A Winter Escape to Barcelona

The airport transfer bus is nice and easy from the airport, especially since it travels right down the central road through the city, which so happened to be where our hotel was, Casa Luz, in the University district. It was a very clean and vibrant area, which is pretty typical of most of Barcelona, and the hotel itself was really nice. It’s run by Sonder, who have places all over the World. We couldn’t check in right away as we were there early, but they happily let us store our bags, and then we set off for a little walk around the area. It was fairly quiet on most of the streets, as even though it was about 14 degrees, this was freezing for people in Barcelona, and definitely not tourist season.

If we turned left out of the hotel, we found ourselves in the equivalent of Oxford or Regent Street, with so many recognisable chain stores, but as we looped around, shops became more independent and streets became narrower. There were a surprising number of independent washing machine and refrigerator shops, still not entirely sure why there were so many. I popped into SandwiChez on our way back towards the hotel to grab a wrap, and then we properly checked in.

I then scoured Google Maps for a good cocktail bar and saw one rated 4.8 called Collage Cocktail Bar, so we popped over to it and instantly were happy with the choice, it was a dark but stylish two-tiered room with comfy seats upstairs and a nice general vibe. I can’t honestly remember what the cocktail was that I went for, but it had a bit of spice to it as well as fruitiness, Ems went for a Pornstar Martini, her go-to cocktail. We just had one, and walked back to the hotel. Ems’ back had been hurting throughout the day, so she decided she was going to get an early night, but encouraged me to go and explore a little more, so I kissed her goodnight and set off.

When I’m in any country, I seek out the rock bars. They’re always interesting and quirky, with friendly service. I actually found two on my wander around the area. The first was called Nevermind (after the Nirvana album name), which was an unexpected gem. The walls were covered in gig posters and stickers, impressively so, and there was even a mini skate park in the bar. The tunes playing were skater rock anthems, which was something different as most European rock bars tend to stick to heavier rock/metal. I grabbed a drink and looked around, taking a few pics and looking like such a tourist in amongst the local alt crowd.

The crown on this 100 year old architecture around the city, is the creations of Gaudi. The city is littered with villas, parks and attractions built by the famous architect, and they really are something to behold. He took influence from shapes created in nature, and you can see it right away. Entering the Sagrada Familia, you can’t help but think “wow”. The pillars alone are unique, and look like trees reaching up and grabbing for the sunlight. The stained glass is created to perfection and fills the textures of the ceiling with a gradient of colours, usually only seen when created by LED lighting. It’s really a hard form of architecture to describe to anyone who can’t see it for themselves.

It’s quite strange being in a European church that’s such a tourist attraction, but knowing that it still isn’t even finished. They are nowhere near completing the tallest spire yet, and so there are cranes above the building and people working outside to perfect it. Even the bells in the tower are something special, comprised of 88 tubular bells of every note, just like a piano. Forget the basic tunes usually heard from a church spire. This thing could play a symphony.

It wasn’t too much of a walk over to our next destination, Casa Mila / La Pedrera. This was another Gaudi creation, this time an apartment building curving around the end of a standard block of buildings on the grid formation that covers most of the city. From the outside you can tell it’s going to be quirky, with more influences from nature clearly visible. I didn’t know what to expect inside at all. We entered into an impressive inner courtyard, and then made our way up 6 flights of stairs (there was a lift, we decided against it). Upon reaching the top, we looked around an apartment laid out as it would have been in the early 1900s. It was clearly the home of a well-off family, with a beautiful kitchen and dining area especially, tall architecturally beautiful ceilings and winding corridors.

On our way down the hill, we managed to get trapped in a park. No idea how. We entered from the top, made our way down through it (thinking it was incredibly quiet), only to be met with locked gates at the bottom. A bit of climbing later though and we were out and continued to wind our way down towards the city. The birds in the trees in this area were green parakeets and made very fun sounds, it was a nice change from the birds in the UK and pigeons on the streets everywhere else. Once down into the city, it was back to the hotel.

We both fancied drinks together that night. I showed Ems the skate bar I had seen the previous night, just as I thought it had looked very unique, and then we went to a cocktail bar called El Museo. It was small but very inviting, with beautiful decor and welcoming staff. I tend to prefer to give cocktail bartenders the chance to get creative with the drinks they make, rather than sticking to a set menu, which they often prefer. I just make sure to let them know what kinds of flavours and spirits I enjoy, and each one I had that night was delicious, while still all being very different. The bar staff were very chatty, and the guy in particular took a lot of interest in my photography, and asked for advice as to how to capture their cocktails better. I’m pretty sure if I’d brought the right lenses, I could have booked in a shoot with them. It was then time to head back and get a good night’s sleep, I needed it that night.

Gelato at this point was on my mind, it often is, but there were no decent places nearby so we gave it a miss. Instead we walked along the seafront towards the W Hotel that dominates the skyline in the area. We were waiting for the sun to reappear so that we could go on the cable car that goes across the harbour, and it seems we timed it perfectly, the sun came out just as we finished our walk up and down the seafront. To go on the cable car from this end, you take an elevator up the tower and board from there. I was snapping away with my camera right away.  Five of us got in one cable car and set off towards the hill the other side. I was really glad the windows of the cable car opened, which allowed me to get some clear photos from various angles, and we both agreed it was worth the money for the nice views of the harbour and across the city with the afternoon blue sky reflecting off of the Mediterranean.

The cable car ended fairly close to where we had been on the hill the day before. We took some pics, including some cute selfies together, and obviously some pics of Ems posing in front of the city view too (I mean, she’s a girl in her 20s, it has to be done). We again wandered down into the city, and to my delight, found a good gelato place, where I got a strange but delicious mix of dark chocolate gelato and mango sorbet. I was happy though.

We made it to the top of the hill, but once we got there, the park had probably stopped even admitting if it had been open that day at all. It wasn’t a problem though, we had enjoyed seeing the neighbourhood, and then we also found a great viewpoint, where a bunch of tourists had congregated to look out over the city. The sun was setting at this point, which always makes it look more beautiful. We started to make our way down in a different direction only to discover… escalators. Yet again, Barcelona’s obsession with outdoor escalators rears its head. I’m quite glad we didn’t take them up though, as it was good to get the workout.

The trip back down towards the metro wasn’t all that exciting, the sun had started to disappear and so we jumped back on to head over to our area of the city. Ems wanted to pop into the giant Primark to grab something, which becomes more of a mission when it’s a 5 floor store, and after that I was ready to head back to the hotel. My feet were aching, as I suffer from gout. Thankfully though it didn’t kick in on the trip, but I like to be careful. It was me who decided to take a nap this time, while Ems went out and grabbed some bits she needed to get for friends and family. I needed that nap badly though, and woke up feeling much more refreshed and ready for our last night in the city.

I had marked a restaurant called Tosca Del Carme on my map just the day before, so we headed there for our evening meal. It was about 10.30pm by this point, but that’s a pretty normal time to eat in Spain. I opted for some cava to drink, along with a spicy sausage tapas dish and a vegetable lasagne, both delicious, especially the lasagne. Ems opted for the salmon, which for once I didn’t get to try, as she finished it all. It must have been good! The service at this place was quite slow, I think they had some new staff on, or something along those lines, that was the only negative really, but the place looked nice and the food tasted good, so we were happy. I had another glass of cava, and then we went back to the hotel to rest up ahead of leaving the next day. Zzzzz.

We then popped into a book and souvenir shop called La Llama before waiting for our bus to the airport. We noticed while walking to the bus stop that on the adjacent road, there was a large protest going on, with dark black smoke billowing from it. I looked it up and discovered it was a protest against the fact that the Spanish government had ruled the idea of Catalan independence, closed. I should have headed over to get some journalistic shots of it all, but we had a bus to catch - or so we thought. It seems that the protests had blocked the route of the bus, and it never arrived. We ended up having to book in an Uber instead.

We arrived at the airport and security all went smoothly, they never discovered my guns and batch of heroin, so that’s all good. The flight left on time, and we were a little sad to know that we were returning to the freezing cold of the UK. We finished watching Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio on the plane, which was very good, and started watching the new Puss in Boots film, which seemed pretty fun, but didn’t have time to finish it. We landed on time and said our goodbyes as we got on our separate trains home.