Friday, September 8th, 2023
Train from Paris Gare de Lyon to Barcelona-Sants Train Station
Arrived in Barcelona via a 7-hour train ride. It was nice to relax, regroup and get our blog site a little updated (although the wifi on the train didn’t make that easy).
Settled into the apartment and took a stroll down Gràcia Boulevard, checking out some Güell designed buildings then stopped by Le Taverna for a drink. After checking out Placa Reial (a large public square), we went to Oassis for dinner.
Saturday, September 9th, 2023
Not as busy today in Barcelona – taking it a bit slower.
Breakfast at Zenith Brunch – supposedly the top brunch spot in Barcelona – they did not disappoint! I got this French Bread made from a whole wheat raisin walnut bread covered in berries and jam, Betsy got some yogurt and granola crap. 
We then walked down to Arc de Triomf and took a stroll in Parc de la Ciutadella – I wish the fountains were running, but they’ve had a drought, so all the city fountains are off.
Next was the Picasso Museum. I try to be appreciative of art, I really do. But man, that guy had some weird ideas!
We then walked down and had lunch on the beach at Xup Xup, then waded in the Balearic Sea and hung out on the beach.
We went back up to Santa Maria del Mar Basilica, a church from the 1300’s – beautiful! We walked around a few plazas, checking out the old Royal Palace and Barcelona Cathedral.
We were supposed to go down to La Rambla area, but the party crowd started coming out and the place was getting packed, so we decided to get some dinner at a restaurant close by. We ordered Seafood Paella, thinking it would come shelled, but it came out with a pile of lobster and scampi parts! I little more work, but it was still good.
Back to the apartment for a glass of wine on the rooftop terrace (did I mention we can see Sagrada Familia from the rooftop?)
Sunday, September 10th, 2023
Started off the day with breakfast at EatMyTrip, a great brunch location. I think Betsy was trying to make up for her boring breakfast yesterday with the Magic French Toast (covered in cotton candy)!
Not as hot as Paris, but another toasty day in Barcelona!
Then we took a cab up to Montjuic- a mountainside park and area built around the original fort. We started off at the old palace with some pics down towards the city and the magic fountain. This place is loaded with fountains, but they’re all shut down because of the draught.
We then went over to Poble Espanyol – a reconstructed Iberian village. Lots of shops that Betsy took advantage of! We had lunch there at Mexcal – I had a steak that came with a pile of hot peppers!
We walked from there to the Botanical Gardens, stopping by the Barcelona Stadium on the way.
Jardí Botànic looked a little unkept, but we think a lot of that is due to the draught. The place is built on the mountainside, so lots of up and down grades (did I mention it was a hot day?!
From there, we took the cable car up to Castell de Montjuic (I think we’ve now taken every form of transportation on this trip!) Admission was free on Sunday afternoons, but I think that’s because most of it was closed! We still got some pretty awesome views of the city and the sea. You can tell why they built a fort here in the first place.
Took the bus back to our apartment for a quick shower before going to dinner at Lecca Baffi Italian.
Monday, September 11th, 2023
Last day in Barcelona!
Started the day across the street at Kilele for breakfast, then walked down to Sagrada Familia Basilica. Holy over the top cathedrals Batman! All the stories told in the reliefs, and just the magnitude of the building and the towers are amazing!
From there we went on to see more of Gaudi’s work at Park Güell. This was originally built to be an upper-class community area that didn’t get any buyers. I think nobody wanted to walk up and down the mountainside every day – that place was a workout just getting around!
We then took the hop on hop off bus around the north side of town, and then to the Barcelona Cathedral. Another beautiful church!
Came back to the apartment to freshen up and change to head out for a Flamenco show – pretty good, but I’m sure there was a story behind it that we didn’t understand.
Tuesday, September 12th, 2023
Breakfast, then off to the Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport for our flight to Lisbon.
