After our sojourn in Lisbon was over, we headed to Barcelona, the city of Tapas! Okay kidding, Barcelona is so much more than that, but for me food is one of the most important factors that make my holiday enjoyable so this was probably the focus of my trip.
On our first day we just did some shopping so I didn't take any photos, but on our second day we decided to go for a Sandemann Tour. If you're not familiar, Sandemann Tours are free tours operating around most of the big cities in Europe. The tour guides work on a tips only basis so you can give (or not give) the amount of tips you thought they deserved. All the tours I've gone for have been really good, the tour guides are always super knowledgeable and enthusiastic and they're really friendly, so I would highly recommend going for one! It's always nice I think, to do these tours on the first few days so you kind of get a good feel of the city and it's history and culture before you go around and do more in depth exploring on your own.
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| Our guide from Sandemann Tours. |
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| A doodle Picasso made on a napkin being turned into a mural in the centre of Barcelona! |
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| Bullet marks |
Catalonian history is fascinating, but also tragic and full of bloodshed. Here was a wall in which Franco would line up his political enemies and execute them firing squad style. The marks you see on the wall are where the bullets hit the wall.
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| Gaudi's first commission |
In Placa Reial you can see one of Gaudi's first and last commissions for city council, which were these cool looking lamp posts. Unfortunately, he kind of got screwed over by the city council when they didn't have enough money to pay him for his work, in which he proceeded to throw a fit and refuse to ever work for them again. (All his later work were private commissions)
LOVE the street art that's on display in Barcelona. They're clever, political and visually stunning, all things that I LOVE in art (street or not). These were just some that I snapped when our Sandemann Tour paused for a while, but there were others that were even cooler which I didn't have time to snap.
After our tour was over we headed to La Colmena, one of the oldest cake shops in Barcelona. They have a huge selection of pastries and sweets on display, but I got this Corneta de Trufa which honestly tasted just like a Cornetto lol. They specialise in bon-bons, although I didn't get any myself.
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| Flower display for the Primavera festival |
Afterwards we headed to another famous bakery, Escriba! Escriba was opened by the Catalan pastry chef and chocolate sculptor Antoni Escriba, who was known for his avant garde creations, most notably his 3D recreations of Picasso and Dali's works. The presentation was gorgeous, and the taste was pretty good too. Nothing stunning, but still pretty yummy. Probably would have ordered a bit more if we hadn't been so full.
Afterwards, we headed to Segons Mercat for dinner. We decided to come to this place because it was recommended on Ladyironchef's website, and on the way there we stopped to take a bunch of goofy photos haha.
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| Duck and Foie Croquettes |
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| Calamari |
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| Baby eels with a fried egg |
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| Ox cheek gnocchi |
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| Razor clams |
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| Prawns with garlic |
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| Seafood paella |
It wasn't the best tapas I've ever had, but I would recommend people to try this place anyway just because they have some pretty cool items on the menu, like the duck and foie croquettes and the baby eels that I hadn't really seen elsewhere in Barcelona. My recommendations: the croquettes and the baby eels!
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| Magic fountains! |
The next day we headed to the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (Museum of Catalan Art), but we decided to not go in the museum and just explore the parks and the Olympic Stadium. Spammed flower photos because I'm obsessed.
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| Welcome to Dorne! |
It was lunch time, and we were peckish, so we headed to Carrer Blai for some cheap tapas and on the way I snapped a picture of this gorgeous piece of art.
For dinner, we headed to Barceloneta to try out La Bombeta which came highly recommended by our Airbnb host, but we were distracted by the festivities going on. I think the festival is called the Festa dels cors de la Barceloneta, but whatever it's called, it was SO fun. Atmosphere was amazing, the samba bands were playing Eurhythmics' Sweet Dreams, Michael Jackson songs, etc etc and everyone was just partying along to the songs.
FYI if you do go to La Bombeta (which I highly recommend), try the Bombas! They're basically potato balls with some kind of spicy mayo sauce, but they are just so fxcking yummy I can't even omg. Everything else on the menu (minus the calamari) was super yummy as well.
No visit to Barcelona is complete without a visit to the Sagrada Familia. IMO probably the pinnacle of Gaudi's works; the photos don't do any justice to how beautiful it is in person.
Lastly, we headed to Parc Guell, another one of Gaudi's commissions. It was pretty as well, but I personally prefer the Sagrada Familia (though comparing a park to a cathedral is kind of comparing apples and oranges but oh well)
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| "Insert cheesy Nelly Furtado lyrics here" |
End of photospam for Lisbon x Barcelona! In other news, am experiencing serious wanderlust right now looking through all these photos. Hopefully I'll get to go on another trip soon sigh.
Afterwards, we headed to Segons Mercat for dinner. We decided to come to this place because it was recommended on Ladyironchef's website, and on the way there we stopped to take a bunch of goofy photos haha.
