We promptly fell asleep on the small bed, and when we woke up, went straightaway to my fave sandwich place, Bo de B. I went here with my study abroad group of amigos when we visited Barcelona one weekend, and the sandwich was just as good as I remembered.
So many yummy, fresh things for your bocadillo.
Had to get some patatas bravas, too.
If I remember right, I don’t think we did much else this first day besides walking around Las Ramblas, looking at some Gaudí buildings (from the outside since they’re so expensive to go in these days), and doing some shopping at Zara and a few boutiques.
Laundry, laundry everywhere.
Casa Batlló by Gaudí.
The next day, we visited one of my all-time favorite places on the planet, La Sagrada Família. This was my third time visiting the cathedral that’s always and forever under construction, and every time it’s a little more complete and beautiful. According to Wikipedia, it’s expected to be complete by 2026, or 100 years after Gaudí’s death.
Part of the Nativity façade, looking up.
One of my favorite things about the interior is that it looks like a heavenly forest. Gaudí was hugely inspired by nature and organic shapes and structures, and it’s so apparent in this work.
This picture’s ratio of folding chairs to beautiful architecture is just the price you pay for asking another tourist to take your photo.
The Passion façade.
Next, we made our way to Gaudí’s Parque Guell, but I learned, much to my chagrin, that sometime in the previous two years, they started charging a hefty price for entrance into the park! I was sad, but we still got a few views of it from walking around the outside of it. We also found some killer views of the whole city on our way to the park, which is situated high above the rest of the city.
Next we went to the beach. It was sooo nice to have the beach all to ourselves!
Not.
Our last dinner of our Europe trip did not disappoint. We searched restaurants on Yelp and Trip Advisor near our Airbnb, and we decided on Sésamo, a small vegetarian restaurant owned by an Argentinian chef named Alfredo, who comes out from the kitchen each night to meet and talk with all of the guests. Highly, highly recommend! Ben was very hesitant to go to a restaurant classified as “vegetarian,” but he (and I) loved everything we ordered.
Excuse the low-quality iPhone pics.
That’s all for Europe! Stay tuned for a 2015 PNW-roadtrip post!
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