Barcelona on a shoestring

Hey everyone it's been awhile! I have had blog withdrawals ever since I lost all my electronics and my portable hard drive on a train in England :-( Heart broken to lose all of my photos. These photos of Barcelona were uploaded before I lost the hard drive two weeks ago and they are all I have of this beautiful place. It has taken me a few weeks to order online or buy my computer cable, camera charger and other electronics but I'm nearly there now.

We are back in Canada, have bought a caravan and are currently fixing up some essentials before giving it a lick of paint and setting off into the sunset. But before I go on... let's go back a few weeks to Barcelona.

BARCELONA ON A SHOESTRING

Every time I think of Barcelona I can’t help but hear the dramatic musical introduction to the Magic Fountain of Monjuic – BARRRCCEELOOONNNNAAAA… BARRRCEELOOONNNAAAA… and forever my memories of the Spanish town will include dazzling lights and this awe inspiring epic feeling of magic in the air!

Okay so a bit hard to visualise so here is a video.

I really loved Barcelona. So different from the pure winter wonderland we had left in Canada, we found ourselves surrounded by Juliet balconies and cobblestone streets. So close to the France border it had a French feel but with Tapas on every corner.

Getting around Barcelona and to the tourist sites is very easy. I wouldn’t suggest a car as the streets are very busy. If you are confident on the roads then a scooter would be the way to go but the easiest and most economical way to travel is by bike or foot.

Two day Sightseeing Bus pass €35.10pp.

Two Day Metro pass €14pp.

Two day bike hire €19pp.

We hired bikes for €19 for two days and on the third day we walked and milled around at a slower pace. You could definitely do Barcelona in two days as we only went out after 2pm each day (it was light until 10pm).

ESPANYA

We rode to Espanya first to see the Font monumental de la Plaça Espanya (The Fountain Square of Spain), what I thought of as the City Centre and our reference point.

You can go to the top of the Barcelona Arena (behind in picture above) for a 360-degree view of the centre - for €1 you can take the glass elevator jutting from the Arena but really even for a €1 you can walk up the inside escalators for free. We did this on our third night for a night view of the City.

VIEW FROM NATIONAL ART GALLERY

Looking up the street we spied the National Art Gallery. It is worth going up to the entrance just for the view from the top over Barcelona and up to Mt Tibidabo.

We walked around the outside of the Art Gallery for a great view to the Basilica de la Sangra Familia. On the way up we passed the Magic Fountain of Monjuic (behind me) but it only operates Friday and Saturday nights.

MARKETS

One of the things I was most looking forward to doing in Barcelona was heading to the markets.

The Sant Antoni market and Boqueria market are a few hundred feet from each other and not far from Espanya. Sant Antoni is more of a locals market that I really wanted to go to but the market is currently being refurbished. If you want to go there check out the website for any updates on when it will reopen.

Just a stroll down the road we made it to Boqueria Markets, famous worldwide, here you will find a rainbow of fruits, decadent chocolates and fresh meat and seafood.

Watch out though as the markets are for the tourists, not the locals so don’t expect a cheap lunch there. What you should try are the fruits, a cup of fruit is between €1-€2. The fresh coconut was my favourite.

We sampled some Payella, a ham and cheese pastry, fruit juices, mango, coconut and strawberries and a chocolate covered glaced orange slice. Which all came to about €20, or $30AUD, more than our budget for a whole day of meals let alone one meal but it’s an experience I really wanted to have.

With full bellies though we got peddling to the Basilica de la Familiga Sangra with a stop at the Gothic Quarter on the way.

CATHEDRAL OF BARCELONA AND GOTHIC QUARTER

Navigation Tip.

If you have a smart phone you can access your GPS for free almost anywhere in the world. It’s handy to have the map of the area/city you’re heading to loaded on your phone before you head out (most hotels/Airbnb have free wifi/ McDonalds, Starbucks etc).If you save or 'star' your destination points it's always easier for navigation. Google maps allows you to ‘save’ or ‘star’ locations, then when you’re out simple use the GPS to guide you. Tourist maps are just as helpful. Our bike hire gave us a good one with the main attractions highlighted.

On the way to the Gothica quarter we saw a great big spire protruding from the City buildings and soon we came into view of the Barcelona Cathedral and stopped for a look.

The Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia), also known as Barcelona Cathedral, is the Gothic cathedral and seat of the Archbishop of Barcelona, Spain. The cathedral was constructed from the 13th to 15th centuries. And that's pretty much all I know about it. It sure looks nice though!

Next a trip to the Gothic Quarter is a must, it was the centre of the old City of Barcelona.

It's hauntingly beautiful as many of the buildings date from medieval times, some from as far back as the Roman settlement of Barcelona.

The Gothic quarter is not very big but fascinating to ride through. The streets are very narrow, so narrow that it is a pedestrian only area and I felt like I was in a labyrinth.

BASILICA DE LA FAMILIGA SANGRA

The Sagrada Familia is amazing because it is still being constructed!

It was started in 1882 by Antoni Gaudí until he died in 1926 when less than a quarter of it was finished. Construction slowed as it relied on private donations and was also interrupted by the Spanish Civil War. They started working on it again in the 1950s and still only half of it was finished in 2010.

We went into the lower crypts for free but didn’t go into the main building mainly for time but also because for a traveller it is expensive at about $26AUD.

You can view it from every side so it's worth just walking around it. It was really cool to see the older side vs the newly build side and the work that still needs to be done to complete it.

LA RAMBLA STREET

On the way home we rode through La Rambla Street. Most of the main roads are really easy to navigate as they have really convenient bike paths running through the centre. This is the thriving part of Barcelona, lots of restaurants and bars and tapas on every corner or more often!

DAY TWO

MT TIBIDABO

Just a warning about riding to Mt Tibidabo, it's not for the faint hearted! We got there by google searching a cycle route from our accommodation to the top. It took us three hours and a lot of sweat and almost tears! There are two ways that I know of to get to the top on bike. One is through the residential streets like we did and the other is on the road that cars use to get to the top (how we got down).

Riding there was interesting and leisurely in the beginning, we rode through quaint streets with classic Spanish architecture and hillside homes. Then as the climb got steeper things became much harder as we constantly had to check the GSP for our location. I would say half of the ascent was 45 degrees or higher and for the most part I had to walk my bike as the ascent was just too steep, in one part I swear close to a 60 degree uphill angle. THEN to add insult to injury our Google route had lead us to stairs not just any stairs, but about 15 flights of stairs. And so, with no turning back, we summoned what strength we had left to get out upper body working and hoick those bikes onto our shoulders for the climb.

Now, really almost at the top, we only had about 1km to go and the prize was in sight!

I do have to say the view was worth it, but for about 10 minutes it’s all I could do to take deep breaths and not be overwhelmed by the feeling of accomplishment and stunning views below us.

The main attraction of Mt Tibidabo is not the towering church with a massive statue of Jesus on top, no, surprisingly the Amusement Park at the top seems to have the draw for most tourists.

We took what little time we had left before we needed to head back down the mountain to walk around the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and check out the views of the City around the amusement park, we didn’t go all the way to the top of the church but I remember it being about €1 or €2 Euro. We felt we didn’t need to go to the top because the views from the mountain are already amazing.

Getting down is also interesting as we took the main road. I would not recommend taking this route up or down unless your are an experienced cyclist. We had no helmets and shared the roads with cars, buses and motorbikes all while speeding down a steep decent... No bike lanes here!

At the end of the day we dropped our biked off and enjoyed a good pizza and burger at a street side restaurant near the University district.

DAY 3

This is our day three but as I said you can definitely fit this in day two going straight from Mt Tibidabo. I won't go into too much detail as this is a blog post seven weeks in the making and we've really got through most of our trip through Barcelona already.

So! Nothing like yesterday. We really did stroll through Park Guell. It was about a half hour walk from our hostel and by the time we reached a train station we were half way there so we ended up walking there and back. FREE! Anytime to save is a good time.

Guell Park is a public park created by Antoni Gaudi and is famous for it's many buildings that inspired his architectural vision. They now charge to get into the centre of the park but the park itself is so big you can spend hours walking around it for free. There are protest signs everywhere against paying because it has always been a public park for all the locals to enjoy. It's obvious the locals dislike tourists because many of the natural features have been ruined by people walking off the parks. I even saw a sign that had "go away tourists" on it.

Last but not least! If you are there on a Friday or Saturday night go and see the Magic Fountain of Monjuic, it runs on a loop from 9pm. Video above.

Disclaimer: We were actually in Barcelona for five days. We did mostly everything in the two days we hired bikes however we didn’t leave the apartment until 2 and 3pm on those days and rode until 9pm. If you started your day earlier you would fit everything in in two days. We did the Magic Fountain on a different night because it only runs Friday and Saturday nights. To save time and money we didn’t go into the National Art Gallary or the Basilica de la Sangra Familia. Pretty much to ‘see’ something is almost always free :-)

Accommodation is extremely expensive in Barcelona as is eating out. We used AirBnb and found a two bedroom apartment for $177 Australian for three nights. The fourth night was at a hostel ($80AUD) and the last night we spent at the airport as we had an early flight. We only ate out once (€20) and bought alcohol (a €2 wine and €4 liquor), cereal, bread, fruit and sandwich meats, cheese, salad from the grocery (about €50 for three days). Total with food and bikes cost us about €88 for three days.

#blog #travel #Spain