After a bit of a lie in, and enjoying some leftover pastries from the train journey yesterday for breakfast, we set off on foot to our starting point for the day. We’d booked day tickets for the hop-on hop-off bus tour, and so headed to the nearest stop from our hotel.
It was a pleasant walk, although surprisingly up-hill most of the way, with lots of interesting architecture en route, including beautifully patterned pavements and a stunning roundabout.
We got to our stop, and within a matter of moments a bus arrived for us to jump on to. It was full upstairs, so we just sat downstairs after grabbing the ubiquitous earphones and a travel guide. We only needed to go a couple of stops before changing onto the other bus route (there are two routes, one covering the east of the city, and the other the west).
Changing buses was smooth and simple as the stops were only a few meters apart.
We did a full circuit of the west route, which took around 2 hours. It took us across a wide area of the city, from the beautiful ports and harbours to high up above the city to Montjuic.
It really showed off the wide variety of architecture the city has to offer, from the very old to very modern, and everything in-between. There are several artists and architects that have had a great deal of influence on the city, primarily Gaudi and more recently, Jean Nouvel.
There’s no doubt that we already realise we’ll have to come back to Barcelona at some point in the future.
As we neared the end of the loop, we made plans for the rest of the afternoon. My boss had recommended a restaurant on the sea-front (Xiringuito Escribà) that served amazing sardines and paella (they also had some vegetarian options for Lois!), and so we aimed for that.
After changing back from the west route to the east route, we went the 9 or so stops it took to get to the most convenient stop for the restaurant. It was slap bang by the water and beaches, and so we decided to grab a quick drink at another bar before heading to the restaurant.
Lois opted for a cava based sangria, which tasted very fresh, whereas I opted for a cerveza!
After settling the bill, we pottered down to the restaurant and managed to get a table right on the front, which gave great views of the beach, sea and beyond. It was great for people watching, and it was fascinating keeping track of all of the ways people get around Barcelona. There were people walking, cycling, roller-skating (and blading), electric scooters, segways, skateboards and even pedal tuk-tuks.
I already knew what I was having, and Lois went for the green vegetable paella. I ordered sardines, followed by the special paella of the restaurant. Lois had a glass of dry white wine, whilst I had a rioja.
Some olives arrived at the table as well as Lois’ rustic bread starter, which was literally just some bread without any dips etc. She asked for some butter/oil, and some olive oil came shortly after.
My sardines arrived (all 8 of them!), and so I set about enjoying them. I’m sure this starter should have fed 2, or even 4 people, but I knew that I had this coming. They were delicious, cooked perfectly, fresh and with a nice simple dressing.
Another glass of wine was ordered, and the sardines were going down very nicely indeed. We then got advised to move our cutlery etc. out of the way as the paella were on their way; how big could they be?
Big!
We each got served our own paella in a huge 16″ or so pan, and although the rice was fairly shallow, they were still healthy portions. Mine had a good variety of shellfish, and Lois’ had some lovely looking vegetables. Along with finshing off my sardines, and some more wine, I was nearing needing a siesta to recover!
Of course, however, we all have a pudding tummy! So when asked if we’d like to see the dessert menu, we said yes. The waitress brought over a tray of all of the desserts available, which all looked very tasty, but we both opted for things not on the “menu”. Lois went for some ice-cream, and I chose a Creme Catalan; like a creme brulee, but with a citrus twist.
Washed down with an espresso, we asked for the bill, and after paying decided to head down to the sea for a quick paddle. The beaches along Barcelona’s coastline drop off quite quickly into the sea, and with fairly big waves, we had fun avoiding the larger surges of water.
After enjoying 20 minutes or so on the beach, we headed back to the bus stop to jump back on the east route to take us back around to the stop near our hotel.
This second leg of the east route took us past more spectacular architecture including Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia, which we will be having a guided tour of tomorrow. By this point we were both flagging a little bit, and so after the short stroll back to our hotel, we spent the rest of the evening relaxing and writing the blog.
Tomorrow will be the full Gaudi experience, with a tour of Sagrada Familia, and also one of his houses, Casa Batlló.
I’ve just sent a link to Sonia as we’re having a weekend in Barcelona on Sept 6th. We have been to Seville a couple of times this year and absolutely loved it. We are thinking of renting bikes in Barcelona as we really enjoyed whizzing round Seville on them. Would be interested to hear your thoughts on the terrain – would we be ok on normal bikes, or should we pay the extra for e-bikes?
Hi Anthony, it was quite hilly, so I’d go for e-bikes; makes it more of an experience that way too! There are also loads of e-scooters that you can just pay-as-you-go through various apps, so may be worth considering.
Hope that helps. 🙂
Enjoy your trip!
Cheers! I’ll have a look. Going to book a guided tour of La Sagrada Familia now. I had a beer outside it in 1999, but have never been inside so looking forward to that.