Barcelona - more than a city

The capital city of the "region" of Catalonia, Barcelona is a must visit place in Europe. Everything in this city seems to get it right, the vibe, the food, the shopping, the streets, the architecture and even their football team.

High Level Itinerary

I think 3-4 days is a good time, it really depends on how much time you want to keep enjoying the goodness here.

Day 1:

• Casa Batlo, Casa Mila
• Sagrada Famila
• Park Guell

Day 2:

• La Rambla
• Mercat de la Boqueria
• Gothic Quarter

Day 3:

• Camp Nou
• Olympic Park

Day 4:

• Consider a side trip to Montserrat for nice mountain view or discover more inside Barcelona.

Tips

• There is a city pass "Barcelona Card" where you can use it for transportation and visit certain museums and get discounts on other attractions. I did not use it as I was not planning to visit a large number of these attractions, but if you are interested on various of these, then consider it.
• Enjoy it.

Transportation

• The metro system is very good, and if you are travelling in a group, get the "T-10" tickets which is 10 euros (1 euro per ticket, great price!). 
• In my case, I was travelling with a group of 5 people, so each way we use 5 tickets, so works out perfectly. 
• You can take high speed train from Madrid, takes about 3 hours. Always purchase tickets early online.

Where to stay

• The main train station is Sants, and it takes about 10-20 min metro to get to the "La Rambla" neighborhood for shopping and restaurants. It might be nicer and more convenient to stay near the metro stations of  "Universitat" or "Cataluyna" so that you can walk to "La Rambla".

Things to do

Important Attractions

Sagrada Familia (Cathedral)

A cathedral designed by the famous local architect Gaudi, which is still unfinished today, but it's "outside the box" design attracts various visitors.

• But tickets online ahead of time, because they get sold out!

Gothic Quarter

This is a nice area to walk around to appreciate the cool architecture, and as well there are a variety of small local shops, that ranges from brand name shoes to local brand of wallets made of recycled material.

• Worth visiting at least one of the cathedrals (either Barcelona Cathedral or Santa Maria del Mar), they have free entry after certain hour in the afternoon.

La Rambla

This is a large street for shopping. It is a nice walk and good place to buy yourself something good from Spain (leather shoes or jackets or fashion clothing). As well, there is large department store called "El Corte Ingles" that has a variety of brand name clothing.


Camp Nou

This is the football stadium of FC Barcelona, a world famous team. This stadium can hold around 99,000 people, making it the largest in Europe, and one of the largest in the world (curiously the largest one is located in a certain place in Asia).

• It costs around 24 euros for the tour, which includes access to stadium, trophy room, locker rooms, and you can read about the history of this renown team.

Park Guell

This is a "park" that was designed by Gaudi, and it is interesting due to its "strange" architecture style and "interaction" with nature. This was meant to be a residential area on early 1900s, but then it became a park for people to enjoy and appreciate.

Do book the tickets online (you will need to specify an exact date and time).

Mercat de la Boqueria

This is a food market (see "What to eat" section for restaurant recommendation), and you can find various fresh fruit juices, spice (like saffron), Spanish ham, salted fish, and other local food goodies here.

Optional Attractions

• Olympic Park (beach area)
• There are various buildings designed by Gaudi that are very famous, and the popular ones are Casa Batlo and Casa Mila
• Picasso Museum (free on Sunday afternoon)
• Trip to Montserrat (1 hour and 15 min train) to enjoy a good sight from mountain top and ride on cable car

What to eat

There are many great restaurants in Barcelona, I heard many recommendations from friends, so this list is definitely not exhausted.

Note: most of the pictures I have shown is seafood, because it is so fresh, and price is reasonable. For those who don't like seafood, don't fret as there is beef, pork, potatoes, chorizos (sausages), and ham.

• tapas in Cal Pep. This place was probably the most enjoyable meal I had because the waiter who served us was awesome, very friendly, but also very engaging in making jokes with us. There is no food menu, basically the waiter will just serve you various plates of tapas (he will ask for any allergic concerns first) until you said "enough". After that, he might offer you either a fish or a steak to finish it off. In my case, we had an marvelous array of seafood (razor clams, scallops, octopus).

• seafood in "El Ramblero" in Mercat de la Boqueria. This place is on food market, so the seating is bit uncomfortable and the service might not be great (you can read more on reviews), but the freshness of the seafood was wonderful. We ordered a plate that contained a mix of everything (clams, lobster, scallops, shrimps) that was very complimented with potatoes.