4 must visit places in Barcelona (and 101 more as a bonus)
I’ve dreamed of Barcelona, probably, for the last five years. Hell knows why, actually. Perhaps it’s the fault of the Ukrainian travel TV show “Heads and tails. Shopping”. Once they showed a little slice of delicious Barcelona, but it was enough to fall in love with it and put it on my TOP destinations list. In any case, the city not only met but exceeded all expectations.
Initially, I was planning to visit my boyfriend in San Francisco, that became my dream relatively recently, but firmly attached to the top of a wishlist. Unfortunately, no-visa regime works only within Europe, but that’s a whole different story. Whatever. We ended up meeting in Barcelona and that was awesome.
No matter, how much I dreamt of Barcelona, it turned out I knew about it quite a bit. Sagrada Familia, houses of Gaudi, street food market. In fact, that was it! But it turned out to be a harder task to draw up a complete 5 days tour based on this only. After millions of photos from Barcelona posted by my friends, I was sure Facebook people would provide all the best must-visit places and the route will be worked out easily. However, random pieces of recommendations didn’t want to be put together in a complete plan. That’s why w̶e̶ my boyfriend took care of most of the planning part. I will try to describe each day and good places we visited, maybe it will come in handy for someone.
Day 1
We came to Barca with a couple of hours difference. In general, there are direct buses and metro trains from the airport straight to the city center. But we were very tired and took a taxi. It bases right next to the entrance. Moreover, an airport employee will meet you and bring to the right car based on the number of passengers you have. Only one taxi service operates in Barcelona, so you actually have no choice. But you will get to pay the same price as locals and may not be afraid of an extra “tourist fee”.
Uber doesn’t work here, a local professional community of taxi drivers has been protesting for a long time against a weird service with a weird fare calculator. But eventually, they’ve created their own MyTaxi app that Adam prudently downloaded in advance. You can find a car either via it or just hitchhike on the street — the price will be the same. Available cars have green lights on the sign, occupied ones have numbers which purpose left unknown to us. A ride from the airport to the city center would cost you around EUR 20–30. Boarding starts from EUR 2.5.
We stayed in a wonderful hostel Case de Gracia. This is almost the only one thing that was found by me, not Adam. I liked its high rate on the hostel service but the final choice fell on it because of the room with a divine terrace and a view of the city. It was still more than 3 weeks before our vacation, but I already was picturing our breakfasts on it. Everything turned out to be just like I imagined, only better.
After we came from the airport, unpacked, rested a bit and kissed a lot, it was already an evening, so our bodies were demanding tapas. It should be noted in advance that tapas in Barcelona is not only a small sandwich made of a dry bread (as the classics would say a crouton) with a filling on top. Tapas is a snack. That’s it. Basta. This could be croquettes (deep-fried pieces of anything), and bruschettas, and hummus, and sausages, and jamon, and mushrooms, and a cheese plate. Basically, all this could be eaten with bands. Most of the delicious places in Barcelona are tapas bars. And if you found tapas, be sure cava is somewhere nearby.
For those who heard something about cava, but was too shy to ask what the hell it is, I will try to put it simply: cava is a dry Spanish sparkling wine. Something like prosecco but even simpler.
For those who depend on semisweet wines just like me, attention: good luck in Barcelona. It seems to me that a Campari rule applies to cava: “You have to try at least 5 times before you like it.” Keep in mind that the sweetest Spanish cava will remind you… well, maximum a semi-dry wine. Just accept your fate and ask for the sweetest of cava they have in a restaurant.
Anyway, we happened to find a great snack in a nice little place Perikete. It’s a small cozy tapas bar, where the jamon legs hang down right from the ceiling. Sometimes directly on the roof of a WC cubicle. The tables are nailed to the doors (that are windows at the same time) of the cafe. It’s very atmospheric and tasty there but could be difficult to get a table in the evenings. We ordered a bunch of different things and didn’t regret it.
We love dancing. And we love retro music. No wonder that on the first day went to the jazz club Harlem, where they played the music of 60s-70s. By the way, we don’t recommend to drink cava there to anyone: even to Adam who is fond of dry wines, it seemed super sour.
It is worth noting that Adam booked all the tickets in advance, so we did not stand in any line where there was an opportunity to purchase stuff online. All the horror stories about a 4-hour line in Sagrada Familia or Park Güell could be dispelled by a couple of clicks. Even the ticket for this evening we booked in advance, even though we paid for it on site.
The evening was perfect. Nighty Gothic Quarter (the old part of the city) is soaked through with the atmosphere of the South. Something Eastern and European blended in the air and turned a night Barcelona into a lazy summer town.
On the way home, we needed to visit an ATM. A good thing here is that ATMs are multilingual, you can find ones with Russian and English translations. But the commission for withdrawing cash is from EUR 2 to 5. It’s not much better with the currency exchange — there is no holy trembling for American dollars, as there is in Ukraine, for example. So the rates are pretty high. Adam hoped for the omnipotence of American dollars, which came him in hands in Ukraine, so he withdrew cash from the card before the arrival. But in Barcelona, your dollars melt like a scoop of gelato on the hot beach. Therefore, change as much as possible currency in euros in your country or keep everything on the card — it’s safer anyway.
Day 2
Breakfast on the terrace is priceless. Especially with your beloved one. And with a good coffee, that isn’t such a common thing in Barcelona. Especially in a tourist area. But we lived in a pretty hip neighborhood, so it was easier for us to get it.
We decided to explore Barcelona gradually increasing the radius of the distance from the hostel. The first point was the House of dragons of Gaudi, aka Casa Batllo. Must visit place # 1 in Barcelona. In total, we passed it by more than 30 times in the afternoon, in the evening and at night. And each time we could not stop staring. Okay, me, a young inexperienced tourist, but even Adam, who traveled through half of Europe, genuinely admired the glimmering of the facade in the sun and its mystical radiance at night. You can look at these twisty fancy lines for years, but it’s better to get inside — the interior is not worse than the exterior.
We bought tickets online and visited the house relatively early, until noon. This way we managed to avoid long lines and three dozens dropped jaws in addition to our own. At the entrance, everyone is given an audio guide — headphones for listening to the tour (by the way, relatively not boring one). But what is more important they give you a video player with the technology of augmented reality. You choose the room number in which you are, the guide tells her story, and when you point at the interior element, the player shows you how the room used to look. It lets you understand better how routine and life in the house was settled and what do sophisticated patterns and forms of interior mean.
The interior rocks. It resembles a dragon that lives in the sea. Don’t be surprised, it’s Gaudi. The rails and steps are reminiscent of dragon’s spines. Windows — of bubbles of water, sprays of the sea. The walls — of bones. Spooky, beautiful, weird, fabulous.
There are practically no right angles in the rooms. It’s plenty of twists (bends, waves). Hard to imagine how Gaudi should have screwed brains of the builders, precisely and neatly putting the tile together at the intersections to get a perfectly tiled layer of wall.
It might seem that Gaudi was a crazy artist, impulsively sprinkling with his talent and architectural brushstrokes. But he was, in fact, a super cool product designer and architect. For example, his railing (a boring common railing for the sake of God) is so smooth and has such form that you just want … to pet it! Some people were standing there for a while and just stroking a smooth pleasant to touch RAI-LING!
Perfect ergonomics applies even in such small things as a door handle. It resembles a fishtail and also feels like you don’t want to let it go.
I think if any piece of furniture would manage to lead an Instagram, it would be Gaudi’s chandeliers.
The genius of Gaudi as an architect could be seen in the arched wall construction, which is considered one of the most stable. On constructing this shape of walls he was inspired by the whale’s spine. Again, the sea theme is obvious.
A cherry on the cake top — a roof with a panoramic view. Don’t be surprised by pots that resemble either berries, or beads, and by crosses in the shape of garlic heads. A church, religion, God in the works of Gaudi takes on a human form.
In Barcelona, you will fall in love with the tile. All of its varieties.
They pay attention to it even on the main street of the city, where it’s added by visual illusions. If you look at it from the side, it seems that the street is hilly due to the 3D effect. If you look at it from the distance, the lines on the tile seem straight. You look under your feet, they’re wavy.
Turning on the right from the main street, we accidentally wandered into the street food market La Boqueria. Must visit place # 2. No comments ahead.
We thought that prices at the market would be cheaper further from the central pass, but no: it’s equally expensive and delicious :)
Eventually, we sat down in the cozy street cafe Bar Central and had the tastiest prawns ever. And the biggest ones that we ever had to try. We also got a couple of oysters (they were excellent) and escargot (they were usual).
Be aware that in Barcelona at the entrance to the restaurant you may be asked: “Drink or food?”. And if you say that you want to drop into for a couple of cocktails or beers, you will be politely banished with the words “This table (place) is for food only”. The most stupid and unreasonable business model that goes against the logic of making money of regular restaurants.
A terrible disappointment was that on Sundays the market doesn’t operate. Plan your weekend, taking into consideration “European” schedule.
Day 3
We decided to go to the Montjuic mountain. The 1992 Olympic Games were held there, and due to them, the whole world rediscovered Barcelona in a new way. There are many things there, including the fortress with the same name, which has a beautiful view of the port and the city.
The main reason we went to Montjuic and preferred it to Tibidabo is the cable car. You can use it to get down directly to the beach.
You have to go down to the cable car too. The closer to the beach, the more Southern the views become.
A line to take a ride on the cable car — the only line we had to wait on for 40 minutes. Also, we had to pay EUR 11 per person for this pleasure. Quite expensive. Is it worth it? It’s up to each person. But we liked it. It was a real “grown-up” cable car with a splendid view of the sea and the city.
On the way to the beach, we wandered into the nice burger cafe Makamaka, which, obviously, was very popular among locals and tourists. If you are looking for a place to eat near the beach, you can safely go there. Delicious. Although one burger almost burned my tongue, but with my sensitivity to spice it’s normal. As a bonus, you can leave a spoon there as a souvenir about yourself. We left ours 🙂
It was windy on the beach. People there were wearing both sport and bathing suits.
At first, I was very upset because I wanted to bath and am afraid of cold water.
And at first, it seemed cold.
It’s good that I took a risk and dove into the sea. The water was perfect. Because of big waves, I didn’t swim much, but I was happy.
From the beach, we took a bicycle ricksha to the hostel. Unreasonably expensive, but again — full pants of happiness is guaranteed. Absolutely different experience of checking out the city. We shot a lot of funny videos, but you will not be interested in them.
In the evening we went to see the Magic fountains. Don’t think of them as of ordinary sparkling beautiful trifles with music. No. This is a spectacle of an unearthly beauty that can’t be described in words or transmitted through a photo or video. For the first time, I could hardly breath caught by a delight. Must visit place # 3.
Then we went to Pakta — the restaurant of Peru-Japanese cuisine. We chose this place only because we were curious to visit a restaurant that got a Michelin star. There I almost burned my mouth for the second time, but it’s not important at that point. I got a priceless gastronomic experience, although I expected something different.
When you go to such place, you think you will just have an incredibly delicious meal as never before in your life. But that’s not what this is all about. In such restaurant, you will try a combination of products that would never come to your mind. You will feel a combination of tastes that you could never even imagine. You will be surprised, for real. You will put a piece of a dish in your mouth and still won’t get what it was: a fruit, meat, fish or cheese.
We ordered a tasting set of drinks and dishes. Portions were super tiny. But there were 23 of them. We stayed there for 3.5 hours. Awful. But we don’t regret even for a bit.
Below there are photos of some dishes. One of them didn’t live up to the photo in its full form)
Pakta is a place without any particular dress code requests. The first thing I saw after coming in was a dude wearing shorts. A cutie. Although most of the visitors were dressed more formally. So were we 🙂
The interior was also simple. With allusion to Peruvian looms.
Day 4
It has been drizzling every day since we came to Barcelona. A common light rain of a seaside town. So it was on that day. We decided that the rain wouldn’t interfere with our bike ride. How. Wrong. Were. We.
Those three hours for which we rent a bicycle was the only time it was showering so heavily while we were in Barcelona. It is worth saying that Barcelona is a perfect place for cycling. Just perfect. We took a ride from the center to the port, went along the shore, checked out some beautiful place that turned out to be the Citadel Park. And then got to the Arc de Triomphe. It’s a pity that all this happened during the rain and we didn’t devote more attention to that place. But even in the rain, everything looked like in a fairy tale. Highly recommended. There are no photos because I was holding a steering wheel with one hand and the cellophane from the raincoat that stick to my face with another hand.
In the evening we went to the roof of Casa Mila. The building was right next to our hostel and it was the first “wow” for me in the new city. While passing it by on the first day, I started compulsively taking pictures of it. Then Adam said: “If I remember it clearly, the jazz concert I booked the tickets for will take place on the roof of this building.” In the evening, Casa Mila was even more “wow” than during the day.
Everything is very chill. You go to the concert, get a glass of cava. If you want, you walk on the roof, take pictures. If not — you can stay at the table or sit on the steps, chat with your friends. Or hang out near the stage with the musicians. We were dancing.
Day 5
We saved the juicy part to the end of the trip. Must visit place # 4. But in fact, # 1. Sagrada Familia. All photos are nothing. Nothing compared to what IT really is. We booked a guided tour so that our walk would not be a senseless roaming in the architectural masterpiece. Guided tour, by the way, was short and not boring. You get a radio to be able to listen to a guide even from a distance. So we could stare at all the beauty as long as we wanted. In total, we spent about 3 hours in the cathedral. And we had things to look at.
In general, this architectural titan has been built for almost 120 years. And the construction is still going on, so all the photos are mired in ugly cranes.
Experts plan to finish the construction by 2026. Locals wish them good luck: no one believes it’s possible to finish everything so soon. According to Gaudi’s idea, the cathedral should have three facades. In the photo below is the old, the very first. The most beautiful, as for me. One can see the scenes of Jesus’ birth.
Below is a newer one. Gaudi trusted its decoration to modern artists of his time. Well, you can tell. It depicts the last days and the crucifixion of the Christ.
There will also be a third facade on which the life of Jesus on Earth will be depicted. The facade will be facing the blooming garden. In the best case, in 15 years.
But the best part of the cathedral is inside. Here it is.
No, this is not a highlight. This is a natural color that passes through the stained glass windows. I don’t know how Gaudi managed to design such a clear spectrum. We could not take our eyes off the richest decoration of the cathedral — the light. Light makes all these rough, toothy forms of the interior softer, more pleasant. It attracts attention so much that you don’t immediately understand: the interior is not really full of gold and jewels. It is very ascetic in terms of form and color. But the light makes it beautiful.
Gaudi noticed that on the eastern side of the cathedral sunlight is very bright, hot. And from the west, at sunset, it’s on the contrary, very cold, cooled down.
Therefore, the windows from the east are decorated with stained-glass windows of cool colors, which would have softened the burning light.
And from the west windows are made of warm colored glass, which would make the light more saturated.
There are a lot of tricks like this in the cathedral. And they all come together in a single sensation when they turn on Ave Maria in the church. I shot a short video in a pathetic attempt to capture that sublime sense of delight. But for most of the composition, I just stood, embracing Adam and FEELING. It seems that in such atmosphere you can really feel the God.
If you perceive the spiritual experience in a different way, be sure to check out fruits on the domes of the cathedral. Yes, these are bananas and grapes.
In gratitude to the God, the Catalans are accustomed to present fruits, gifts of a good harvest. So without long hesitation Gaudi decided to literally bring them to the God, closer to the sky, on the roof so he wouldn’t have to reach too far for it.
On the same day, we went to the Park Güell. Everything is beautiful. But after the Sagrada Familia “just beautiful.” We took a good walk, a couple of photos and then Adam said: “Okay, enough of Gaudi”.
On this day we visited a couple of Basque restaurants. All of them are similar: at the entrance, you are greeted by a plentiful tapas bar and a crowded hall. A little further there are comfortable free tables of the restaurant. At the tapas bar, there is a crowd of people and tapas menu only.
In the restaurant hall, you will have a restaurant menu with the respective prices. It’s equally delicious in both halls.
Since the food market was closed on Sunday, we went to one of these restaurants near La Boqueria — Irati. Farmer’s vegetables, seasonal groceries, “family” cuisine and atmosphere.
Do not miss the opportunity to taste gelato. It’s worth it.
Day 5
It was a Day of Catalonia. Therefore don’t plan anything serious and urgent for this day: the streets will be closed, no one and nothing will work except the cafes.
I won’t say anything else about this. But it was one of the happiest days of my life.
Lifehack: if you are invited to take a yacht trip on the Mediterranean, don’t refuse in any case! And anyway, say “Yes” to adventures in your life ❤
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