the best way to see barcelona
hola barcelona!
barcelona was the final city of our
madrid —-> porto —-> lisbon —-> barcelona trip.
we picked a good finale! from the very first hour in
barcelona i already loved it, and it only got better.
it is beautiful and whimsical and artsy and interesting
and has so much to offer. plus, i love the name.
tell me you don’t love saying “barcelona…”
it rolls off the tongue! we are obsessed.
we lucked out in barcelona by finding vesping, the best vespa
rental place we have ever come across! seriously. we had our
plans all mapped out of what we wanted to see in barcelona,
and when we got to the vespa place we realized there was no
point in that– they sat down with us, went over an entire
map of the city, explained everything, showed us all the
local spots, then programmed our GPS on our vespa scooters to go
exactly where we wanted. wow! after renting vespas in
all 4 cities this trip, we really appreciated having the GPS
right there on the scooter. since we didn’t have wifi on
our phones when we were out, i would have the map out
while riding on the back of the vespa..haha. in barcelona,
we were able to find things so smoothly because we had
a little GPS showing us the whole way! we did the most
perfect route and loved our vespa tour around the city.
it took us through some local neighborhoods, up to
the famous parc guell, then all the way up winding
roads to mount tibidabo (in LOVE!) then back down
by the beach and through great areas on the way.
^^ a well-marked map
^^ first stop: gaudi’s park güell. so pretty and so different i can’t
even begin to explain it. it’s an enormous park up on the hill
with such great design and such great views. it was perfectly sunny!
after the park, we cruised up up up the hills of barcelona to
mount tibidabo. maybe my favorite place in barcelona
{other than the boqueria} and not just because it’s famous
from joey on “friends” … it is so amazing and reminds me
of the spain version of the sacré coeur in paris. a breathtaking
church up on a hill overlooking the entire city…except
this one is even more isolated and harder to get to, so it’s
more amazing in some ways! we paid the 2€ to ride up
the elevator and then climb steps so we were at the tippy
top right under the gold christ statue. we were high up there!
chase may or may not have gotten some shaky legs from the height :)
^^ channeling his inner joey..”how you doin’?”
we cruised through the cutest neighborhoods on
the way down, then stopped for lunch!
best food stop. we were starving!
^^ down by the beach to see port olímpic. sucker for those sailboats,
they remind me of san francisco {and our proposal}.
^^ passing the incredible sagrada familia!
{an entire post on that to come}
^^ a quick stop at the biggest flea market, los encantes.
i wanted to take everything home, wish it would have fit!
^^ thank you, vesping!!
^^ one of the most traditional simple spanish foods —
tortilla espanola // spanish omelet. i lived with a friend in
london who had studied abroad in spain, and she used to make this
from a recipe her host family gave her, i loved it so i had to have it
again in spain! i will be making it soon and sharing a recipe!
^^ the best way to see barcelona is definitely on the back of a vespa.
more of barcelona to come. xoxoxoxo