Barcelona Day 1

Barcelona, Spain

We woke up around 8:30 to have time to shower, dress, eat breakfast at the hotel, and get to the Placa Reial in time for our Runner Bean walking tour of the Gaudi buildings. The meeting place for the tour was about a 20 minute walk from our hotel and was a gorgeous place to start our day! Our guide, Jessie, was amazing – she’s a young woman originally from Australia who has a love of theatre and of architecture. As she took us around the city to see the various buildings, she shared loads of stories and tips about enjoying Barcelona and Gaudi. We saw the Casa Mila (La Pedrera), Casa Batllo, Palau Guell, and Sagrada Familia – spectacular! During the tour, we wound up buying a 10-trip Metro pass to use while in Barcelona. I think that’s the best value in terms of using the Metro for a short stay. Our goal after the tour was to find a spot to watch the French Open semifinal between Rafa and Djokovic, so we wound up in an Irish pub called Michael Collins across the street from Sagrada Familia for a burger (Matthew) and steak pie (me) while watching tennis on the gigantic tv – it was an awesome match that ended up lasting over 4 hours, and the guys at Michael Collins were fine with us sitting there the entire time.

After the match, we took the Metro back to Passeig de Gracia so we could visit the Ferrari store – Matthew was in heaven! We had “dinner” reservations at Espai Sucre, recommended by Anthony Bourdain, at 8:30pm. Dessert for dinner was perfect! I ordered from the Big Dessert Menu, and Matthew ordered from the Chocolate Menu – both were incredibly delicious! Our server, Sergi, is also the restaurant’s sommelier and was so cute and friendly! We asked to see the kitchen, and Sergi took us back to meet the chef, Ricard Martinez – a big treat for sure!