The Barcelona trip was totally an accident – we had a Europe trip planned for Summer 2013 and this wasn’t it.  Those who know me know that I can’t resist a deal though, and the fateful day that United posted a mistake fare for business class airfare from Seattle to Barcelona for $1700 return, I knew this was happening.  After booking the airfare on a whim without even clearing the time off work… we found this beautiful 2-bedroom apartment right in the heart of the gothic quarter, listed on AirBNB for about $100cdn/night.

Our home base in Barcelona

We had the details of the apartment printed out but didn’t bother to get a map – after all, we would just take a taxi from the airport, right?  Well we hopped in a cab and after a long drive to downtown Barcelona, our cab driver told us that he couldn’t take us any further, as the roads were closed.

Barcelona FC Parade

It turns out the roads were closed for a Barcelona FC parade.  No matter, the taxi driver said it wasn’t hard to find, and gave us some rough directions… turns out, quite rough.  In reality, the “streets” of Born, where we were staying, were in fact a twisting maze of dead-ends, curving roads, and repeating landmarks.  Our quick walk turned out to be a long one but eventually we found the apartment and settled in.  Around the corner from our apartment was the stunning Mercat del Born, a market filled with small vendors selling everything from baked goods to fresh fish – similar to Granville Island in Vancouver but with much less English and more reasonable prices.  Attached to this market was one of our favourite restaurants – simple, but delicious, food, at reasonable prices – our go-to spot for breakfast almost every single day.

Restaurant at the market

Lets get this out of the way in advance: this post is going to make you hungry.  Some of the most delicious things I have ever eaten came from Spain – some expensive, some cheap, some fancy, some simple – but all, delicious.  I don’t think we ate a bad meal in the entire 10 days we were there, and our dinners ranged from 5€ to 100€.  Food is simply everything in Spain, but make sure you get on their time schedule.  When we arrived from Canada, we were hungry for dinner around 6:00pm and there simply isn’t a restaurant open.  Most restaurants close from lunch service about 4:00 and do not reopen until at least 7:30 and many are later than that.

Spanish Ham, being cured on the left, being served in a restaurant on the right

These are a selection of a few of my favourite food plates we ate in Barcelona… beautiful squid, classic paella (we walked 12km in the rain for this TripAdvisor approved beach-front Paella!), a tapas plate of skirt steak, and a beautiful seafood salad in a fantastic fine dining restaurant.

Mike set out to prove that the paella could be conquered in one sitting: mission accomplished.

The aftermath of the paella devastation of 2013

I don’t do a lot of museums and sightseeing, but I was told over and over before I came that I had to go see some of Antoni Gaudi’s work.  This is the view from the top of the absolutely insane Sagrada Familia, the unfinished church, which has been in a constant state of construction since 1882.  You absolutely must see this church to appreciate it, but buy your tickets in advance, online!  The lineup to buy tickets was, without exaggeration, 2 blocks long.  With pre-purchased tickets, we simply walked to the front, showed our tickets, and walked right in.

Views from the top of the Sagrada Família

The first 7 of this next set of photos are also from the Sagrada Familia.  After those, the next images are black and white photos of a beautiful train station in Barcelona, shot at about 5:00am to find these views without people in them.  The town at the top of the mountain is a beautiful monastery outside of Barcelona.  The last two are Barcelona’s beautiful harbour and beaches (which were of absolutely no use in the rain and 10C in May, disappointingly.)