Ahh! Have just returned from a 4 day trip to Barcelona.

And it was wonderful! I think I have fallen in love with the city. It was warm, clean, friendly, easy to get around. The food was delicious and the drink  was aplenty! Ok the exchange rate meant that we spent a fortune on just day to day existence so didn’t really do the shops, but there was plenty to see and do.

On the first day we got there, Sunday, we had planned to go up to Montjuic – but our hotel receptionist (The Vinnci Arena - by Espanya Metro) suggested trying Parc Guell as the afternoon was warm and sunny. Turned out to be a fabulous idea as we got a chance to don our summer clothes, get to know the Barcelona Metro system and take in a load of Gaudi all within the first few hours of getting there. As its a large park I did find it took a toll on my feet, so after an ice-cream (almost a daily occurrence in Barcelona!) we headed back to the hotel for a quick nap. Feeling refreshed we headed out on foot in search of food – following our guidebooks recommendation to go to a little veggie place called “Sesame”. It hadn’t quite opened when we got there so we found this wonderful chic cocktail bar – “Marmalade” where we hung out for a happy hour. After a cocktail and half a bottle of wine I was feeling quite merry so easily fell asleep when we finally got back to the hotel

Monday was dominated by the bike trip I had organised via Expedia. We had no details about what time it started so got to the meeting point in Placa St Jaume an hour and a half before we needed to. Still it gave us time to check out the Catedral and its scary geese, and La Ramblas with its amazing fresh fruit market (where we got some fresh juice) before heading back to join our bike tour. Julie was the French girl who was leading teh bike tour – which consisted of myself and Fi, 4 British girls on a hen weekend and a Belgian couple. The bikes we got given we quite simple but really easy to ride. No gears but the route we took was flat for most of the way. It was an excellent tour. Julie was very informative – and told us some real heart wrenching stories about the history of the Barri Gotic in relation to the Spanish Inquisition and the Civil War. From there we cycled down Las Ramblas to the Port, then alomg to Barcelonetta where we stopped for a coffee, then up towards the Sagrada Famillia (which I wasn’t that impressed with – all dark, foreboding, covered in cranes and swarming with tourist buses. Both me & Fi decided we wouldn’t bother revisiting it – this trip at least). After that we headed along the Diagonal (quite scary in places) and back towards the top of La Ramblas. 3 hours and lots of fun. I would definitely recommend it to anyone visiting Barcelona for a few days

After that exertion we needed to treat ourselves so found the tapas bar recommended by Julie – Bilbao Berria in the Catedral Square. As there were no free tables outside we ended up perching on a table with two Dutch girls, who we had a great laugh with. They taught us about the self service tapas rules – about keeping hold of the cocktail sticks that each tapas piece is served on so they can tot up your bill at the end. We joined them in a few glasses of wine and laughed solidly for a couple of hours! And we never even found out their names…

That evening we wandered over towards El Raval and after stopping for coffee found we had been contacted by the lady we had been sat next on the flight, Mel. It was here last night in Barcelona so she had wanted to meet up for a drink. We suggested Madame Jasmines – a place we decided to try based purely on name alone. Yet more happy hour cocktails. Then we 3 headed to Juicy Jones (another veggie restaurant) where we sunk another bottle of wine while waiting for the lovely food to be delivered by the slow waiters

Tuesday meant the Picasso Museum. Long queues – but worth it. Lovely old castle for a museum and I was astounded by how fabulous his linocuts were. Even if some of his early stuff left me cold.

Lunch at the heavenly Origens restaurant with lots of rustic food served by a divine waiter – who gave us graphic descriptions of how to rub raw garlic over our fresh bread and squeeze fresh tomatoes onto it to make Catalan bread. Mmmm… Then we meandered around smelling of garlic no doubt and found the City Park where we ambled then sat in the afternoon sun and fell asleep to the sound of some bloke tap dancing in a bandstand

Wandered from there in a random fashion throu Sant Paul to get back to Las Ramblas. And had pizza in a lovely restaurant (that I can’t remember the name of – but the pizzas were heavenly)

Our last day in Barcelona was sunny. So we sat on the beach. ALL DAY – Yeay! Cable cars – schmable cars.

Then we had a paella in covered restaurant on the promenade in Barcellonetta - which caused much amusement for both of us trying to break into the large prawns! Then on to the airport.

Utterly fabulous time – can’t wait to go back there!