Jacq and the City

Barcelona Calling – A Travel Diary! ♡

After nearly two weeks of disappearing from the face of Earth I am finally back with my Barcelona Travel Diary! ♡ I am now back to my home in Hong Kong will be staying here for Summer until the start of September. I can’t wait to share Hong Kong with all of you! Meanwhile, my trip to Barcelona was amazing 🙂 The weather was BEAUTIFUL and I really enjoyed all the sight-seeing, the food and the SHOPPING! I was there for four days and we had the most amazing time 😀 
Day One ♡

We arrived Barcelona on a Sunday afternoon after flying from London to Barcelona and it didn’t take us very long to get from the airport to our hotel, which was right on Passeig de Gracia 😀 To our surprise, the streets were pretty crowded and there were a lot of tourists despite it being a Sunday and most shops being closed. 
Passeig de Gracia
One of the attractions we wanted to visit – Casa Batlló – was only about 5 to 10 minutes walk from our hotel so we went there first thing after we finished lunch. This is one of the most famous buildings designed by Gaudí in Barcelona and although we did not go inside we spent some time admiring the architecture and ultimately snapping some photos with this unique looking masterpiece 🙂
Casa Batlló
Next, we took a taxi to la Sagrada Família, which was on the top of our list for sight-seeing. We pre-booked tickets beforehand to avoid the queue outside and was able to get into the church really quickly 🙂
La Sagrada Família is such a beautiful church in the most unique way and it is still under construction after 100 years. I was so in awe of Gaudi’s work and we spent all afternoon visiting the church and its museum where you get to see the history of the construction progress and where Gaudi’s ideas originate from. 
After visiting La Sagrada Família, we went back to La Rambla, which is a street near our hotel and headed to one of the many restaurants serving tapas. I literally wanted to eat EVERYTHING because the food looked amazing and was actually really decently priced when I compare them to London food prices and despite it being a touristy area 😀
We ordered a mixed tapas platter in the end along with a jug of sangria ♡ The food was really delicious and the sangria went perfectly with the food 🙂
We headed out for dessert in another restaurant afterwards but we noticed that there were tons of people wearing FC Barcelona shirts and waving FCB flags with music blasting on the streets since early afternoon that day. We asked the restaurant staff what was going on as there seemed to be some sort of celebration. Although the staff didn’t exactly explain it to us in English, we ultimately found out that FCB had just won their 5th UEFA Champions League the day before and people were out on the streets all day celebrating and waiting for the Champions League parade! The moment we finished our dessert the claps and cheers on the streets got crazy and we ran out of the restaurant just in time to see the parade (all the restaurant staff also ran out that moment haha)!
I was starstruck seeing Messi and all the other players on their celebration bus and it was probably one of the best (and most unexpected) experience of my Barcelona trip! The crowds were crazyyy and there was confetti everywhere 😀 I kind of just blended in the crowd with my selfie stick (which I am so glad I brought!!!) and cheered madly as the players went by. I was sooo lucky to be able to experience this on my first day at Barcelona and it made my trip that much more perfect! 
After the sight-seeings, the celebrations and the dinner, we were exhausted and went back to the hotel to get some rest. We went to our hotel rooftop where there was a beautiful pool as well as a poolside bar and ordered some late night snack and MORE sangria ♡ One thing I found out though is that people in Barcelona eat REALLY late and so restaurants are still fairly busy late at night! We had a really relaxing time at the hotel rooftop before going back to our room and getting some much needed rest. ♡
Day Two ♡
The next day, we headed to La Boqueria Market after getting some breakfast at the hotel as this was another place we wanted to visit that was on the top of our list 😀
The streets were again super crowded and one thing I have to remind you guys of is that there were tons of pickpockets around this area. I had to keep my bag cross-bodied and right in front of me the whole time for security but as long as you are careful with your belonging it is fine!
Entrance of La Boqueria 
The market was amazing and I again wanted to eat everything!! We ultimately sat down at a tapas bar inside the market and ordered some freshly made seafood 😀 The mini octopuses and the king prawns we ordered were delicious and I would definitely recommend trying out these tapas bars at La Boqueria! I also picked up some parma ham to bring home as souvenirs for my friends and family and we continued trying other foods in the market like desserts, fruit juices etc. ♡
After we finished touring around the market eating delicious food, we walked towards the marina area of Barcelona which was not that far off from the market and enjoyed the rest of our afternoon there. We passed by the El born neighbourhood while walking there and were charmed by all the dainty shops and buildings and also stopped for some ice-cream as it was BOILING HOT! ♡
The marina area
That night, we went for more tapas at La Rambla as it was such a convenient location for us and again had a really nice meal.
Day Three ♡
We started off day three by trying out this restaurant near La Boqueria called La Fonda as we heard that they have some amazing paellas and when we arrived at 11:45am, there was already a queue forming outside the restaurant although it only opens at 12! The doors of the restaurant opened right on time at 12pm and we were offered a table right away. We ordered a mixed seafood paella along with a squid and octopus dish and the seafood paella was OUT OF THIS WORLD and definitely the best I have ever had! We finished everything we ordered despite the portions being really big and felt extremely satisfied as we walked out of the restaurant door (again prices were really decent! London seafood cannot compare to those in Barcelona!)  ♡
We actually did go back to the same restaurant the next day to try out their black ink paella as this was another one of their most famous dishes and it was again absolutely delicious. However, I think I prefer the seafood one a little bit more 🙂 If you get the chance to go to Barcelona I would definitely recommend trying out both of these paellas ♡
Black ink paella!
Next, we decided to visit Park Güell, which is another major work of Gaudi in Barcelona. It is a park composed of gardens and architectonic elements on the Carmel Hill of Barcelona and you go up the hill by taking these really long escalators and walking till you reach the very top! The scenery at the park is beautiful and you get to see the whole Barcelona below 😀
Left: Gaudí’s mosaic work on the main terrace
We hiked around Park Güell while admiring the beautiful view for the whole afternoon before making our way back down the hill 🙂 It was so refreshing to see this other side of Barcelona away from all the buzzing streets below ♡
For dinner that night we headed out to a restaurant about 10 minutes walk away from our hotel called Napa Restaurant 🙂 We wanted to try a slightly more upscale Spanish restaurant and this meal was pure PERFECTION 😀 Everything we ordered, along with the service we received was wonderful and the bill in the end was a a lot less pricier than we thought! Here are some of our favourite dishes that we ordered: ♡
Day four was our final day in Barcelona and we spent the whole day (and a bit of day three) shopping the entire Barcelona! I went shopping in Sephora, Mango, Zara, Brandy Melville, Massimo Dutti etc. because all these shops just happened to be right around the corner where our hotel was located (imagine the temptation :P) and the prices were again so much cheaper than what they would have been in the UK! I would especially recommend going shopping at Massimo Dutti because I was told by the sale assistant that with it being a Spanish brand, all non-Spanish Massimo Dutti shops are required to mark their prices up by at least 30%. I therefore got a little crazy and were so satisfied with all our purchases 😀
All in all, this trip has been one of my favourite European trips and Barcelona has really charmed me with its people, food. shopping, and just the general vibe of the city 🙂 I will definitely return to this amazing city and would recommend that you go there if you are looking for a short weekend/ summer getaway! ♡
♡

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Comments

  9. Beautiful pictures, I went about eighteen months ago and I swear I did exactly the same things (minus the football parade!) I'm so glad that you had a good time there, it's one of my favourite places!
    Have a lovely time back in Hong Kong 🙂
    Rosanna x
    Rose’s Rooftop

    Reply

  10. I'm so jealous you got to visit Barcelona! It's such a beautiful city – so many architectural wonders ect And I'd just like to point put – you're outfit looks amazing 😉

    If you'd like you could check out my new blog arabesque – I'd be honored 😉

    Reply

  11. Thank you so much! 😀 I didn't expect to like Barcelona as much as I actually did and am definitely looking forward to visiting Spain again one day! <3

    Reply

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