Barcelona
2014 – After a week of conference Marie-Claire joined Tom on Friday evening for a city trip to the world famous Barcelona. After this city trip our opinion is that Barcelona is indeed suffering a lot of tourists and that nowadays it’s just too crowded.
On Saturday afternoon we visited the world famous La Sagrada Familia. You can easily reach this place as there is a metro stop. When you follow the stairs going up, you can’t miss the building. If you don’t see it, just turn around 🙂
As we did not book up front we were not able to enter the basilica. The crows around and going in and out the basilica was incredible. Here you see once again that Barcelona is really suffering under the thousands of tourists (like we) trying to see the best sights.
Now just by walking around this incredible building you can get already a good impression. We can’t say whether it’s worth queuing for tickets or order them upfront, as we didn’t see the interior. But prices are quite high. And off course this is a very subjective topic and you have people that say both opposites.
It will be up to you to decide on this.
Later that afternoon we went to Park Guell where you have a public part and a part which is only accessible if you have bought tickets. As we didn’t reserve anything up front, we ordered them for later that afternoon, in the first free slot and spent the time waiting by taking a small walk and grab some lunch in the neighborhood.
Price was affordable and this one is wordt visiting according to us. It’s quite big and it’s funny to see all these kind of special forms and colorful buildings.
We recommend to take the time to visit this park. We wandered more than an hour around the park to take some pictures and enjoy the sights.
We were lucky that during our visit there was a home match from FC Barcelona and we also managed to score tickets.
The game was versus RC Celta de Vigo who was last in ranking at that moment. Furthermore Lionel Messi could score his 500th goal for the team. Although Barcelona was way better than the visiting team and had like 100 attempts to score a goal they lost the game by 0 – 1. Odds can’t be always at your side.
The stadium was impressive and even the fact that we were on the 4th or 5th ring we could follow the game.
If you ever have the chance to attend a game, don’t let it pass.
Sunday afternoon we closed our trip with a visit to the beach. As it was already November it was very enjoyable to have some sun and good weather to prepare ourselves to head back to Belgium where winter would start anytime soon.
We stayed two nights at the budget hotel which had very good comments. Although the entrance and the reception are basic, the room has all amenities you need during a city trip. A good bed and all was quiet during the night. The hotel is convenient close to a metro station from where you can explore the city. There is no breakfast, or at least we didn’t consumed it, but Barcelona has plenty of options to have an affordable breakfast.