Beautiful...but it does make indoors more inviting than out.
So we found a cheap flight and left after work on Thursday night. We arrived in Barcelona at about 10 in the evening, found the apartment where we were staying, dropped off our stuff and had a late dinner of tapas and paella just to feel extra Spanish. The next day, we were ready for a full day of exploring! I went for a quick run (and saw rowers on the water!), then we started wandering.
The street where we stayed.
Martin with Plaza Reial, right by our apartment and off of Las Ramblas, which is the main tourist/shopping street.
First stop: The market off of Las Ramblas! I completely love markets, so Martin and I went there for breakfast and exploring.
The market from the outside. Not pictured: me jumping up and down.
The market had all kinds of stalls, including traditional Spanish butchers/meat curers...
...stalls selling amazing, beautiful fruit that is definitely not available in Switzerland right now!...
...a few less appetizing stalls that look a bit more like science class than dinnertime...
...more produce...
...chocolate...
...and candy! I love markets.
After the market, we explored the neighborhood on one side of Las Ramblas called El Raval. It's the more hiptster/student area, with a university, thrift stores, and lots of little coffee shops.
At a garden in the area.
Artist/student/hipster quarters always have the best street art.
We made our way down towards the sea (that's the Mediterranean sea, which I will never get used to! It's just such a storied place that I never really think I can be this close to it!), where we explored the harbor/port area for a little while. No rowers this time, sadly.
Martin near the port.
One of the official buildings, maybe customs. More importantly: palm trees! I'm home! I didn't realize I missed them until I saw them again, I almost tried to take one home. Maybe I can get an office plant.
Fancy yachts in the harbor. It's always fun to pick which one we'd have if we ever got the chance. And decided that was what we wanted to spend money on...well it's still fun.
After the port, we worked our way back up through El Barri Gotic on the other side of Las Ramblas. This is an older neighborhood, still artistic but more on the wine bars and restaurants side of that coin. This area has been settled since Roman times, which was super cool! We also got lunch at an amazing cafe (at the Spanish-appropriate time of 2 or 3 in the afternoon); one great thing about Spain is that almost every restaurant has a Menu del Dia (please forgive the lack of appropriate accents), which is a lunch special with about three options each for a starter, entree, and dessert. It comes with all three courses, drinks, and bread/olives for 5-15 Euro, depending on how fancy you're feeling. It's great!
Martin with a remnant of a Roman aqueduct that they just built into a new wall. Cool!
This is the Gothic cathedral of Barcelona. We'll see another cathedral later that's much less traditional, but this one is beautiful.
Across the plaza is an art school with some exterior decoration done by Picasso, who live here! Apparently this particular decoration was super-unpopular at the time it was made.
Inside the cathedral.
Writing postcards outside the church.
After seeing that neighborhood and the cathedral, we walked some of the shopping streets (I was on a hunt for a particular pair of shoes, but I really want to come back here someday with a bunch of girls--the shopping is amazing!), stopped in at our apartment, and went out for a tapas dinner in an awesome old restaurant. We stopped in a few bars on the way home, and made it to bed at a fairly reasonable hour considering dinner was after 10pm.
Next up: Saturday's adventures!
Love Katie
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