24 hours in Barcelona

Sangria and juices and tapas, oh my!

I’ll be the first to tell you, 24 hours isn’t enough time to get to know ANY city. Not really. Especially a city as big and full and exciting as Barcelona. But that’s what we had, so we tried to make the best of it.

We walked. Everywhere. We hoped to see as much of the city as we possibly could, and walking is the best way to do that.

Barcelona’s version of the Arc de Triomphe

first impressions of the city from the airport bus window…

La Sagrada ft. scaffolding

Our hostel was beautiful, tucked down one of many sunny, airy Barcelona streets. It was a great first hostel for this trip. They must have been overbooked because they stuck us in a room with the male hostel workers! We didn’t realize this until we saw them moving our beds out of the room before we had even left the building. Lol.

The city is full of tall, stately, white buildings lined with balconies on balconies on balconies. It has a quirky vibe, too.

Barcelona Arts and Culture Hostel… which we FINALLY arrived at after potentially getting a little lost.

Our favoritewee elevator inside our hostel

YUM.

We walked up one of the hills (Barcelona is flanked by 5 hills)

A bookshop with very few English language books…

Less yum. There were also plenty of skinned animal heads.

We ordered a ceaser salad and those little pepper/pancetta sandwhiches with crusty brown bread. SO GOOD, especially after not having eaten during or after our flight. Also, OLIVES.

We were already full when they brought us… two whole fish?

Caps on caps

This simple sandwhich was one of my favorite foods on the whole trip.

YUM.

It’s a very arts/music city

Hostel vibes.

La Boqueria is the market of all markets. SO MUCH FRESH JUICE.

This man was feeding pigeons… and parrots. PARROTS.

One of many pretty churches

Cutest little cafe…

We helped make a traditional dinner at the hostel.

It was an art-heavy hostel. I tried to play the uke…

The first place we ate. A quaint little neighborhood tapas joint.

Just two Americans out here trying to find iced coffee…

That time I accidentally ordered the most American drink on the menu… I don’t even like sweet drinks topped with mountains of whipped cream at home… And there I was in Barcelona with one.

We happened to be there over the time Catalonia (the area of Spain where Barcelona lies) was trying to split off from the rest of Spain. We saw signs and some graffiti referencing the referendum, but not much else (no protests or anything).

We also walked down La Rambla, a beautiful tree-lined street with space on both the sides and in the center for pedestrians to walk. Two months earlier, a terrorist plowed through the pedestrian walking area in a van, killing 15 people and injuring many more. On the day we visited, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Barcelona was enjoyable, but we wished we had more time. We were able to try the food and see some of the main sites, but we didn’t leave feeling like we truly knew the place. Instead, the day after we arrived we took the bus back to the airport and caught a flight to Morocco. One day, I’ll return and see it all. (Ok but really, who wants to go to Spain with me tomorrow?)

xoxo,

Carrie