3rd Time's a Charm

My third trip to Barcelona in the past 6 months was just as successful as the first two. My parents and I flew in on Sunday afternoon, and checked into an apartment on Carrer d'Arago. The three bedroom apartment was in a brand new building, and walking distance to Passeig de Gracia, so my mom and I could shop, as well as the Mobile World Congress, where my Dad would be holding meetings for the next three days.

We settled in and went to one of my favorite restaurants in Barcelona, Brown 33.  Its delicious italian fusion food, and I have been there all three times that I have visited Barcelona. Its that good.  My parents enjoyed it and it was a perfect way to start our trip.

We're ready to see Barcelona!!

Monday, my Dad went off to the Mobile World Congress for the day, so my mom and I decided to take our time getting ready, then headed off to Passeig de Gracia, to see the city and shop.  We went to all my favorite stores, Zara, Mango, and H&M, and strolled through Placa Catalunya and down Avinguda del Portal de l'Angel, which is another major shopping street that parallels La Rambla.  It also goes right through the gothic quarter, so we were able to see lots of the old buildings and streets. We eventually made our way to La Rambla for a late lunch, filling ourselves up with a variety of tasty tapas and red wine.

Then we went to the Mercat de Sant Josep/La Boqueria, which is a covered, but open air market with lots of stands selling fruit, vegetables, sweets, meat etc...We walked through the stalls, ooh-ing and ahh-ing at all the things for sale, and laughing at a few as well. We settled on a cheese shop and bought some cheese to have at the apartment before dinner.

Yep! Boobs made out of chocolate!

Beautiful fruit and veggie stands

We then realized we were a bit tired, so we headed to Placa Reial to have a cup of coffee and rest our legs. Placa Reial is one of my favorite squares to sit in. Its just off of the bustling La Rambla, but you wouldn't know it as its quiet and sunny and people are just sitting at the outdoor cafes and restaurants.  I have come here each time I've been in Barcelona, and its never disappointed. We drank our coffees and took in our surroundings. We soaked in the last hour or so of good sun, which I was loving as it was a good 10 degrees or more warmer than Geneva.

After thoroughly resting, we headed back to the apartment, stopping at the Carrefour for some wine and snacks to meet my dad before dinner. He surprised us, and decided to ditch his work-dinner and came with us towards Barceloneta and the Port Olympic area to have dinner near the beach at Sotavento. Unfortunately it was a bit too early to be dining near the beach, and most of the restaurants were empty and had plastic screens covering the outdoor patios so you felt like you were in a bubble. The food was delicious though and it was fun for my parents to see a different part of town, but for the future, its probably best to go when its the height of summer and warm enough to sit outside.

Day 2 in Barcelona, my dad went back to the Mobile World Congress, and my mom and I decided to take the train to Figueres to see the Dali Museum.  It was a 2-1/2 hour train ride, so my mom and I got in some quality conversation time. In Figueres, we found the main square to sit and have lunch at a restaurant called Sentits Gastrobar. Again, just sitting in the sun was so wonderful. Its amazing what a little Vitamin D can do for you.

After more yummy tapas for lunch, we headed to the museum and were both awed and perplexed by the art that was on display. I didn't really know what Dali was all about, but after seeing the museum, he must have a crazy imagination. A lot of his pieces were very strange and intriguing, but boiled down to just plain weird if you're not an art buff. We enjoyed it, but I'm curious if we had had a tour guide explaining to us some of his crazy pieces, if we would have enjoyed it more. This is one of the strange but not too strange pieces that I thought looked pretty cool. Could you see this in your living room?

We called it a day at the museum, and headed back to the train station for our 2-1/2 hour ride back. Getting back into Barcelona late that afternoon, we headed straight back to the apartment for our usualy happy hour party of cheese, crackers and wine with Dad.  He had had a long couple of days, so we decided to go to a restaurant we'd seen two nights earlier on Passieg de Gracia, called Divinus.  It was packed inside and had a hustling, bustling feeling to it. We thankfully got a table towards the back, but still had to talk quite loudly to hear one another. The food was delicious as usual though and we all had a good time overall.

Our third day in Barcelona, Dad again had meetings all day at the MWC, so Mom and I decided to go back to some of the shops we had browsed the first day, trying on clothes and buying some as well.  We then walked down La Rambla, all the way to Barceloneta, to have a late lunch along Passeig de Joan de Borbo. As we had walked a TON the past few days, we took our time and had a long lunch, again, sitting outside, enjoying the sun and each other's company.  We decided to keep up our walking, and took some random streets/alleyways through the gothic quarter as we tried to head back towards Passeig de Gracia.
We stopped again at a few shops along the way, and just strolled through the town. We happened to see a building that had some interesting people standing on the balcony too. From a distance, I wasn't quite sure, but after getting closer, it reminded me of the building in San Francisco that has all the furniture hanging from the exterior wall. Strange.

Finally, our 4th day there, Thursday, Dad was done with work and was able to hang out with mom and me all day.  We aren't big on museums, so we decided to take the metro out to Mount Tibidabo, and take the funicular up the mountain so we could see the entire city below from 512 meters up. The ride up was fun, as most funiculars are, but unfortunately, it was pretty hazy/foggy/smoggy and we weren't able to get a very clear picture of the the city below us.

But we walked around and went into the church that sits up there, and enjoyed it as much as we could. I think it was still neat for my parents to see how high up we were and even though the cameras don't show it, you could see most of the city through the haze.



We headed back down the mountain, and walked down La Rambla, something my Dad had wanted to do the entire trip.  It was busy as ever, and we took it all in, but eventually headed to Placa Reial for lunch, to get away from all the people for a bit.

M&D on La Rambla

Me and Dad at Placa Reial

Sangria and Beer were definitely the thing to order. HUGE!

We then wandered aimlessly through the Gothic Quarter, going down streets I'd never been down, seeing buildings I hadn't seen before.  Eventually tiring, we headed back to the apartment to pack and rest since we were leaving the next morning.  We ended our night with a tasty dinner at Can Majo, one of the most recommended restaurants, located in Barceloneta.

We checked out the next morning, and headed to the airport back to Geneva.  I really loved being in Barcelona and I feel so lucky to have been able to spend so much time there in the past 6 months. Till next time Barcelona!!