For October half term, Josh and I set off to Barcelona. We have been waiting to go for over a year and the timing finally worked! Josh has been there before but was excited to go back.
Sunday October 23rd
Our flight took off from Gatwick on Sunday morning at 6:30, which made for an early wake up call (3:00!). After we arrived in Barcelona, we took the Aero Bus to Plaza de Catalunya. From here, our hotel was about a ten block walk north. As we made our way to the hotel, the sun came out and it was HOT! We passed Casa Battlo and Casa Mila on the way, as our hotel was near them. It was amazing to finally see Gaudi's work in real life! After dropping our bags at the hotel, we made our way down to the seafront on La Rambla for some tapas and drinks! We made sure to check out the rooftop pool before grabbing a quick pizza dinner. We had a relatively early night, ready for a buy day of walking on Monday.
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| La Rambla |
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| By the sea front |
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| Hotel roof top! |
Monday October 24th
We woke up and grabbed a quick Starbucks breakfast before our visit to Casa Battlo. We had pre-booked tickets to visit here, without having to wait in line. This was one of my favourite places we saw during our trip. Gaudi is incredible! After visiting Casa Battlo (pronounced Casa Bye o ), we walked down La Ramblas again. We stopped at La Bouquerie, a wonderful food market. We kept on our journey through the Gothic Quarter, looking at the catherdral and where Josh stayed on his previous trip. Continuing on our walk, we saw the Arc de Triomphe and lots of neat side streets! We stopped for our tour of Casa Mila, which we also had tickets for.... another one of Gaudi's masterpieces! Our tour included a trip to the rooftop and a tour of the apartments. The rest of the apartments in the building are actually being used. I would love to live in that building!
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| Standing in the top balcony of Casa Battlo |
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| Casa Battlo |
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| Casa Mila |
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| Casa Mila at night |
The following pictures are from Casa Battlo....
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| The wonderful food market! |
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| Gothic Cathedral |
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| Arc de Triomphe |
The following pictures are from Casa Mila...
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| Sagrada in the background! |
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| The balconies! |
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| The entrance! |
Tuesday 25th October
We tried to get into the Sagrada Familia first thing but were told you have to buy tickets in advance! It was pouring this day so we were a little stuck of what to do next, as our ticket for Park Guell wasn't until 2:30. We ended up taking the metro to Camp Nou- Barcelona's football stadium! It was pouring but we walked near the stadium and went into the shop- extremely expensive! After we left, we stopped at the super market to pick up some meat, cheese and bread for our picnic lunch! We made our way to Park Guell to have lunch, and it stopped raining!! We explored the park, including the mosaic benches, mosaic dragon (which looks like a lizard!) and the gingerbread houses. It was another magical place designed by Gaudi!! We had a fabulous dinner at a place near our hotel and then another early night!
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| At Camp Nou |
The following pictures are from Park Guell...
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| Outside of the park |
Wednesday 26th October
Today we had tickets for the Sagrada Familia, but not until the afternoon. We decided to talk a walk past the hotel my parents stayed at when they were in Barcelona. We then went down to the beach and strolled along the beach, all the way to the harbour. It was an overcast day but still so pleasant! I love walking by the beach. We then made our way to the Sagrada Familia, and had a picnic lunch at the pond near one of the facades. I was blown away when we went inside. The detail was amazing! We had tickets to go up the Passion Towers as soon as we got inside. We went up in a lift but then you had to walk down such a scary spiral staircase!!!! After we were back down safely, we explored around the bottom, admiring the outside facades, the back stories and the amazing stained glass window and detailed ceiling. I will let the pictures do it justice. We went back to the beach for some drinks/tapas right on the sand!
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| My parent's hotel... I think! |
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| Back to the market to buy bread! |
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| My love. |
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| Terrifying... |
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| One of the doors. |
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| The ceiling |
Thursday 27th October
The last day we checked out of our wonderful hotel and walked down to the zoo. We ended up spending the entire day there, watching the monkeys mainly!! We then walked all the way back from the zoo to our hotel, then back to Plaza de Catalunya to catch the Aero bus to the airport. Our flight ended up being 1 hour late, so it didn't depart Barcelona until 11:30. We arrived back in the UK at about 1, and after making it through customs and our 1 hour drive home, we were back at the flat at 3:00 am... a long day!!! We didn't take any pictures on this day.
It was a fab trip and I can definitely see myself going back to Barcelona... maybe when the Sagrada Familia is finished in 2026! This is my favourite European city so far.
Next big event.. BOTH of my parents are coming to stay with me and visit for two whole weeks!! Well, minus 5 days where they are in Prague. A huge thank you goes out to our friends Linda + David for kindly looking after Charlie+ Cleo so that both my parents can come visit. Much appreciated xx
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