Travel Diary: 3 Days in Barcelona
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Hi, welcome back!
Today it´s time for..
My Barcelona Postcard from me to you
So, only one day after Paris it was time again to pack my suitcase and to leave Bremen. Destination this time? Barcelona!
Day 1
This time I didn´t travel alone and was accompanied by my friend Juliette. We landed not directly in Barcelona but at Girona airport so we had to take a bus into the city. An hour later we arrived at out Airbnb which was absolutely amazing, two rooms, a kitchen and living room area and once again the highlight: A balcony! With time we also found out that the location was more than great as well, only 2 Metro Stations away from the Sagrada Familia, near the Arc de Triomf and generally it took us never longer than 20 minutes to get to each destination.
Ok, Hola Barcelona! First up, figureing out the Metro System which was quite simple. We arrived on a Sunday, plus it had been raining on and off that day so somehow it felt like a ghosttown.. Nearly no one was on the streets and it might be due to those circumstances mixed with not much sleep and exhaustment but we were already excited to explore everything without crowds and no hectic at the Metro stations.
Oh if only everything worked out that way.. Of course this wasn´t the case and the next day looked quite differently.
But back to Day 1, after figureing out the Metro we made our way to the Sagrada Familia which at first glance I thought would be much bigger and impressive but walking around the area and visiting it again the next day it became my favourite place in Barcelona and is simply stunning – the details are amazing. What made the whole area even better is the small little park right in front of it, you might know it from the photos right in front of a small lake with palm trees and the Sagrada Familia in the back.
Not only you might know that spot but the whole of Barcelona seemed to be wanting that exact photo, you seriously had to queue to take a picture.. Worth it though!
Sagrada Familia? Cool! Hungy? Yes!
Next stop: Flax and Kale, the instafamous coffee shop/restaurant everyone seems to recommend. I don´t want to be the negative Nancy but I would have much prefered to eat at Vegan Bowls (spoiler alert, we did on day 3!) just a few steps away. The interior was amazing and the food looked super delicious and pretty on their page. I don´t want to say it was bad because it certainly wasn´t but the whole atmosphere (it felt not personal and welcoming at all, it just seemed like they wanted to work through as many people as possible..) and pricing just wasn´t worth it.
So if you considered Flax and Kale, I´d say go for it if you have some extra money and time but there seem to be so much more and better brunch/lunch options in Barcelona.
After that a little break was needed because somehow we were EXHAUSTED.. We also didn´t feel our best so just a bit of sightseeing it was. We visited Las Ramblas and the surrounding Gothic Quarter which were super cool. Las Ramblas was rather busy and touristy (still interesting to see) and the Gothic Quarter filled with amazing architecture and small little alleys. I´m also always amazed to see things like actual orange trees just growing there naturally!
We wandered arround the Gothic Quarter for quite some time and then decided it was time for dinner and an early night to be well rested for the next day full of exploring and hopefully better food. Sadly no proper grocery stores were open and only some small, weird and scary convenient stores so we had to live with spaghetti and pesto as our first dinner. Not too bad, though.
Day 2
Good morning, Barcelona! Enjoying the early sun on the balcony, what better way to start the day?
It´s monday so all the grocery stores are open. It seems like the spanish people start their day a bit later than we in Germany because Lidl opened at 9 a.m, not complaining! We finally found oats for porridge in the morning and were planning to make bowls with all sorts of things in the evening (spoiler alter once again: soo delicious!!).
After grocery shopping we had breakfast and then headed out to La Sagrada Familia once again. This time with some photo ideas in mind and more “fashionable” outfits than the day before.
It was more crowded this time but we still found a few great opportunities and spots to take photos at, in my opinion they turned out really cool!
Quick break and outfit change and we were off again, this time to a cafe called Bar Limon. Their pancakes and acai bowls looked amazing on Instagram but unfortunately, when we arrived, they were closed.. Next on our list was Brunch and Cake, another Instafamous cafe in Barcelona which actually has a few different locations, one which was only 300 metres walking distance away. Yet again another fail because they already closed the kitchen.
Slowly but surely we were getting a bit hangry so we just decided to try it at their original location and were more than pleasently surprised! It was about 3 p.m when we arrived and only a few tables were taken so we were able to choose the one right at the window. We later on saw on Instastories that you have to wait in the morning for quite some time, so if you consider visiting maybe try it with a rather unsual time.
Everything sounded amazing so it was super difficult to choose but in the end we went with an acai bowl and pancakes like we previously planned on. Seriously so delicious and the presentation was more than on point! The whole place was super cozy, on a rather quiet street and the people working there were super lovely as well.
Happy and satisfied we took the bus back to the Gothic Quarter once again because we wanted to take photos in one of the pretty alleys. Another success!
After that it started to get kind of stressful because we planned on preparing the whole dinner and edit/post photos before sunset and of course had to be at Park Güell before the sun was setting which takes about half an hour by bus. Dinner on time failed but we kind of made it on time for the sunset which is such a confusing story. We typed in Park Güell to Google Maps which we were already not confident about because we were not sure where in Park Güell this would take us to. Ok, in the bus we were trying to listen which stop to exit at and kind of failed so we drove a few more stations and then decided to just hop off an try our luck.
From there we had a decent view but with the help of two nice strangers we actually managed to climb up another hill and seriously had one of the most breathtaking views of my life.
I´m certain that this wasn´t Park Güell because literally no one else was there but we had a full on 360 degree view all over Barcelona, the coast and could even see the Sagrada Familia from above. Truly a moment I will never forget.
I´ll try to find out which bus station this was and the exact route to go for my Barcelona Guide!
To end a more than magical evening we finally ate our bowls with all the good stuff – Avocado, olives and edamame included.
Oh, and I stepped into dog poop.. That was fun.
Good night Barcelona!
Day 3
A new day which again started with a great breakfast on the balcony.
Because the day ended pretty late last night we decided to take it slow, sleep a bit longer and inevitably started the day at 12 p.m… But that was fine with us, at least we were rested and ready to take on the day.
The day started with once again another trip to the Gothic Quarter/general area around Las Ramblas, to do some shopping (didn´t find anything) and then head to the pretty alleys again to take some outfit photos. Don´t want to push myself buttt I think they turned out amazing!
We then continued to stroll around and also explore the food market which tbh I wasn´t the biggest fan of, maybe because I expected street food but it´s actually a FOOD market.
No street food for us but we were still hungry so we decided to head to Vegan Bowls which was only a few bus stations away. As if it was fate for us to at least eat there once! We knew about it from Instagram before we even landed in Barcelona and also noticed it when eating at Flax and Kale.
If the display of sweet goodness doesn´t convince you.. let me tell you! Soso good and as the name says, all vegan. The bowl was super delicious (the snickers bites, oh my..) and the donut nearly too pretty to eat! Only downside, it´s super small and not the most comfortable spot if you want to spend hours sitting there. Plus it´s kind of pricy but I guess you pay for the ingredients and special food items.
The only thing that somehow is not more pricy than usual is coffee?? Whis is super amazing. Paying 4.5 euro for a cappuccino in Paris and then only 2.3 euro in Barcelona left me pleasently surprised (even less than in my home town Bremen).
After that it wasn´t far to our Airbnb again for a little break, dinner preparation and to post one of the new photos we´ve just taken.
And.. time management on point we were again stressing around to get to the beach on time for sunset. It kind of worked but the bus ride was a nervous game of will we wait at the next crossing or not? Something I noticed in Barcelona. Because of the city design (you should google a birds eye view, so cool to see!) there are countless crossings with then endless traffic lights which sometimes means you´ll wait every what feels like 10 metres.
Anyways, beach it is. The sunset was dreamy and I enjoyed hearing the waves and being at the beach soso much! Just sitting there, listening to the waves and enjoying the last evening. Truly magical and an evening I won´t ever forget.
Good night Barcelona!
Day 4
It´s time to say Goodbye!
We had to wake up waaay to early, cleared the apartment and then were off to the Bus station again to get to the airport.
And sadly that´s it. Everything went well and I landed it Bremen filled with sunshine and a lot of new and wonderful memories.
See you again, Barcelona.
I really hope you enjoyed this little travel diary and maybe even took away a few things to do for your own trip. And I hope if you were just here for a few stories and pretty photos you were satisfied as well.
In case this wasn´t enough already, maybe also have a look at my Travel Diary: 3 Days in Paris?
See you soon!
Christopher