On my 21st birthday, my parents treated me to a break in Barcelona. Wow Great rich parents I hear you say - you are mistaken!
Don't get me wrong my parents are great - but rich they are not - and that is the wonder of Barcelona. You don't have to be a jet-setting millionaire to get there, and once you're there it is a place where you can spend as little or as much as you'd like.
We went during November, catching a flight with Easyjet from Liverpool airport (our flights cost £40 each airport taxes 'n all - they do vary though!). It was a day flight, which I had never experienced before, but will insist on having in the future. My mother and her friend were sat on the left aisle and myself and my friend on right. A middle-aged Spanish gentleman sat next to us, with his helpful attitude and pure delight in telling us about "Barca", it was a good sign for the rest of the break.
Flying over the mountains in Northern Spain (Sorry bad with Geography - can't remember the names!!) Was AMAZING. Although we were High up, I could see a woman hanging her clothes out on her washing line, making out each individual item.
Arriving at the airport, we were amazed at the cleanliness of it. Cleaners were freely walking around paying attention to every minor detail (I saw one cleaner cleaning the phones - don't get that around here do you!!), walking outside, we went to the taxi rank to get a taxi to our hotel. None of us being brilliant in Spanish, we were worried about how we'd cope. But how easy?? No he didn't speak English, but a show of the address, thumbs up, chuck the cases in the back of the car and away.
Our hotel was a former convent, still keeping a lot of its redeeming features. It's a family run business, and we were one of the first guests to stay there. Renovation works weren't finished, but disturbance were kept to a minimal. For all you women - yes the hotel was basic, but WOW the brothers behind the counter - hubbalicious. The four of us turned into pathetic 13 year olds - dreams were made of them!
The indoor courtyard was a fantastic feature, with long green plants dangling from the top floor all the way down - very romantic bo-ho style!! As I said before the rooms were basic, but we were told that all rooms were going to be updated very soon, and that some were currently being worked on. We were shown the works in progress and they looked good.
The hotel served a continental breakfast - which is great if you like croissants or can eat them without turning into a hefft! Otherwise you were limited.
The hotel was situated no more than 20 yards off the Las Ramblas.
We had a fantastic time walking up the street id evening, there were street artists, performers, fortune teller - one of which came running up to me, grabbed my face and proceeded to say "beautiful luck girl", and grabbing my mam and kept telling her the same while still staring at me (I ain't no well-pretty so this was just great!!) - anyway thought I'd just tell you all that - nothing better than some self-trumpet blowing!)
We had been advised by friends who'd visited this amazing place in the past to wander down some of the better lit side streets as the better restaurants were there, this is what we did on the first night ending up in a local restaurant, who’s name I couldn't pronounce let alone remember - where we proceeded to have the bestest of the best paella any of us have ever had. The presentation was amazing and, as a nice change, there was plenty of seafood in it (mussels, prawns, baby squid - the works) along with plenty of beautiful bright veg worked through.
Being part of Catalonia, they feel a connection with the Celtic people, and being Welsh we were welcomed with open arms, wit the bar man shouting we were welsh over the bar to cheers of Mark Hughes and Ryan Giggs - quite surreal!
We ended the night in a bar/cafe, which had quite a "chilled" feel" too it - this is not a place for wild debauchery behaviour!
The next day we went to Barcelona Football Stadium, using the metro (very useful, with little lights flashing on a grid to let you know what station you were at. The signage to get into the place was slightly diabolical, as they tend to deal with bus tours more than wanderers like us. Once inside, although not a fan I was in my element. The information boards were in different languages, making it user friendly for most Europeans. With interesting information available. Even the football club is historic!!
We got to watch the players train - which was nice (hehehehe!!). After walking round for what seemed half an hour, but turned out to be two, we went outside to find our way back. On our way we spotted a massive group of Barca fans hanging about by the gates. The next half hour was the most exiting ever. Pushing and shoving to get a picture of the famous footballers, I didn't even know them but God I was exited!!!
After all that excitement, we made our way back to the las Ramblas for some retail therapy. Don’t laugh, but we did have some trouble finding Le Courtes Ingles, until a sweet old lady laughed at us, swung me round and pointed at the biggest building with the biggest sign, clearly stating the name - the moment where I wished the floor would open up and swallow me!
After all the shopping (at the time considerably cheaper than Britain - not sure about the prices with this new Euro Craic! But my already full make-up bag was now bursting at the seams.
We ended up in a tapas bar - which was amazing fun - a little bit of everything never did anyone harm!! Before walking back to our hotel. On the way we passed the local Library, which had a tree in the courtyard for you to make a wish on - a very nice thing actually - it was quite interesting reading others wishes as well.
The next day I went into Gaudi overload. We visited Palais De Gaulle - which was extraordinary. A guide took us around the building which was beautiful, strange, mysterious, deceiving all at the same time. Going out on the roof of the building was amazing, and being the only place you could take photos - I used up a whole film. The tall spikes were all in different colours and styles (most of which now adorn my staircase!)
Unfortunately we spent nearly a whole day here which left us limited to where we could visit. My only complain about this Beautiful City is that three days is never enough, maybe not even six! I felt cheated as I wasn't ready to go home - I hadn't seen half of the things I wanted to see.
Hotel Address: Placa Sant Agustin, 3 Barcelona 8001 Spain Hotel Rating: 3 star Hotel Location: Las Ramblas Number of Rooms: 75 on 6 floors
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