Hi lovelies,
How are you all keeping? I hope you have all had a wonderful week. The long weekend is finally here, and I bet I’m not the only one who was living for it. Like many of us, work life is currently keeping me on my toes, so I often find myself dreaming about my next get-away.
One of my short term goals is to travel more, and see more of the many wonders of the world around me.
So far this year, I have been lucky enough to visit both Spain and Scotland.
In January, I took a 4 day trip to Barcelona to visit a friend of mine. This trip completely exceeded my expectations and highlighted my love for city living.
In today’s blog post I will be breaking down all the best bits of this trip.
DAY ONE
We flew from Dublin Airport at 6:15, and arrived in Barcelona just before 9am, Spanish time.
Upon arrival we went to a local cafe called, La Despensa de Eva.
Here we caught up with one another over coffees and cake! We absolutely adored this place – the customer service and overall presentation of their coffees and treats was impeccable.
Later, we decided to walk around the city, to familiarise ourselves with the area and its amenities.
I quickly fell in love with the architecture as we walked through the streets. The high rise buildings, aesthetics and balconies – I admired it all.
Even their Penneys (Primark) looks high end from the outside of the building!
Soon after our strolls through the city streets, the lack of sleep from the night before finally hit, causing our day of adventure to turn into an evening of catching up on sleep and watching cartoons in our hotel room.
DAY TWO
After a very much needed relaxing evening, we woke up far more energised – ready to take on Barcelona day 2.
First on the itinerary was brunch! We visited a restaurant called Belliny, where we ate our full. The menu here was filled with endless breakfast, brunch and lunch options such as full English, various benedicts, pancakes and even açai! After a lot of debate I ended up ordering their eggs benedict riojanos and fresh seasonal fruit.
After our brunch, we wandered around Barcelona city once again.
On our strolls we came across the Sagrada Familia. We opted not to book tickets to enter the grounds, however from the outside we were able to take in the beauty of the building.
Right outside the church you also find stands of local artists selling their work, here you can purchase beautiful paintings and drawings of the Sagrada Familia, amongst other things.
Later in the day, we visited the St Joseph La Boqueria, which is a public market in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is renowned for being one of the most picturesque markets. Inside you will find most, if not all food types, from pick n’ mix stands to fish and meat stands and everything else in between.
Next door to the marketplace, you will find a DUNKIN’ Donuts and Starbucks, where we treated ourselves to coffees and doughnuts after our wander through the market. From there, we decided to call it a day, order a take away and take endless photos in our matching pyjamas.
DAY THREE
Having had another quiet night we woke up ready for another day of exploration. We started our last full day in Barcelona, dining in La Despensa de Eva, where I got a toasted chicken sandwich and chai latte.
Later in the afternoon, we decided to visit Park Güell. Tickets were €10.00 each, and available to purchase from the entrance, using a QR code.
Upon entry into the park we were met with a lovely uphill walk way, which led us to the most scenic view of the city.
Fun fact; some scenes of Disney’s, Cheetah Girls 2 was filmed in Park Güell. My inner child was fan girling, just by being here.
I got to experience the public transport in Spain for the very first time this day, and I was pleasantly surprised by how affordable, consistent and reliable it was, in comparison to good ol’ Ireland.
Later that evening, we decided to have something a little more Spanish for dinner.We went for tapas near La Plaça de Catalunya. The garlic prawns I ordered were to die for.
For the rest of the evening we strolled around Barcelona city, taking in a few more sights we’d missed the days before.
We stopped for coffees in starbucks after this, and then later that night we decided to order a Mc Donalds. I finally got to try their patatas deluxe and white chocolate sundae that are exclusive to the Spanish menu… and might I say, we are definitely missing out here in Ireland.
I absolutely enjoyed visiting Barcelona – I would even go as far as saying that it is one of my favourite cities to date. Definitely one for the bucket list, if you haven’t yet visited it.
Love, Nyasha x
Nyasha's Nook 