Nosey Nomad

Barcelona has always been on my bucket list. I have looked at this as a perfect weekend trip destination – good food, pleasant weather, perfect vibe and there’s always something going on. And what grew my interest in this capital of Catalonia even more is the news of the locals protesting against the tourism in Barcelona. Why would one want to stop you from visiting a gem like Barcelona? A place with such interesting history and beauty! The answer apparently is the constantly rising cost of living for the locals.

However, my short get away was simply fantastic. The coastal city of Gaudi, dragons and Salvador Dali recharged my batteries for a long period of time. There were exactly zero things I disliked! The food, architecture, vibe.. just name it! Everything is good in Barcelona. To get to know the city better, I booked a cycling tour through Viator. It lasted for about 4 hours and covered all the main sightsees. Also, this brief introduction made the further ‘self-guided tours’ so much easier. In Barcelona there’s no such thing as too much of walking – one can just keep going on forever. After every few steps there’s another inviting cafe, another architectural marvel, that looks better than the previous one, another monument or just another mysterious plaza. And those dreamy Gaudi buildings, the stunning La Sagrada Familia along with the others. Did you know that this huge stunner became officially a church only at 2010? Before that it was considered as a temple or just another high building with numerous towers.

The highlight of the weekend in Barcelona for me was the flamenco concert. Again, something I booked through Viator and had quite humble expectations about, but -wow – was that a show! The evening started with a traditional Spanish buffet dinner and was accompanied with limitless amounts of sangria. Life couldn’t get any better at this point 🙂 But it did! The 1-hour show put the biggest smile on my face and left me speechless for hours.

If one has an extra hour to kill while in Spain, I also recommend visiting Santa Maria de Montserrat, which is only 45 km away from Barcelona. Montserrat is home for Catalonia’s favourite saint, the Black Virgin, and to the Escolania, one of the oldest boy’s choirs in Europe.

 

 

Viva la Españia!