Day 1:
We arrived on AVE train from Madrid in the evening. Although there is a direct metro line from Barcelona Sants station to our hotel (Hilton Barcelona, Maria Christina metro stop) we opted for a cab to avoid lugging all our belongings in the metro. After checking in and freshening up me and Karen decided to walk to a highly reviewed restaurant on Tripadvisor (Cerveceria Catalana) about 2 km from the hotel.
Day 2:
The day started out really bad weather wise and I decided to make slight changes to the itinerary for the morning. We took the metro to Diagonal Metro stop ( L3 and L5 Metro line) and walked over to Casa Mila.
This was our first introduction to seeing an Antoni Gaudi’s creation in person. The beautiful building sits on the famous street Passeig de Gracia. We walked along the street and arrived next at another Gaudi creation, Casa Batlló.
We did not go inside in any of the two previous attractions because of steep entry fees but I did not mind as we were planning to visit inside Sagrada Família later in the afternoon, Gaudi’s most famous creation.
Next we walked over to Plaça de Catalunya, the most famous square in Barcelona.
Next we walked to the Gothic Quarter, the old city of Barcelona. It was pouring heavily by this time which put some damper on our sightseeing.
We walked by the Barcelona Cathedral, next to the Gothic Quarter.
We went back to the hotel for some rest. Late afternoon we took the metro to Sagrada Familia (L2 and L5 Metro line).
The line was not that long compared to what I had read online (maybe because of bad weather) and we were inside within 30 minutes. I would absolutely recommend buying tickets online beforehand. I had opted for an audio guide and I will say it was worth the price charged.
We spent about 2 hours inside this place admiring the awe inspiring architecture. It is unlike any church I have ever been inside and a must-see in Barcelona.
Next we took the metro to Universidad stop (L1 and L2 Metro line) and walked over to our previous night’s restaurant (Cerveceria Catalana) where we enoyed a variety of tapas.
Day 3:
We took the metro to Drassanes metro stop (Line L3) that lies right next to Columbus monument (Mirador de Colom).
The monument lies at the end of the famous Las Ramblas street and we walked the whole length from there. Being only around 10 AM a lot of the shops were just opening up and the crowd was not as huge as I had read online.
We stopped by Boqueria market for some bites and it was a memorable experience visiting this market.
We took a metro from Liceu metro stop (Line L3) next to La Boqueria market to Collblanc metro stop (Line L5) and walked over to FC Barcelona stadium (Camp Nou).
We opted not to do the stadium tour (30 Euro). This was our last day in Barcelona and we were flying out early evening to Brussels. We decided to wrap up our trip with one more trip to Cerveceria Catalana for a delicious lunch.
