Barcelona. My number one place in Europe that I've been dreaming to go since forever.
But to my surprise, I didn't really quite enjoy Barcelona just itself though. I enjoyed my trip because the people that were with me throughout the trip. They made my dream Europe place vacation enjoyable. If it's not for them, it would have been dull.
My Barcelona troop ;)
Barcelona is not the capital city of Spain, but the numbers of tourists in Barcelona are unimaginable. It's a laid back city, from my point of view, and I got to know that the days are long in Barcelona. The morning extends until late afternoon, with the earliest lunch would be around 2 pm. The late opening hours here means that the afternoon merges into evening. With so much time in your hands, I would advice that please make the most of your visit with a bit of planning. But you're talking about me here (me means 'the easily panic Shida'), I always like to plan my way around and I prefer my vacation to be organized and in control. From the details for food, finances, accommodation, the history of the places, transportation and the like are all in my precious pink organizer. And, with the help of my favourite DK eyewitness travel book on Barcelona & Catalonia, I'm good to go.
My DK eyewitness and I, I am good to go!
We arrived at night around 9 pm as that was the only cheapest ticket we could find. 9 pm in Barcelona is like Maghrib senja in Malaysia. The saying goes 'The night has not started yet'. But we were so tired and decided to rest at the apartment. The apartment was so cozy and convenient for us because it was just a 7 minutes walk to the famous Sagrada Familia. I chose this apartment because it was the CHEAPEST (yes, it's cheap compared to many other apartments in other European countries. Interested? I can give you their email) among many other apartments, but I didn't expect it to be so nice and comfy. It's not chic and swanky with luxurious furniture, but it was just nice for the eight of us. Here are some pictures of the apartment.
My room shared with Wani ;)
The kitchen
The dining communal time area!
Enough on the apartment as I recall we were there not because of that apartment. LOL. We woke as early as 9 pm the next day, ate breakfast and off we went to the first place which was the Sagrada Familia. Are you familiar with Sagrada Familia? For many tourists that came here, they should know that Barcelona is synonymous with the unique architecture of Antoni Gaudi, the famous Catalan architect that had created many unique (and weird as well ) beyond comprehension buildings which all of them are worth visiting. Reminder: Before coming to Barcelona, it is worth reading about Gaudi and his work.
We went around the rest of the city of Barcelona using the 'Hop On, Hop Off' bus rides, and I would suggest to take that bus to everyone who are planning to come here. All of us took a 2 days pass which was around 28 Euros, and it has 3 different routes comprising more than 40 main tourist attractions. Two days pass were enough for us, as we did covered the important places that must be seen in Barcelona. Where to get tickets for the bus rides? There are many information counter in the streets of Barcelona, mainly where tourists would be. We got ours at the information counter just behind the Sagrada Familia.
My favourite Gaudi's work was the Parc Guell. It is a garden city situated on the hill of el Carmel in the Gracia district of Barcelona. I felt like I was in a fairy tale 'Hansel and Gretel' because it looked like as if the houses are made out of biscuits. The design is just so unique and odd with different shapes, colours and sizes of mosaics. If you climb up the park, you could see Gaudi's house, where he lived before he moved to the Sagrada Familia.
Me posing uphill of Parc Guell. Noticed that the houses looks like it made out of Gingerbread!
Enjoying a moment of Spanish Guitar played by the locals
Other main attraction that we went using the bus were the hill of Monjuic. Monjuic is a spectacular vantage point which you can actually view the whole city. Around the are, you can find many famous galleries and museums as well as old prestigious theaters. 1992 Olympics were held on its Southern part of Montjuic. I managed to get a glimpse of the whole International sports complex and it actually covers half of the whole Montjuic. Other than that, if you are lucky, you can see the magic fountain being light up in many different colours, situated in the middle of the avenue. We didn't get to see it as it was still under maintenance during that time. The Font Magica would be the first thing I would see the next time I set my foot in Barcelona.
Font Magica at night time. (Picture taken from Google Images)
Up on the hill of Montjuic
The rest of the places that I went was the Barcelona stadium, the food market 'Mercat de Sant Josep/ La Boqueria', barcelona beachfront 'Port Olimpic'and the famous street in Barcelona that leads to the sea and also where I got cheap souvenirs, 'La Rambla'. Here are some pictures of those places that we went:
Barcelona Stadium
Barcelona stadium is HUGE but truthfully, there's nothing 'majestic' about this stadium. The facilities are more advanced than many other stadium that I went in UK, but the feeling of 'holiness of football' was just not there in me. We took a tour 'Camp Nou Experience' and I have to say that the tour was not as I expected it to be. We paid 15 Euros each for the tour, and guess what? We had to tour the whole stadium by ourselves. MUFC stadium tour was far better, completed with tour guides and a booklet. Even Liverpool FC a.k.a kilang besi (sorry folks! but it's true!) pun ada tour guides. Waste of money? Not really though. At least I got to see one of Spain beloved football ground.
Sheera and I at the Marina Port Olimpic
So far, the beaches in Europe are nothing compared to the ones in Asia. Southeast Asia to be specific. They do have nice cafes along the beach and all that, but the sand? Not as soft as what we have. PD pun lembut kot. The right amount of sun during summer? Not enough. Ikan bakar? Takde! Ok, melampau la tu kan. Mana ada ikan pari bakar with kuah asam kat tengah-tengah negara Sepanyol ni. The thing is, the beachfront is nice, the scenery was so pretty with the sunset and good-looking men in shorts playing volleyball, but my heart will always say Malaysian's beaches are the greatest. Barcelona's Port Olimpic is not really a proper beach where you hvave sea activities such as speed-boating, para-sailing, banana boat and all that, it is more like a marina beachfront/waterfront thingy where rich people 'park' their yachts. They do have nice yachts and after seeing all those sexy yachts, I want one too!
The food market was fantastic, I became full after looking at all those food around. The thing about Barcelona, it's not that difficult to find food, especially for those Muslims that are particular about eating Halal meat. Their main food are Seafood! So we can eat! How happy I was when I heard a friend of mine telling me about Barcelona has great seafood such as lobster, clams, prawns, squid and many types of fish. Their paella (basically like Nasi goreng)is done with seafood, same goes with their pastas and tapas.
Seafood Paella
Seafooodddddd terbaikk
Confectionery
Of Olives and such
Fruit juices for breakfast
Three days in Barcelona is enough to see a lot of what the whole city has to offer, but also it's enough to make you realize that there are many more places that waere unseen. But it's ok. More reasons for me to come again with other friends. Overall, comparing to other Europe countries that I went, the expenditure in Barcelona was the cheapest. Shopping is cheap. High street brands such as H&M and Zara are cheap, can be as cheap as Primark. Souvenirs and food are cheap as well.
Thanks to my Wani, Zeileen, Sheera, Abe, Baby, Saiful and Fakhrul for making this trip more enjoyable. Without them, it wouldn't be a happy ending at all.
Next Spain destination..roadtrippin' at ANDALUSIA and siblings. South of Spain. Who's with me?
