Arty and foody Barca

What else to do in Barca? Tons! Besides soaking up the artsy atmosphere with a buzz, there's FC Barcelona to visit. And of course the food!!!

Here are some that we ventured.

The souvenier shop was packed. Bought a cute little FC barca football for Sheldon, he was so happy.

You can buy their official jerseys here but you can buy them downtown too. Lots of FCB boutiques and the prices are the same.

We also visited the cathedral of Barca, it was gothic and of course pretty as usual, but if you have seen Sagrada, St Paul's and some other magnificent churches, you may want to skip this one.

We had a nice seafood lunch by the bay, Marina Village by Ciutadella. 

We went to Moncho's Marina Bay. The fried mini squid was good. Sheldon loved it. The seafood gazpazho was really good too. Sheldon ate up these two.

The prawn was good but I am not a big mussel fan.

We then went to Spanish Village which was near Placa Espana, where the national palace and the magic fountain here. Kids would love the magic fountain show by the placa Espana. But do google check their timings as it varies for summer and winter.

Spanish village was a good place to get arty souvenier, including handmade glass statuettes. It was made on the spot too, with the furnace and allz

I was so impressed I just had to buy a piece, very cheap too just €5 for the lottle duck.

There were cafes and tapas bars all around. Art, jewellery shops and more.

However it may be a bit touristy. I doubt the Locals will come here. 

Dinner was awesome! It was by the bay again - Port vell this time and the black squid ink Paella was so delicious! What more my friend brought spicy sambal from home. Goes so well with paella haha.

The next morning we set out for Montserrat monastery, about an hour drive up the "serated" mountain. Bustling with tourists, the place is still a functional monastery and church. There was a mass happening when we were there. There was a snaking long queue to see the black madonna up close too. Story has it that back in the cave in the past, all the candles lit have blackened the face of the virgin Mary face, hence the name black madonna. The statue has an Asian flavour to it though, I feel.

Anyway, just a walk down from the monastery, there was the Montserrat Restaurant, and I found the best paella ever!!!

The goat cheese curd was er, weird though. And the iberico ham? The spaniards should try bakwa and try to make that instead.

But the paella! I had to go for second helping.

After montserrat, we went to La Roca Village, about an hour drive away ( from montserrat and from downtown), and here we had to make some holea in our pocket!

Sheldon was a bit bored there, luckily there's. playground!! How handy!

Loewe and Furla and some local Spanish brands ( Lupo, desigual, Custo), were such worthy buys. So much cheaper than back home!

For dinner, I went for a Flamenco Show. But it was so late ( shows were 9:40 and 10:40), that daddy and Sheldon stayed at the hotel and slept early. The food was not exciting at all, but at least the show was otherwise.

But I think it was such an interesting show. Lively, very unique experience.

We also went to a Cava factory the bext morning. Cava is Spanish version of sparkling wine.  

The brand Freixenet was apparently huge Internationally but I haven't heard of them before though.

The tour was however very educational. The wines and Cavas were very cheap though. Starting from €4 ish for a bottle. Wow. We bought our favourite sweet wine Monbazillac for just €8, back home is at least $30. We intend to drink it up tonight.

Lunch was downtown at a lovely restaurant-boulangerie-cafe that was rather Frenchy, called Farga, by Avenue diagonal. 

The cakes and salad were really good though!

We also bought some of their macaroons back to the hotel. €12.50 for 7 pieces.

Apparently Sheldon stole the first one, called it pink hamburger and happily gobbled it down. 

At night we went for an "atas" gala dinner, up at Montjuic ( mount jewish). 500 years ago, it used to be a jewish cemetery. 

But now, it's a revolving restaurant with anaing amazing view or Barcelona skyline ( you will notice the lit up, colorful agbar tower standing like sore thumb, apparently, the Spaniards call it the big supository ^_^). 

Montjuic is high up but still very near downtown, so it is a must visit. 

The restaurant is called El Xalet. The appetizer of raw monkfish salad was gross ( sorry I don't eat raw stuff), but the experience was made up by the very decent duck confit and the overwhelmingly gorgeous view at the balcony.

I can't stop thinking about the view. We were lucky enough to spot fireworks too. Sheldon was ecstatic when he saw the fireworks.

But then the night came and the next day we ventured the famous Ramblas (Barca's Orchard Road), where it's bustling and crowded.

Plaza Catalunya is probably the center of it all, and you can feed pigeons in this big square. At the basement of the square, you can also claim your VAT refund.The place is sorrounded by big department stores ( el corte ingles), Hard Rock Cafe and many lovely restaurants.

We went to one amazing one called Ciudad Condal.

Packed and we had to queue a little. 

The prices were not low but the food and variety was really good.

Walking to the other end of Rambla, we found the famous la boqueria market. Fresh fruits, nougat, jamon and lots more stalls. Many stalls selling fresh produce, fresh fish and also many cafes in it too. 

There is also this Chinese Wok fried place "Wok to walk" that seemed to be packed all day long. We couldn't resist but eat there a few times as we missed Chinese food a little bit haha.

The big fire wok fry made the food taste pretty good eventhough the sauces were not so authentic. Good concept I must say and it's a big hit with the Asian tourists and the locals.

Further along, there's Placa Reial, a big square sorrounded with many restaurants, bars and cafes.

The restaurants look tempting, but I have a feeling it's a lite touristy. However, we saw one or two with a long queue, I suppose that one could be good! ( kiasuism kicking in).

For those who want to party, Barca is awesome for parties.

I am lucky to have a hubby who was more than willing to help look after Sheldon at night, So i went out one night with my friends and colleagues.

Nasty Mondays at the Apolo.

Place was packed by 1am, 2 rooms- obe hosue one Rock n roll.

The Rock&Roll place is the legendart one. It plays a little Indie beats, some off mainstream rock and some mainstream Rock.

And they even have sing-along sessions with lyrics on the big screen. A very interesting nightlife experoence for us!

That summed up Barca for now!

We were going to Sevilla the next morning!

Touristy barcelona day

Some must visit sites in Barca are those by Gaudi. Of course, he is uber important in the history of architecture. A genius, ahead of his time who created out of this world masterpiece.

La Sagrada Familia, the unfinished and still under - construction church is the most unique I have ever seen.

St Paul's and Notre Dame was beautiful, but not one is quite like La Sagrada Familia. The best thing to do is buy your ticket online in advance or else the queue for the ticket will be ridiculous.

Next most important site is of course Parc Guell, do learn about their histories, very interesting.

Both places are crowded and not so stroller friendly. Remember to keep your belongings close to you. Beware of pickpockets. 

If you like Gothic churches, Santa maria del mar, located in the old town with pebbled back alleys and totally medieval feel would be a good visit. 

Sheldon didn't want to go in though as I suppose it was rather dark and poorly lit at night so daddy had to wait outside while I just grabbed a quick look.

However daddy enjoyed his "people watching time" outside the cathedral.

Passers-by, tourists, locals, all seem to be happily enjoying their enchantes evening.

While you're there, turn a corner and visit the Picasso museum too.

Sheldon didn't quite enjoy these though. They were meant for the parents to enjoy I suppose. It's ok, we take turn, yesterday was his day.

We learnt quite a lot of interesting facts about Picasso but we don't quite resonate with his paintings so we didn't buy any souveniers back. Hubby said he doesnt understand them. haha. 

We bought Sheldon a Picasso - Barcelona T-shirt though, he chose it himself. In Barca, even the touristy T shirt souveniers were artsy, gorge and different. 

We had another food comma meal for dinner ( totally overfed), slightly out of the way, at North Barca, we had romantic Spanish dinner. 

Their Fiduea was more like fried beehoon with sotong. Was very happy to find anything resembling food back home! haha. Less heard of internationally, but I think it's worth a try!

Sheldon slept throughout the dinner else he would have loved the char bee hoon.

Ah but did I mention? 

The hotel Le Meridien at La Rambla is so gorgeous. Such a different feel in this side of town, more buzz, more crowd, more vibe but still very cultural, breath taking and artsy. Most of the hotels are really gorgeous too as they are in refurbished classic old buildings. Esp. Hotel 1889 opposite Le meridien. So so painfully gorgeous.

I can't get enough of just looking at the facades of all the buildings. All different, all gorgeous. 

Sheldon is loving the spacious room with. great view!

 However La Rambla gets a little noisy at night with party goers. So you may need earplugs at night haha. 

So now I am gonna look for earplugs. Good night.

Tomorrow we are going to the Football club Fc Barca! My Fave!!!

Today is Sheldon's Day - Ciutadella and Barceloneta

The day started early today. By 8 plus in the morning we were walking from Llacuna to Ciutadella. 

Sheldon was so excited he was pushing the pram all the way.

The walk took about 15 mins and we were presented with beautiful weather and beautiful views.

We stopped by for a quick breakfast neat Calle de Pedro IV, just before the bridge hump.

Lovely burger, with fresh patty grilled in a stone fired oven, all for about €3-4. 

Breakfasts are very affordable in Barca.

We also stopped by a little playground before the main stop - Parc De la Ciutadella.

After monkeying around a little. awe adjourned to the famous Parc De la Ciutadella, that's just next to the city'a zoo and the parliament house of Catalunya.

The park is a short stroll away from the nearest metro/tram station - Ciutadella villa olympica. But we decided to walk all the way from our hotel at Llacuna- just 15 mins.

The park is called such as it had a citadel within it, and a lake too. 

It was gorgeous!

We went up to the grand citadel and daddy played a little hopscotch with Sheldon, they both seemed to enjoy it!

There was a little playground too, we had to make a little pitstop there as Sheldon requested:)

The lake was pretty too. There were ducks that kept Sheldon mesmerised for sometime. You can hop on the boat too for about €3 per person.

All these while, daddy was catching on his book. " Song of winds" by our good friend Julian Kim. Daddy couldn't put it down.

We checked the weather forecast and it said that there may be 50% chance of rain in 2 hours.

So we decided to make our way to lunch and then back to hotel.

Anyway, we intended to let Sheldon have a short nap before we go out again, so that he doesn't fall asleep during dinner like last night.

A quick lunch along the way to the tran station Ciutadella. This elcafe was just opposite the University of Pompeu Fabra.

Looking at Uni students always help us feel young and youthful again!:)

 

Sheldon insisted on having the muffin and he did eat about 1/3 of it voluntarily.

He also had some of my cheese toast.

And then a peach drink, his favourite drink in Spain so far.

After the train ride back to the hotel, we were hoping that Sheldon was sleepy already.

But it took us another hour of trying to get him to sleep, plus a stroller walk around the hotel block before he finally sleeps. But he slept by 3 anyway, so that's good enough:) We are going to the aquarium and seafood waterfront dinner this evening, luckily the aquarium opens til 9pm.

After nap, we took the metro to Barceloneta station and we were greeted with atmosphere different from what we have been used to the last few days. It's actually bustling. People scurrying past, chatty tourist left and right. So different from quieter, suburban Poble Nou. 

The waffle and hotdog stand served really good waffles; crunchy, fragrant and the milk caramel sauce was so heavenly. The hotdog had fried onion on top instead of fresh, chopped ones. 

Having them while you enjoy the view of port Vell- the waterfront and harbour at Barceloneta, was an experience one shouldn't miss.

There was this basker who blew humongous bubbles, Sheldon was happily chasing the bubbles with a few other Spanish kids.

Sheldon dropped €2 into his hat. 

And the we walked further along Port Vell  to reach the aquarium. The size and variety was not as great as the one in Perth.

But we spotted some unusual mediterranian fish.

Like this funny bugger with non existent tail and fins on top and at the bottom only.  ( second last row, next to penguin)

We also spotted the horseshoe crap ( top right), a species apparently older than the dinosaurs!

Also we saw some herbivorous piranhas ( bottom right), which were way bigger in size than the carnivorous ones! ( also in picture). 

Wow looks like turning vegetarian won't make you slimmer.

After spending about 1.5 hours here, we started to make our way back to ghe row of restaurants along Barceloneta.

It's seafood dinner time.

El Rey de La Gamba is the king of prawns! Expanded to more than 4 shops now, came very highly recommended.

The squid ink paella was good, prawns were good but the octopus was lacklustre. 

But still worth a trip I think.

Before going back, I noticed the wine prices in the supermarket.

€3 for a bottle of wine?? Manggggg.... wouldn't that be music to many of my friends' ears???

And so the night ended. Sober this time, no sangria overdose. Tomorrow is the day we are moving hotel to 'chi chi' Le meridien at La Ramblas. Can't wait. 

Rambla De Poble nou at night

Seriously, there are more shops and restaurants open at night, compared to day time.

Tourists pass by, some Chinese faces too. Locals were walking their dogs and hanging out with friends and kids.

Casino, bingo pubs and bars.

And of course the right thing to do is pick one of the bars, sit outside and enjoy sangria.

At the same time, enjoy their beautiful facade. The doors are so pretty I couldn't help but adore them. So intricate, why can't we have such pretty ironworks back home?? The HDB gates are so boring....

Sheldon was again asleep, in fact fell asleep right after we pushed him in the stroller, so we spent a quiet time walking to the beach at the end of the Rambla and thereafter quiet time sipping sangria.

After a pitcher of sangria, yours truly was drunk. ( Cheap drunk, guilty as charged).

So we had to pack Chinese takeaway ( Again guilty as charged- for missing Chinese food by the 2nd day) and headed back from hotel

Put Sheldon on the bed and finishes up my rice, beef (too sweet) and decent chicken soup from Chun Yue Chinese Restaurant.

Uneventlful after that, drunk and sleepy. ^_^

Night night.

Good morning Barcelona

The second day Sheldon woke up at 4am!!! Thanks to Jetlag. While the daddy slept somemore, I had to stay awake til he fell asleep again at 6 and all of us woke up again at 830am. Haha.. 

But it was all good. We planned to walk all the way from Llacuna area to Selva Del Mar to have breakfast at Kata restaurant where there is a conveyor belt buffet.

But Alas, no tapas buffet at 1030 am. Only baguettes., bleah, enough breakfast baguettes for me. I think the Spaniards need to expand their breakfast menu. We have to come back at 1 pm to enjoy the €11 tapas buffet. 

So we looked for a simple cafe to have quick breakfast before we go outlet shopping. 

Cafeteria Status' Food was absolutely horrible. A spanish cafe serving Spanish greasy meals, manned by 2 Chinese ladies. I was so tempted to ask her if they have soup noodle or something Chinese.

I always carry Sheldon's food around so he doesn't have to eat the greasy foods outside, he had fruit puree and cereals.

By the way, a little off tangent- the rubbish bins in Barca are so huge! They have a paddle to open the cover that's cool. But I guess this is because they don't have chute system, so all the apartment occupants have to throw their rubbish outside on the pavements.

Back to Barca, after the greasy bfast, we headed to Selva Del Mar tram station, along the way I found buildings that reminded me of home.

Haha.

The tram trip to Glories was really short, maybe about 7-10 mins? And then we took the metro from Glories to Fabra I Fuig, another 10 mins ish, where the Heron City Outlets are.

This is the first and only outlet shopping centre in Barcelona city. The proper and famous one La Roca Village is a bit of a drive away from Barca. We will be going there too next week.

The Mango, Pull&Bear and desigual outlets were too irresistible.

I have been eyeing Desigual skirts for S$100 plus back home, its only €34 here plus I still can claim VAT. So I couldn't resist.

MNG and Pull and bear weren't too shabby too. Hubby bought a couple of comfy T shirts from Pull&Bear for just €5.99.

Wow almost Primark prices haha.

There were other brands too. But we weren't so keen and we were rushing to go back to Kata restaurant before they close at 4pm.

Kata didn't disappoint us too badly.

Variety was ok, very value for money and desserts were delectable.

The butter chicken rice was not eventful, noone can do rice like the Chinese that's for sure.

But thr Veg lasagne, croquettes, potato gratin and grilled fish were decent.

Anyhow we had food comma afterwards.

We went back to nap as many shops also took a nap in the afternoon. They  call it siesta and it's like a nation wide culture. Aiyoh, so good life. These angmohs wont survive working in Asia! We open morning, close late night. What siesta. 

...... 

Bogatell and Glories

The first day continued. A short 7-10 mins stroll and we were at Bogatell beach. Blue azzure waters and a fraction of Barcelonetta's crowd. Spotted one shy nudist too as she was covering herself with sarong after stripping. By the way it's common to go nude in the beaches in Spain. Wah lau worse than the Korean public baths, even more open.

Sand was not as white or soft as Scarborough beach, Perth or Redang ( as hubby mentioned), and not even as white as Bintan. But the atmosphere was different, many cyclists and joggers around. 

We had fun and took a few nice shots anyhow. 

We then walked back towards Llacuna station and saw a different face of Barcelona, the back alleys!!

Surprisingly, many closed shops ( bankrupt or lazy?? I dunno). And graffiti was everywhere. Some nice but mostly not nice. Oh wow Singaporeans are really deprived this way. We hardly see grafitti back home and the moment I saw them I felt rather uneasy haha.

Well the interesting walk ended at the Llacuna ( pronounces ya-hoo-na apparently), and took our first Metro ride.

Buying ticket was easy. Machine had english and cash option ( so much better than the Paris ones! only French language option and the young Parisian who tried to help me buy ended up conning me a hundred Euro! Buggerrrrr).

We chose the 4 day pass for 25 Euro.

From Llacuna, we took the metro to Ciutadella Vila Olympica ( where the zoo and newer modern buildings are).

And then the tram from Ciutadella to Glories.

Sheldon totally enjoyed all the train rides! 

Choo-chooing, talking, commenting all the way.

Some stations had lift and were baby friendly but some don't have lifts so we had to take the escalator or staircases. So, hmm stroller was a bit of a hassle. 

Once you alight at Glories Tram stop, you will not miss the sight of this amazing iconic tower. Agbar Tower.

We also passed the National theatre, though I am not sure if there were anything interesting to watch there.

Walked a little bit further and you will be greeted with the massive glories shopping centre, with 150 shops and many restaurants.

We were starving when we reached Glories Shopping Centre. So we stopped by some random tapas bar / restaurant and it wasn't that great.

The Paella was a bit salty and I was wishing I was having yangzhou fried rice, pardon my Chinese tummy. And the black sausage was just gross hahaa but the bacon was soooo good though. Or maybe I though it was so good cause everything else was crap. Sheldon was only willing to eat the fries ( spat out the paella)..so we had to give him his back up food and fruits, raisins etc and puree to top up. Oh well, boy is picky. 

Anyway, here is the shopping centre. 

Check it out! Spaniards like to "Buy And Throw Away" too. Heh heh.  

AndI didnt get anything cause I thought I'll visit the outlets the next few days instead. I had great self control! And so we only walked around, dirtied their floors and used their handicapped toilet to clean Sheldon's poo.

Thank you Glories. 

We were so jetlagged, we decided to call it a day. We got back to hotel around 8 pm and Sheldon was already fast asleep on his stroller. So when I moved him to bed, I had to dreamfeed him his milk.

So, it is now rest time, enough blogging and tomorrow is another day... ^_^