Barcelona's Sagrada Familia

The best part of the trip to Barcelona was visiting Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's cathedral. It is a very modern building and still under construction (although promised to be completed by 2026). 

We booked a guided tour and a visit to the Nativity Tower. If you visit, you HAVE to do a guided tour. Seeing it before the tour started was cool, but knowing the design inspiration behind everything made me appreciate the place so much more! 

Throughout my travels, I am ever disappointed that I cannot completely capture the beauty I see in real-life in a picture. This church was beautiful, but you have to see it in person to experience the full depth of its beauty. 

The trip to the tower was interesting. You ride in an elevator almost to the top and then go up a little bit on a narrow staircase to the viewing platform. A small viewing platform... I thought there would be another, larger area to see the city view but there is just the one so take full advantage of it. 

O the return to the bottom after your tower visit, you have the pleasure of descending down the narrow, ever winding staircase. I am afraid of heights and normally avoid tower visits. Going down was not fun, but since it was so narrow I felt a little better. I could easily brace myself against both sides, if need be. It was slow going down, though, because the people in front of us were older or stopped to take pictures along the way. 

Charles took this picture because there was no way in heck that I would take a look down the tower.

If you're visiting Barcelona and for some reason do not have this on your itinerary, do whatever you need to do to add it in! 

The Food of Barcelona

I travel to eat good food, but because I have decision paralysis it can be the most frustrating part of our vacations. I have learned to book food experiences to make it easier on myself and less annoying for my husband. 

During my research phase, I saw numerous recommendations for the Paella Club and it was not a disappointment! First rule of the Paella Club, said our host/chef, is TALK about Paella Club! He has an amazing energy and is so passionate about Catalan food and music that you cannot help but have an amazing experience. Plus, the Cava is seemingly never-ending, so come prepared to drink! 

We had a full class and were at the vegetarian paella station. But at the end of the class, we all sat down at a long table and were able to try all the other versions that were made at the stations. My favorite was the pork paella. I have never made paella and had only eaten it once before, so this was a great introduction and I feel confident that I could replicate it at home. 

And because the food experiences were a 'plenty in Barcelona, we also booked a tapas tour through Airbnb.

At the first stop we tried vermouth. I don't think I have ever in my life tried vermouth and I was not confident that I would really enjoy it since I'm not a big liquor drinker. But when in Barcelona, you must try vermouth and it was surprisingly tasty! I did not eat the olive, though, since it was stuffed with anchovy. 

Our first stop also included some Manchego cheese (yum!) and pickled fish. The fish I did not try. Sorry, not sorry!

The crochets, though, at the first stop were quite delicious!

This beautifully displayed dish is tuna loaf. I tried it.

This was my favorite bite of the night--fried green tomatoes and fried Camembert cheese. It reminded me of the South!

At the third stop we tried a bunch more things. Bread smeared with tomato (a Catalan staple), fried Cod balls (my absolute LEAST favorite bite), fried Calamari (I tried it so I could tell my father-in-law that I did) and a cheese, potato and onion quiche-like dish. We had this at the hotel for breakfast, too, so it was neat to find out that it's a local dish. 

At our last stop I completely forgot to snap a photo, but we tried another croquette and dessert. 

We had a fun group with us. One guy was from the Northeast (came across as a privileged white dude), one couple (a cop and a nurse) was from the San Fran area, one couple was from Italy and then us. I don't know how, but near the end we ended up discussing America's 401k system and gun control. Call me a nerd, but I loved every second of it!

Barcelona

After our one night in Andorra la Vella, Andorra, we drove back to Barcelona to spend the rest of our trip. We dropped off the car rental (you can easily forgo a car in Barcelona) and checked in to our hotel. This was hands-down my favorite hotel I have ever stayed in. I booked it mostly, if I am honest with myself, because I love the way it was decorated. It has beautiful pieces of furniture in the common areas, coffee table books, demi-johns, cool lighting, amazing vintage tile and plants. It had other perks too like A/C and a really great breakfast! If I could stay in this hotel for the rest of my life, I would be one happy lady. It was architecturally interesting, beautifully decorated, quiet and in a great location. 

Breakfast included a ton of options--meats, cheeses, pastries, yogurt, fruit, juices, coffee and more! While on a food tour (more on that in another post), we also realized that some Catalan favorites were included in the breakfast each day. 

Walking around Barcelona and taking its metro was great! We walked around La Rambla and had a fresh fruit juice. Check! We walked through some parks and on the boardwalk. We walked by two of Gaudi's other buildings, but sadly did not visit inside (next time!) Pictured above is their Arc de Triomphe (Paris isn't the only place that has one!)

I love finding fun graffiti in Europe. I kept my eyes peeled for the "one" I wanted to remember and came across this on a walk before our paella class (more on that in another post). The nostalgia of this graffiti won me over and reminded me about how my sisters and I BEGGED our parents for Tamagochis when they came out. I even remember shopping at Toys 'R Us to pick them out when my parents finally caved. 

The main draw to visit Barcelona was to see Gaudi's work. I was first introduced to it when watching a travel show (probably Rick Steves). During my research phase for this trip, I read a ton of posts and saw a bunch of pictures. We visit Park Guell as our first introduction to Gaudi. The Park was not as easy or convenient to get to as we originally thought. We easily hopped on the metro near our hotel, but once you get off the train you still have to walk a good distance (partially uphill) to arrive at the park. We had pre-purchased our tickets for the 5-5:30pm window and were so worried that when we arrived about 5 minutes late that we would have to buy all new tickets. Not to worry, though. They scanned our tickets and there were no issues. 

I will have to admit that I was slightly let down about Park Guell. The main viewing area with the mosaic benches was crowded with people lounging on the benches. The lounging is great and what parks are intended for, but it made it very difficult to get some decent pictures. Plus, the pictures I had seen in my research must have been super edited with colorful filters because the in-person perspective was not as dramatic. Do yourself a favor and don't look at all the pictures and just enjoy it in person!

Andorra

On our most recent trip we were able to cross off two new countries--Spain and Andorra. We flew into Barcelona, rented a car and headed up to Andorra for one night. It was not the most convenient nor affordable of side trips, but it was a must to visit the small country that is nestled between Spain and France. 

Andorra is known for shopping (duty free, of course) and nature. We spent our first evening walking down the main shopping street. If you love perfume, this is the place to come. I think every other store was a perfume shop (a bit hyperbolic, but there were soooo many). 

Our hotel room had the best view! There was a rushing stream right outside. It was especially perfect for white noise at night. 

I keep forgetting to look it up, but this statue is based on Salvador Dali's work and it was in the main shopping area of Andorra la Vella. 

One benefit of our hotel was their spa! Andorra has a lot of spas (much like Germany) and we wanted to spend a least a bit of time there. Our reservation included time in the hot tub which we did not realize until check-in. We were fully prepared to pay extra for it, so that was a very pleasant surprise! 

The other nice thing about our hotel was the in-house restaurant. We chose a half-board reservation which means our time included dinner. We enjoyed our first taste of Cava at dinner. Cava is a sparkling wine, similar to Champagne, that is unique to this region. It is very popular in Barcelona, as well.

Breakfast was included and it was so darn good! They had an amazing selection including a full piece of dripping honeycomb. We were definitely fueled up for a little hike and journey back to Barcelona. 

As I said earlier, Andorra is known for nature. There are tons of hiking trails, skiing opportunities (in the season) and outdoor activities of all kinds. Throughout the country are wooden creatures called Tamarros. They are protectors of nature and the forests. There was one close to our hotel that we set out to find. It was a dreary morning, but we started on our trek, nonetheless. However, after thunder, lightening and hail started coming down and no Tamarro Andy in site, we turned around. We still do not know exactly how much farther we had to go to find him, but maybe we will return one day.