Chasing Summer : Part 2

We only had a few days in Barcelona and no real plan. The only things on my Barcelona to-do list were Moco Museum and riding the cable cars to get a view of the city. The rest of the time could be spent at the beach and would have been if it wasn’t for the rain. Which got us exploring the city more. Yeah I’m one of those “go with flow, anywhere the wind blows” type of traveler.

DAY 2:

We took a walk around the port on a cloudy day and we saw some really cool boats and enjoyed the city views. The good news is the sun came out to play half way through our exploration walk.

DAY 3

We took the scenic route to the cable cars. Our search included an uphill walk, some stairs and we braved a little drizzle but it was worth it for the views, all this is before we actually got on the cable car. Quick sidenote when we reached our destination we figured out what the guy at our hotel reception was trying to tell us : there was literally a train from the metro station right outside our hotel directly to the cable cars *insert eyeroll here*. But if we had taken that option we would have missed a bunch of photo ops and what I’m counting as exercise.

That evening we went for supper at Cremat Lounge where the staff was super friendly and the gave a list of parties to check at the gothic quarter. We ended up at a place called Jamboree where they had a hip hop open mic session downstairs and a dj whose playlist was on shuffle upstairs. Yep we danced to Ace of base and Beyonce in one night. Fun was had.

DAY 4

We finally made it to the beach on our last full day in Barcelona and boy did I soak up the sun. A lot of interesting things to be seen at Barceloneta beach:

  • A lot of vendors: Mojito & beer salesmen, masseuses, ladies who braid hair and guys renting out umbrellas.
  • A lot of topless tanning
  • The beach blanket vendors bury the inventory in the sand *true story bro*

The day ended with another touristy activity, we went to go check out the Sagrada Familia. Because we got there so late (21h00), we didn’t get to go inside but the outside is so beautiful.

Also can we take a moment to appreciate the late European sunsets in the summer, love love love them.

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Chasing Summer: Part 1

After a three year hiatus my passport finally left its corner of the drawer to get some sun and fresh air and I tagged along. All roads lead my passport, my friend Nomsa and me to Barcelona and Paris. We luckily escaped the cold front that hit SA and enjoyed a European summer for a little bit.

Travel has gone back to normal covid regulations-wise, just as long as you have your vaccination certificate and in Spain’s case you have to fill in a DCC form if your vaccination was done outside of Europe.

Anyway, the first leg of our trip was Barcelona, I had no real expectations of the place I just selected it because it gave me a beach and city holiday in one. Turns out I really like the place. Day one we took a walk around the neighbourhood where we were staying to get the lay of the land, then we took the bus to Barceloneta beach.

We had tickets booked to an art exhibition at Moco Museum which featured a few of my favourite artists. After the exhibit we went to dinner at a restaurant called Morelia where we scored a free dessert thanks to the friendly owner 🙂

We had so much fun here, day one definitely set the tone for the stay in Barcelona, 10/10 I highly recommend.