As I had visited Barcelona briefly before, as a cruise port of call, I was really excited to be going there again with a group of friends for two nights. It was a 50th birthday treat for our friend and the men in the group had tickets to see Barcelona play at the Nou Camp so they were all looking forward to that.
We travelled early Saturday morning and after a two hour flight landed in sunny, but cold Barcelona.
We had not pre booked transfers so we were pleased to find lots of Taxis directly outside the terminal. The fares were all pre-determined and advertised to the main areas of the city so there was no worry that you could be driven half way round the city to get to your hotel !I did also note the busses ran regularly into the city and dropped off at the main Plaza, plaza de Catalunya, and again the prices were advertised.
We went directly to our hotel and even though it was only 10.30am they let us leave our luggage in reception and gave us maps and directions to the famous Las Ramblas.
As we got totally lost we decided it was a good excuse to stop for a drink and some Tapas !The prices were really reasonable and the food was amazing. We found generally that if you just ate off the main areas the prices were much better, we were paying 25 euros each for drinks and a lovely meal.
We eventually meandered our way through lovely cobbled back streets and found our way to Las Ramblas. Las Ramblas is approximately 1.2 kilometres long with Port Vell (near the cruise port terminal) at the Southern most end and Plaça Catalunya at the northern most end. It is a hive of activity with shops and bars on either side of the pedestrianised walk way. It has a great atmosphere and is a lovely walk from the top to the bottom. We walked from the northern end to southern which meant we came upon the port and beach at the bottom. It is so lovely to have a beach and harbour area in a city and in a way it seems like two different cities!(You need to be careful of pick pockets here, hold on to your bag !)
We decided to brave the metro (Tube) and make our way to the Nou Camp. It was surprisingly easy , ticket machines and routes were very easy to follow and we arrived at the Nou Camp in plenty of time for the match. It’s best not to mention the actual match! Barcelona played Malaga and lost 1 nil, the first time in 4 years they had lost at home(so my husband informs me ) .
The rest of the weekend was spent basically eating and drinking apart from the excellent open top bus tour we did on the Sunday morning. It is a fantastic way to see the whole city and covers the Gaudi Cathedral, the Olympic Village and much much more. It is a hop on hop bus tour and you get the usual ear phones to plug into a commentary. I would definitely recommend this as a great way to see all Barcelona has to offer.
We stayed at the Ayre Caspe Hotel which was a 15 min walk from the centre. It was a lovely modern clean hotel, with big bedrooms and massive beds ! It was excellent value for money as it was a walk to the centre. We liked this fact as it was quiet at night and it had a great bar that you could relax in after a busy day.
I love Barcelona, it is unique in the fact you have a busy city centre and a lovely harbour and beach all within 10 minutes’ walk from each other. The people are lovely and really welcoming.
