We had heard so many great things about Barcelona, so we decided in January to make it our big trip of the summer.
We didn't spend nearly enough time in this fun city (due to work schedules), but with the sun rising around 04:45 and setting at 22:15 in mid July, there was plenty of daylight hours for sightseeing...and heat to go along with it.
We boarded a plane in Nuremberg, Germany, connected in Munich, and our two hour plane ride to Barcelona began!
It was our first flight with Lufthansa, and won't be our last! Flying with Lufthansa was stupid simple, and I would fly with them in a heartbeat again. *I will make a Lufthansa post soon.
The flight was beautiful, or at least the views from the plane. Seeing Germany, the French Alps, the south of France, and shores of the Balearic/Mediterranean sea via bird's eye view was amazing!
Yes, I am that weirdo that MUST have a window seat. I've missed the beverage cart once because of being fixated on my views.
We landed in Barcelona, took the Aerobus to Pl.Espanya station, and from there, we hopped the Drassanes line to our hotel off of La Rambla (or Las ramblas, for my Catalan friends). We waste zero time becoming acquainted with public transportation.
Our hotel apartment was in a VERY convenient location (I always map out hotel location before booking). We were right next to the Drassanes station near the Christopher Columbus Monument. We didn't have to tote luggage far. And, the best part? We were right on La Rambla!
After checking in at the hotel apartment, it was about 17:00 and we were hungry. We began to wander La Rambla to see what eats were available. Restaurants line the street, but I must note that La Rambla is unlike any other "main strip" that we have encountered in Europe: There is one very wide pedestrian walkway that runs down the center, and one lane on each side of the walkway for to and fro car traffic. The shops and restaurants all sit on the outside of the traffic streets, so waiters jaywalk back and forth to cater to restaurant diners sitting dining patio style on La Rambla. It was odd at first!
We were overwhelmed with choices and a dude named Adrian (with two different colored eyes) approached us while I was busy mapping restaurants on my phone. He gave us a paper menu and explained that his restaurant was off the main street, but not far. We knew coming to Barcelona that many of our choices would be seafood dinners, and we're not seafood folks, but we decided to take the guy's offer and head there. We had nothing to lose. We always eat local cuisine, at least once, while visiting any city. I encourage anyone to do the same!
We ended up eating a very filling meal at Adrian's restaurant: Güell Tapas. In Barcelona, you'll notice that nearly everything is named for a historical person, or famous thing. Güell Tapas was no exception, and sits across the street from part of it's name sake: Palau Güell, aka Guell Palace.
Dinner was great, and not cheap. We didn't expect it to be, based on the menu we were given off the street, but it was authentic, and cooked fresh. You can even watch your cook prepare your meal here if you wanted to. Even though we didn't order seafood, we did order Paella, chicken (pollo) style. Not bad!
Our dinner for six was about $110 USD. Including sangria :-)
After eating a ton of food, we walked down La Rambla to get an idea of where everything was. My favorite sight of the night was a souvenir shop with my name. So random!
We were super excited to officially start sightseeing, but it would have to wait until the following morning.
After a long day of airports and planes, we tucked ourselves in and settled down for the rowdiest night we'd ever experience in our travels thus far!
We didn't spend nearly enough time in this fun city (due to work schedules), but with the sun rising around 04:45 and setting at 22:15 in mid July, there was plenty of daylight hours for sightseeing...and heat to go along with it.
We boarded a plane in Nuremberg, Germany, connected in Munich, and our two hour plane ride to Barcelona began!
It was our first flight with Lufthansa, and won't be our last! Flying with Lufthansa was stupid simple, and I would fly with them in a heartbeat again. *I will make a Lufthansa post soon.
The flight was beautiful, or at least the views from the plane. Seeing Germany, the French Alps, the south of France, and shores of the Balearic/Mediterranean sea via bird's eye view was amazing!
Yes, I am that weirdo that MUST have a window seat. I've missed the beverage cart once because of being fixated on my views.
 |
| Lac de Castillion, near Nice, France (South of France) |
 |
| The city of Barcelona, via dirty airplane window! |
We landed in Barcelona, took the Aerobus to Pl.Espanya station, and from there, we hopped the Drassanes line to our hotel off of La Rambla (or Las ramblas, for my Catalan friends). We waste zero time becoming acquainted with public transportation.
Our hotel apartment was in a VERY convenient location (I always map out hotel location before booking). We were right next to the Drassanes station near the Christopher Columbus Monument. We didn't have to tote luggage far. And, the best part? We were right on La Rambla!
After checking in at the hotel apartment, it was about 17:00 and we were hungry. We began to wander La Rambla to see what eats were available. Restaurants line the street, but I must note that La Rambla is unlike any other "main strip" that we have encountered in Europe: There is one very wide pedestrian walkway that runs down the center, and one lane on each side of the walkway for to and fro car traffic. The shops and restaurants all sit on the outside of the traffic streets, so waiters jaywalk back and forth to cater to restaurant diners sitting dining patio style on La Rambla. It was odd at first!
 |
| An adorable Vietnamese restaurant we stumbled upon. |
We were overwhelmed with choices and a dude named Adrian (with two different colored eyes) approached us while I was busy mapping restaurants on my phone. He gave us a paper menu and explained that his restaurant was off the main street, but not far. We knew coming to Barcelona that many of our choices would be seafood dinners, and we're not seafood folks, but we decided to take the guy's offer and head there. We had nothing to lose. We always eat local cuisine, at least once, while visiting any city. I encourage anyone to do the same!
We ended up eating a very filling meal at Adrian's restaurant: Güell Tapas. In Barcelona, you'll notice that nearly everything is named for a historical person, or famous thing. Güell Tapas was no exception, and sits across the street from part of it's name sake: Palau Güell, aka Guell Palace.
 |
| My first sangria in Spain! |
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| Garlic butter mushrooms. Yum! |
 |
| Our chicken (pollo) paella. Pretty good, but we had fun picking bones out of our teeth! |
Dinner was great, and not cheap. We didn't expect it to be, based on the menu we were given off the street, but it was authentic, and cooked fresh. You can even watch your cook prepare your meal here if you wanted to. Even though we didn't order seafood, we did order Paella, chicken (pollo) style. Not bad!
Our dinner for six was about $110 USD. Including sangria :-)
After eating a ton of food, we walked down La Rambla to get an idea of where everything was. My favorite sight of the night was a souvenir shop with my name. So random!
We were super excited to officially start sightseeing, but it would have to wait until the following morning.
After a long day of airports and planes, we tucked ourselves in and settled down for the rowdiest night we'd ever experience in our travels thus far!
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