Barcelona Love

Hello Barcelona!

First impression – am I lost in Hanoi ?
Seriously, our first impression of this Spanish city was so familiar. So many corners look like Hanoi. The buildings, the scooters (of course not that much like in Vietnam), the streets … Just like a little Hanoi in Europe with better and fresher climate. This time was a family trip with everyone, including my boyfriend. That’s the first time in my life my boyfriend joined our family holiday trip. Felt so happy …. All beloved people together traveling to an amazing city such as Barcelona. Not only was I impressed, but my whole family as well. Barcelona is just incredibly beautiful with special architecture, big and wide streets, and especially the gorgeous smaller side streets with those cute balconies. The city center was always crowded as heck, but that’s no problem, as long as you are with the right people and the right summer vibe. I thought shopping in Barcelona would be cheaper (like Zara, Mango, Bershka etc.) but it wasn’t any cheaper. My favorite area of all was the Old City Centre, called Ciutat Vella. This was the area with all those beautiful buildings and also the street La Rambla where you can go shopping and have some snacks to eat. At the tiny narrow side street Carrer de Ferran was the yummy shop with Iberico Sanwiches which I can really recommend. It was so delicious, that we ate it twice! Also, on the street La Rambla, there is the big market with fresh fruits, veggies, spices, herbs, and of course seafood! We bought a lot of seafood and fruits, and cooked it at the Airbnb flat. Nothing better than fresh food made by Mom. Another good place to eat was at the Rambla de Mar (port). If you walk to the end of the La Rambla you will get to the port. Cross the bridge, to the shopping center Maremagnum, and you will immediately see some restaurants on the terrace of the shopping center. Just take the first one with the view to the ships and order some yummy Paella! This is some special food from Barcelona/Spain which you have to try. Also this shopping center is also open on Sundays! After some paella you could really use some desert! I highly recommend Churros, a Spanish shortbread cookie. Normally people in Barcelona eat this sweet speciality dipping it in hot chocolate. Sounds really nice, right ? Because it is!
In the old city center there’s also an area which is called Plaza Reial. This area is surrounded by breathtaking yellow painted buildings, palms, and lot of restaurants. This place is nice for taking pictures, but I don’t really recommend you to eat there. The food was just okay. You should try to eat more in smaller local restaurants. We couldn’t try too many restaurants, because we didn’t had a lot of time to rest and hang around. We were just jumping from one location to another sightseeing, enjoying the vibe of Barcelona as much as we could. There were too many nice places to explore. Sagrada familia – the main attraction here was really really wonderful. Such alluring architecture you will never see in another city. Most of the famous buildings in Barcelona are just looking kinda surrealistic because of the influence of famous artist like Salvador Dali and architect Antoni Gaudi. For example Park Güell was created by Gaudi and it’s supposed to be crazy beautiful. We didn’t have the chance to enter the park, because it was already too crowded. So it’s better if you go there early.
There is a lot to do in Barcelona and I think we did a good job in 3 days! After all my brother planned it!
On the last day we hanged out at the beach which was nice as well. There are also a lot of cute restaurants and bars all next to each other. Here you can see our tour:

Day 1:

Ciutat Vella: old city centre
Cathedral of Barcelona
Plaza Reial
La Rambla
Carrer de Ferran (eating Iberico Sandwich)

Day 2:

Sagrada Familia
Casa Mila
Park Güell
Rambla de Mar (shopping center Maremagnum)
Magic Fountain (not on everyday is the light show)

Day 3:

La Monumental (Torero Arena)
Camp Nou (Soccer Stadium)
La Rambla
Plaza Reial (Lunch)
Espigó del Gas (Beach)