Hola readers! It is currently 12:20pm and we are sitting in an airport waiting to depart for our flight to Ibiza! Yesterday was a massive day full of adventure.
The day started off with an average continental breakfast at our hotel in Barcelona. It took a while to get to sleep because that carnival was so loud and our room was the closest it could be to it. We were up early because our first stop was a bike tour around Barcelona.
There is something that we really love about riding a bicycle around a foreign city. I am not sure if it is the air on your face or the longer distance covered with less effort, but we just love it. We have been on some amazing bike tours and this one was also great. It was mostly along the Barceloneta beach which is beautiful.
One of the girls on our tour stacked the bike on the first corner and then walked away and didn’t come back. Unfortunately I didn’t get this on video. I think she was just a bit embarrassed, but thankfully she wasn’t hurt.
We rode quite a fair way and wrapped it up by about 11. We walked around La Rambla for a while (a giant shopping street) and then went to La Boqueria for lunch. La Boqueria is one of the most famous food markets in Spain. It is pretty stinky because they sell a lot of seafood here and it is also very crowded due to being so popular.
Whilst at La Boqueria we got some Paella for lunch. People usually have this idea hat Paella is Spain’s national dish and they eat it everywhere which isn’t really true. It is from Valencia and that is really the only place Spanish people eat it at, if it is anywhere else, it is created for tourists and seeing as we’re not going to Valencia, Barcelona is the closest we’ll get so we decided to give it a go. It was a chicken and vegetable paella which isn’t really traditional. Usually they use rabbit or seafood in their Paellas. I (Ronnie) thought it was pretty good. I love paella in all of its forms. Aimee didn’t like it a lot, but she still ate a fair bit of it. All up though, I reckon that I make a better paella. Chicken and chorizo – it’s pretty good.
After that we went walked around for ages. According to Aimee’s Apple Watch we ended up walking more today than we have on any day yet. We walked to the Sagrada Familia. We saw it on the outside yesterday which was great but it was time to see inside it. We booked these tickets well in advance. Many of the people in our tour did not get to do this as they didn’t book in advance and it sells out very fast.
The Sagrada Família is a massive cathedral that is still currently under construction and has been for over 100 years. It was imagined and designed by Antoni Gaudi who died only 12 years after they started building it, they are planning to finish it in 2026 which is the 100 year anniversary of Gaudi’s death. The facade of the church is a chaotic but beautiful scene of spires and sculptures depicting biblical scene and the inside is a series of columns and pillars that are inspired by nature. The light shines through the stained glass windows creating a colourful scene as you walk. It’s almost majestic. We did an audio tour through here which provided us with a lot of information. La Sagrada Familia is definitely a site that you would not want to miss when coming to Barcelona.
We walked the many kilometres back to hop on the coach to head to our hotel to freshen up. Then we were on our way to our ME Time Optional – Flamenco Show. We went to a little village with windy streets and took a group picture before heading in.
The flamenco show was a three course meal. The starters were a series of tapas including cured meats, patatas bravas, pan con tomate (tomato and garlic rubbed on bread), chicken skewer and Russian salad. Most of this was pretty nice, I wasn’t big on the Russian salad though which is kind of like potato salad but with tuna.
For the main we had the choice of fish and pork. We both chose the fish which was a bit dry and came with some scalloped potatoes. The main was also served with Sangria which we had already drank quite a few of by this point.
During the main the flamenco show started. Firstly it was a young boy who came out and played some epic guitar tunes. Then the rest of them came out and the dancing, singing and guitar playing commenced. We were in a very small venue which is where flamenco is at its best – if you were watching flamenco in an arena, it would be boring and terrible. However, up close in a tightly packed room – it is incredible. The dancers, singers and guitarists feed off the crowds energy and if you like what they are doing you shout your best and loudest “Ole!” which they love. It was just an amazing experience. Flamenco dancing also has a great history and story behind it that Zach explained to us on the way there which made it even better.
After this we had the option to jump on the coach and head home or to be dropped into town, we opted for the latter. We had a plan to catch the magic fountain show which is a massive fountain that spurts water to music and lights. We went to a bar with some of the group beforehand as we had a bit of time. Then we went to the fountain and it was really nice. It was funny seeing the people that were too close get soaked all at once. Of course it started off with Queen’s “Barcelona”. The fountain show went for way too long though. We watched for 45 minutes and there was no sign of it ending. We had enough of spurting water at this point.
Then we went home and slept. This was definitely one of our best days so far.
Itemised Spending:
- Optional “Bike Tour” – €48
- Drinks during day – €7
- Paella lunch – €18
- Overnight bag – €20
- Sagrada Família – €50
- Souvenirs – €8
- Shoes for Aimee – €14
- Optional “flamenco show” – €128
- Drinks at bar – €10
- Taxi – €15
Two Minds Travel Alike 