Travel: A day and a half in Barcelona

Barcelona is a gorgeous city.  Having lived in London before for 2 years and having been living in London for a month and a half already for my second go-round - I can say that Barcelona is a lot more chill, warmer, and friendlier feeling than London is.   The last time I was here was about 6 years ago it was at the tail end of my long European trip - so all I really did was lay on the beach, tan, eat tapas and drink sangria.  It was the epitome of laziness.

So this time when I had the chance to go to Barcelona for a few days, I forced myself to not over plan (which if you know me, is very difficult for me).  The high level plan was to relax, see some major sites, have some sangria and paella, visit the beach, and go out one night. We didn't hit ALL of these, unfortunately, which I'll get into a bit later.  

Day 1 - We missed the entire day as we missed our flight (tip: All EasyJet flights close about 30 min before the flight leaves...so don't dawdle and have a leisurely breakfast and try to get on the flight 15 min before it takes off because it will already be gone) WHOOPS!  Thankfully, we got a flight leaving at 5:10pm which put us at the Hostel around 9:30pm.  Just enough time to grab some food and sleep but we lost the entire day. 

For dinner we went to Apolo Diner which is located next to one of the best clubs in the city (did we make it at all? no...) http://www.apolodiner.com/en/home/  The menu has typical American diner food like hamburgers, nachos, etc., which is now big in Europe.  However they also have traditional Spanish Tapas.  I can attest that all the food was delicious and I definitely recommend it especially for lining your stomach before you go clubbing at the Apolo Theatre club. 

Day 2 - The itinerary for the day included Sagrada Familia and Paella - both of which were achieved!  The Basilica de Sagrada Familia is a Roman Catholic church that was originally started by the architect and artist Gaudi in 1882/1883.  Unfortunately, only a quarter of the church was finished by the time of his accidental death in 1926.  At present, there is still construction being done on the church.  By the time the church is done, there will be 18 towers.  You can see the influences of nature and Gaudi's style all throughout the church.  It is truly breathtaking inside.  (pics and day 3 below the cut)

Location: Sagrada Famila Metro Stop (L2)

Shopping and eating Paella took up the rest of the relaxing day.  I took some pictures of what the city looks like while walking around. 

Day 3: The itinerary for the day was to go to Park Guell to see more Gaudi design and then to Barcelonetta - the closest beach.  Unfortunately, we got affected by the strike/capitalism riot in the city that shut down all the public transportation and closed down about 90% of the shops in the city.  The riots actually paralyzed the city.

Not to be completely deterred, we took a taxi (11 Euro) to Park Guell.  We weren't disappointed!

Unfortunately, due to the lack of public transit, the beach was a no go.  We ended up just wandering the streets of Barcelona - which was a pleasure of itself.  

I definitely recommend taking some time to enjoy Barcelona if you can.  Summer is really warm, but July/August and spring are perfect times to go.  Check out EasyJet and www.hostelbookers.com for good deals from the UK.