Barcelona, Spain
We’re going somewhere where the sun is shining bright.
Ed Sheeran, “Barcelona”
We plunged into Barcelona at 8:00am on an early flight from Granada. The sky was a wild blue, like the sky sometimes gets after a huge rainstorm, and we squinted at the sun as we picked our way through a maze of cabs waiting to take us to our hotel.
The city wasted no time in showing us what it was: our cab driver chattered away in Catalan as we sped down Las Ramblas, a busy, massive promenade that slices through the city, bursting at its seams with people, shops, and food.
Barcelona is full of color. It is the capital city of the Catalonia region of Spain, the second most populous city in Spain, and the home of Antoni Gaudí, whose name, architecture, ceramics, religion, and craftsmanship define the city.
Catalan is the official language of Barcelona, and although Matt and I both speak Spanish, neither of us could understand it. To my (uneducated) surprise, Catalan is nothing like Spanish—it’s actually closer to French and Italian. We absolutely loved getting doused with this new language on our final city in Spain, and picked up a few words here and there.
After settling into our hotel, we headed out to be christened by Las Ramblas, the tree-lined pedestrian mall that stretches from the center of the city all the way to Port Vell on the ocean. Streets radiate out of Las Ramblas to form neighborhoods such as the famous Gothic Quarter to the east and El Raval to the west.
We were lucky enough to walk right into La Boquería, a massive open-air marketplace where vendors sold absolutely everything you could image: seafood, produce, tapas, paella, meats, cheese, alcohol, coffee, gelato, confectionary, lunch, dinner, breakfast.
We were momentarily stunned by the array of choices before us, until I spotted a strawberry and coconut smoothie and Matt grabbed a handful of empanadas, which we feasted on in the street.
As we walked and ate, we stumbled into the Gothic Quarter, the center of Barcelona’s old city. As we wove our way in and out of the labyrinthine streets, we passed by Roman ruins, medieval plazas, cozy cafes, and strings of apartments.
Unexpectedly, the tiny, enclosed maze of streets opened onto a central plaza where seagulls swarmed overhead and the smell of salt invaded our senses. We were at the beach!
I jumped for joy upon seeing the Balearic Sea and we scampered across the port to buy two tickets for an afternoon boat excursion through the harbor.
It took no time at all for us to make friends with an English couple and their young son, who excitedly told us that we were the first Americans he’d ever met (quite an honor). Full of charm, the boy convinced me and Matt to sit with him at the front of the boat and watch the shore fly by in our wake.
After disembarking and saying goodbye to our new friends, we took a different route back to our hotel, stumbling upon Parc de la Ciutadella, or Citadel Park. The massive 70-acre park contains the city zoo, the house of parliament, a lake, museums, and the most magical fountain I’ve ever seen, Cascada.
Cascada was built during the late 1800s, and boasts a series of tiered ledges out of which pours a stream of water that tumbles into a lake beneath it. Surrounding the waterfall are luscious palm trees, a triumphal arch, and a golden chariot. The two sets of stairs leading up to the fountain’s main viewing terrace resembling the pincers of a giant crab.
We strolled around the park for a while, dipping our toes in the pool, watching students practice yoga, and listening to people chatter as they walked by.
Dinner found us back in the Gothic Quarter, where we feasted on ramen at Udon, a restaurant that gave us star treatment. We ordered a full course—appetizers, wine, beer, heaping bowls of ramen, and dessert, and the waiter happily chatted with us in Catalan and English. What a warm welcome to Barcelona!
