Day 1 - Thursday 5 April 2012
What a dream, to fly from Rochford Airport... taking all of 5 minutes to get there - fabulous! Speedy boarding means first on the plane, best seats means seeing your house from the air. Beautiful!
So .. Barcelona.. we ordered our 'Barcelona Card' (Oyster equivalent) online before travelling and picked them up at the airport from the tourist office. Just as well, as we caned this card and were all over the City like a rash, so well worth the purchase.
First impression of the outside was a tad grim. Gray and puddles. Wasn't too enamoured with having to fight through the oily, heaving mass of people arriving off the train either but nothing a shove or two of a fractured elbow couldn't cope with.
A quick switch to the underground later and we arrived at the Cocktail Heaven that was our hotel, the Barcelona Princess, Avenida Diagonal (nearest underground El Maresme Forum).
Hotel was a corker, glass elevators with a cracking view right up the Avenida Diagonal.
We also had a sea view from our room which was great but the room had one of those glass bathroom divides which in fact meant that if you kept the toilet door open you could actually see the sea while you pee.
Had a little scoot about our new area and after checking our SMART PHONES (free wifi at the hotel, naturally) for the weather ahead, realised that only one out of the two of us had packed appropriately. Lucky for James our hotel was on the same block as a shopping centre. Shorts were bought.
Day 2 - Friday 6 April 2012
The last time we were in Barcelona it was just a day trip and I swore that my next visit would have to include the Sagrada Familia, the never-ending building project with the heavy Gaudi influence. The best tip I can share is to get your tickets online before you go.. sagrada familia online tickets as it says on the website 'avoid queuing by purchasing online'. We just printed them out a couple of hours before we went, headed over to the entrance on C/Sardenya, scanned our tickets and went straight in, no queue, nothing. There was a huge queue however, for those who hadn't realised it was 2012 and bought them on the door. The old-fashioned way.
Now I love a good cathedral, but I must be old-school because although it was a mighty impressive piece of architecture, it wasn't quite how I'd imagined but you need to go see for yourselves. I was far more comfortable in the crypt below where you could actually light a candle and it was free to enter. I've purposely not included any photos here as you really need to experience it first hand for yourself. And besides, however good a photographer you may be you just cant capture the beauty of the light.
Hadn't quite filled my religious building fix so we then headed over to the Gothic quarter to check out La Seu (a building which a chum of mine was so overcome with emotion when he entered that he cried, now that's only ever happened to me once when I first went inside Notre Dame). Would have loved to go in but our path was blocked by some guy in a purple number, reading from a huge book on it's entrance steps to a massive crowd. Think it had something to do with it being Good Friday.
It's a lovely area though with lots of great bars filled with cocktails and tapas. We popped in to Meson Cafe (C/Libreteria 16) which I think is one of the oldest coffee bars - check your maps on your Smart Phone, o sorry, check your Lonely Planet Guide (!).
In the evening James was desperate for his weekly curry so we tracked one down just the other side of Las Ramblas and walked right into some dodgy looking, religious ceremony. Black hood wearers, klu klux klan style, handing out various religious paraphernalia. Personally I don't like Las Ramblas, it's far too crowded, over priced and the food quality is not good. It's not the best advert for Barcelona.
Day 3 - Saturday 7 April 2012
Afore-mentioned chum recommended also that we visit Parc Guell so we hopped on a bus and headed north. There were crowds of people here and I was eager to discover the attraction. Well, call me a heathen but it's mainly gravel walkways with a couple of interesting spots. The focal point being a long, winding ceramic bench upon a terrace. It looked so crowded that we didnt even stop there. If you head to the top of the park however, there are some amazing views of the city.
Feeling a tad peckish we next headed towards the sea and Port Olimpic where there are numerous useless, architectural statements that every nation suddenly erects when hosting the olympics (just check out Stratford station, enough said).
I believe this is a giant fish.
What a dream, to fly from Rochford Airport... taking all of 5 minutes to get there - fabulous! Speedy boarding means first on the plane, best seats means seeing your house from the air. Beautiful!
So .. Barcelona.. we ordered our 'Barcelona Card' (Oyster equivalent) online before travelling and picked them up at the airport from the tourist office. Just as well, as we caned this card and were all over the City like a rash, so well worth the purchase.
First impression of the outside was a tad grim. Gray and puddles. Wasn't too enamoured with having to fight through the oily, heaving mass of people arriving off the train either but nothing a shove or two of a fractured elbow couldn't cope with.
A quick switch to the underground later and we arrived at the Cocktail Heaven that was our hotel, the Barcelona Princess, Avenida Diagonal (nearest underground El Maresme Forum).
Hotel was a corker, glass elevators with a cracking view right up the Avenida Diagonal. We also had a sea view from our room which was great but the room had one of those glass bathroom divides which in fact meant that if you kept the toilet door open you could actually see the sea while you pee.
Had a little scoot about our new area and after checking our SMART PHONES (free wifi at the hotel, naturally) for the weather ahead, realised that only one out of the two of us had packed appropriately. Lucky for James our hotel was on the same block as a shopping centre. Shorts were bought.
Day 2 - Friday 6 April 2012
The last time we were in Barcelona it was just a day trip and I swore that my next visit would have to include the Sagrada Familia, the never-ending building project with the heavy Gaudi influence. The best tip I can share is to get your tickets online before you go.. sagrada familia online tickets as it says on the website 'avoid queuing by purchasing online'. We just printed them out a couple of hours before we went, headed over to the entrance on C/Sardenya, scanned our tickets and went straight in, no queue, nothing. There was a huge queue however, for those who hadn't realised it was 2012 and bought them on the door. The old-fashioned way.
Now I love a good cathedral, but I must be old-school because although it was a mighty impressive piece of architecture, it wasn't quite how I'd imagined but you need to go see for yourselves. I was far more comfortable in the crypt below where you could actually light a candle and it was free to enter. I've purposely not included any photos here as you really need to experience it first hand for yourself. And besides, however good a photographer you may be you just cant capture the beauty of the light.
Hadn't quite filled my religious building fix so we then headed over to the Gothic quarter to check out La Seu (a building which a chum of mine was so overcome with emotion when he entered that he cried, now that's only ever happened to me once when I first went inside Notre Dame). Would have loved to go in but our path was blocked by some guy in a purple number, reading from a huge book on it's entrance steps to a massive crowd. Think it had something to do with it being Good Friday.
It's a lovely area though with lots of great bars filled with cocktails and tapas. We popped in to Meson Cafe (C/Libreteria 16) which I think is one of the oldest coffee bars - check your maps on your Smart Phone, o sorry, check your Lonely Planet Guide (!).
In the evening James was desperate for his weekly curry so we tracked one down just the other side of Las Ramblas and walked right into some dodgy looking, religious ceremony. Black hood wearers, klu klux klan style, handing out various religious paraphernalia. Personally I don't like Las Ramblas, it's far too crowded, over priced and the food quality is not good. It's not the best advert for Barcelona.
Day 3 - Saturday 7 April 2012
Afore-mentioned chum recommended also that we visit Parc Guell so we hopped on a bus and headed north. There were crowds of people here and I was eager to discover the attraction. Well, call me a heathen but it's mainly gravel walkways with a couple of interesting spots. The focal point being a long, winding ceramic bench upon a terrace. It looked so crowded that we didnt even stop there. If you head to the top of the park however, there are some amazing views of the city.
Feeling a tad peckish we next headed towards the sea and Port Olimpic where there are numerous useless, architectural statements that every nation suddenly erects when hosting the olympics (just check out Stratford station, enough said).
I believe this is a giant fish.
There's a marina and a host of lovely restaurants here and we stopped off at the Ice Bar for a quick cocktail. It would have been rude not to. We then went to a beautiful restaurant (Agua, Barceloneta) which I would recommend. Naturally we soaked up the sunshine, atmosphere and some mighty fine wine.
What better way to walk off a great lunch than along a glorious sea front and then wander all over the coolest cemetery in Poblenou. Dead people may not be your thing but this was amazing.
Day 4 Sunday 8 April
Easter Sunday. No crass, over-packaged chocolate eggs for us, no thank you. It's height we crave and height we found. Montserrat was calling so we headed over to Placa d'Espanya (Line R5 - Montserrat-Aeri, trains run one an hour) and bought train and cable car tickets. You can also go by train and funicular or train and walk. However, if you do decide to go by cable car as soon as you get off at the station, leg it to the right and through the underpass to get in line for the cable car. They only run two cars at a time which carry about 25 people in each.
Once at the top the monastery is actually hidden by a load of old touristy, poorly designed buildings. This is a shame really considering the surrounding scenery of beautiful, mountainous rock landscapes. The Basilica itself is wonderful but I have to confess to not queing to see the Madonna.
We missed a trick here I believe because this is not only a religious, sightseeing destination but a great place for some interesting walks. I'd recommend taking some time to check the walks out in advance and head up there early so you can do a couple before the descent.
Once we'd whooshed back down in the cable car we had a half hour wait for the next train but luckily for us we noticed a small 'bar' sign at the end of the platform. James can never resist a bar, as you know, so we came upon a little shack serving many alcoholic delights. Down a few stairs were some classy, plastic garden furniture with parasols to shield us from the burning, spanish sun. 
Two Estrella beers 3 euros. 80s music from a crackly radio. You'd be stupid not to. It was such a lovely spot and a pleasant discovery that we missed the next two trains.
Now I don't have many rules but one is never to over-indulge on the eve of a travel day. I have paid such a high price on numerous occasions for not heeding this one little rule. Sadly I did not again on our final evening in Barcelona. Sitting on garden furniture in a sun trap for two hours probably didnt help. The gorgeous cocktails throughout the rest of the day didn't help either.
Day 5 Monday 9 April
Only one of us made breakfast. It wasn't me. So not only do I have a chronic hangover, I also have major Black Dog about returning to Blighty. We took an underground and an overground train to the airport in silence. James was mourning. I was suffering... big style. Airports are dreadful places when you feel this way which is why God invented the VIP lounge.
Just an hour and 45 minutes return flight. Hit the tarmac, 20 minutes later having a cuppa in your lounge. Can't beat it. Going to Barcelona was so easy for us that it would be a travesty if we didnt go again in the near future.
It's such a large city with so many things to do and see that I would imagine you would need several trips to just touch the surface. We won't need much of an excuse to return that's for sure.
