 

Night Life  – Barcelona is well known for its great night life. Although I didn’t have time to enjoy it. There are several great clubs in Placa Reial – Sidecar, Jamboree and Karma so make sure you plan to come back to Gothic Quarter in the night time.

6. Las Ramblas Street

Walk from Placa Reial to Las Ramblas Sreet. It reminded me of Fashion Street or Linking Road ! Good place to do some Souvenir shopping.

7. Port Veil

Las Ramblas Street extends all the way to Christopher Columbus Monument at Port Veil. Port Veil is a waterfront harbour where you will find many ships docked. 

Here you can find fake purses of all possible brands – Coach, MK, Prada and they sell it quite openly 🙂

8. Palau Guell (Ticket – 12 euro)

Buy tickets online to avoid lines http://entrades.palauguell.cat/muslink/venda/activitats.jsp?nom_cache=PALAU&property=PALAU&lang=3

Another of Gaudi’s creation. It is little off from Las Ramblas street and can be walked over from Port Veil. I feel it can be skipped. The terrace was the part I really liked. 

9. Mercardo de La Boqueria

On Las Ramblas Street and can be walked too from Palau Guell. It is a large public market place where you can find a lot of different varieties of fruits, chocolates etc. I tried Maracuya fruit juice, it was simply delicious.

Day 3 – 

Day 3 original plan was to do the following –

1. Park Guell –

Entry 7 euros, http://www.parkguell.cat/en/buy-tickets/

2. Camp Nou –

Football stadium

Day 3 plan turned out to be sleep in late and then just head to Poblenou beach 🙂

I missed the above two places but I have heard great things about both and should definitely be visited.

Poblenou beach was 10 mins walking from my Hotel through the Rambla del Poblenou street.

Rambla del Poblenou is again cobbled street walkable only – no cars so it was perfect. The street had many open seating restaurants and I had lunch at an Indian resturant – Sitar. You will be amazed to find that local folks can break into a dance anywhere. While I was walking I saw one guy get a boom box and start playing spanish music and then people just started dancing !

The beach itself was great and the water was decent cold to actually have a swim. Barcelona is well known for Beach Bars. There are many spanned across the Poblenou beach.

More Places to Visit – 

To get a birds eye view of Barcelona visit the Montjuic and Tibidabo hills.

Overall –

I found Barcelona to be very friendly and very safe . You still have to beware of pick pickpockets especially when around Las Ramblas Street. I think Barcelona in general is cheaper compared to Paris and other big cities for food and hotel.

My trip was for 3 days and I felt it was quite short. My suggestion would to be plan for 4 full days with having a full itinerary in place for 3 and keep the last day open to go explore a place you liked more or just walk around !