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.