Don't tell anyone from Barcelona that they live in Spain, Barcelona is in Catalonia and they are fiercely proud of this. As recently as last month 80% of Catalonians voted for independence from Spain.
From the Airport
We got a train (RENFE) from the airport (terminal 2) into the centre of Barcelona and got off at 'Sants Estacio' station which is well connected to the metro. Tourist information in the airport sells public transport tickets - we bought a 4 day travel card for approx 27 Euro rather than plumping for the Barcelona Card which was approx 44 Euro. We did not intend to visit many of the museums and certainly not enough to warrant the extra 17 Euro of savings. The train took 25 minutes and we had a 10 minute journey to our metro stop of Paral-lel (a great central place to stay).
Highlight 1
Tapas Tour (http://www.tapastoursbarcelona.com)
What better way of starting a trip to Barcelona than enjoying a tapas tour! We researched this company on trip advisor and found it was well regarded and by far the cheapest on offer. We visited 4 very different types of tapas establishments and learned about the history of tapas (originally small plates to cover drinks from flies). We were joined on our tour by a lovely family and our guide Carla was wonderfully enthusiastic. Well recommended!  |
| With permission from www.lauracookphotography.net |
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| With permission from www.lauracookphotography.net |
One of the most fascinating parts of the tapas tour was walking through the Christmas market which opened our eyes to quite a quirky part of their culture - an obsession with shit. Hear me out.
Firstly there were many wooden logs with faces (a la Thomas the Tank Engine) for sale and upon our query about what they were, we discovered that parents stuff said logs with sweets and at Christmas the children sing to the log to 'shit' them some sweets.
We then saw some figures of men 'shitting' for sale. According to Carla, every nativity scene has a 'shitting' person in it to signify we are all the same. You could get 'shitting' football players, Star Wars characters and even presidents. I saw a shitting Barack Obama. I didn't see a David Cameron. Maybe he was sold out.
Highlight 2
FC Barcelona - Camp Nou Tour & Game
Football and particularly FC Barcelona dominates city life. Being one of the biggest clubs in the world I was excited to visit the stadium but we had also bought tickets for the Saturday game. Tours are not available on game days so we did the Camp Nou tour on Friday. As is our custom, we utilised the tourist hop-on, hop-off bus for the day to see the city at ground level - with two companies operating we went with the original company who offered a red and a blue route. Camp Nou was our first hop-off and we got a small discount for the tour with our bus ticket.
The Nou Camp is an amazing stadium with a capacity of nearly 100,000 (98,787) which is bigger than Wembley. The self guided tour takes you from a spectator's view through the press room and post match interview areas, into the away dressing room, pitch side by the dug outs and finally into the museum.
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| Chapel |
We also spent far too much on photos from our tour experience, although how else would I get a photo as captain of Barcelona?
Match day was fun too, Barcelona winning 5-0 with two goals from Messi.
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| Messi makes it 4-0 |
Highlight 3
Basílica de la Sagrada Família
Started in 1882 with Gaudi taking over the project in 1883, the church is still unfinished. Gaudi knew he would not be alive to see the finished Basilica and when asked about the longevity of construction he famously answered "My client in in no hurry". Even unfinished, it is breathtaking.
Highlight 4
Font màgica de Montjuïc
The Magic Fountain display takes place between Thursday and Sunday in summer and Fridays and Saturdays in winter. We found it to be a wonderful end to our very busy first day.
Highlight 5
Port Cable Car
There are two cable cars in Barcelona, the 'Transbordador Aeri del Port' which transfers people between the port and Montjuïc and more modern and shorter one on Montjuïc itself. We chose the older cable car from the port on a one way journey. A pleasant ride with awesome views of the city.
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