Barcelona - Travel Diary

I have wanted to go to Barcelona for years, this October it finally happened. It was not just a city trip, it was so much more. We went with the choir and sang a concert together with a choir from Barcelona. 

We were supposed to arrive on Thursday for the first rehearsal, but my mum and I decided to go early to actually have some time to see things. We left for the airport early in the morning on Tuesday, October 9. It was very early, but we got to fly Business, so we enjoyed the Lounge at the airport first. The flight was special too, extra breakfast and more space, yay. We landed during a thunderstorm, it was shaky, but also beautiful, because on one side we had rain, on the other we had sunshine. 

We then took a taxi into the city and left our suitcases at the hotel. The first thing we got to see, was the Cathedral, omg so pretty. It led us straight tot he shopping street. We went into a lot of shops but didn’t buy anything (yet). On Paseig de Gracia we had some Tapas. In Zara Home, I bought a tablecloth and some pretty hangers. We stopped at Starbucks for some coffee and energy. After that, we looked at some more shops, before going to „El Cercle” restaurant. I have def found my fave restaurant in Barcelona, their vegetarian paella is to die for. Because we had to get up that early, we went back to the hotel and had a quiet and early night. 

The next morning (Wednesday) we slept in and thought it was going to rain. When we got outside, it was sunny. After breakfast, we decided to go and see, how much the hop on hop off bus is. Since it was already quite late and we wanted two days in a row (one of them being Friday), we decided to just walk around and explore the city. The cathedral close to our hotel is very pretty, just right of it, there is a path leading to the Barri Gotic (old town). We passed a cute little bridge there and found a fab Espadrilles store. They usually don’t fit me, but they had small sizes, so I bought two pairs. After a yummy smoothie, we continued our walk to Santa Maria del Mar, the church the choir sing in last time. Wow, the cathedral is incredible, so pretty. We were hungry and went to a lovely Tapas place called Lonja de Tapas. Omg, so delicious. Then we headed to Barceloneta/Port Vell and explored it a bit, before going to the round-about with the Columbus statue. Walking down La Rambla wasn’t interesting at all. The street is not pretty, very touristy. La Placa Reial, just off La Rambla is very beautiful though. Full of palm trees, pretty houses and fountains. After a bit of shopping, we ran into tow friends from the choir and enjoyed a coffee with them at the Café Zurich. For dinner we went to the same restaurant again, El Cercle. 

On Thursday it was finally Hop On Hop Off bus time. We passed some very pretty houses at first and learned a lot about the architecture and some famous people from Barcelona. Pablo Casals is a famous cellist from Barcelona and he composed “El Cant des Occels”, one of the song we were singing in the concert. At MNAC we got off the bus, it’s the National Museum of Catalunia. A very gorgeous building. It’s on the Monjuic mountain and you get great views of the city. We walked down the steps, where there are a lot of fountains (they also have light shows there, unfortunately we didn’t make one). We walked to the former bull fight arena, which is a shopping centre now. You go up an elevator and have a fab view as well. On top you also have several restaurants, we had lunch at one of them, it was really good. Afterwards we went back on the bus, saw the rest of Monjuic mountains and then headed to the beach. At Port Olimpic was our next stop to get out and I was finally able to see the beach and the sea. There is also a gigantic whale there. We enjoyed some ice cream, before taking the bus again and going back to the hotel. We had to get ready for our rehearsal with Coral Carmina, the choir we were singing with. At first there was a big Pica Pica with great food and then we rehearsal for a really long time. Their conductor Daniel Mestre is really good and it was fun sitting next to Spanish women. 

On Friday we had to get up a bit earlier, because the choir organised a tour in the Sagrada Familia. The basilica is very impressive from the outside, but also the inside. There is a new part and an old part. They are different from each other, both very pretty. The old side has so much detail, you don’t even know where to look. Inside the windows are full of all the colours and the ceiling is very detailed as well. I was speechless, it’s an incredible building. I also bought a souvenir from it for my new apartment. We then took the tour bus to Park Güell. First we had lunch at Terra Mia, of course we had Tapas again. Unfortunately, part of the park was closed. We were still able to enjoy the view and sit and enjoy for a while. There were so many people, you are not really able to take pictures. From There we hopped on the bus again to finish the blue line. We were able to see the mountains and sights around the north of the city. At Camp Nou we got off again, I’m a football fan and really wanted to go inside the stadium. We were able to see everything. The press room, where they change, sit on the coaches seat etc. Then it was already time to go back to the hotel, because we met the whole choir for dinner at a typical Catalan restaurant. We had a lot of fun and the food was very good. 

The weather wasn’t the best on Saturday, so we just headed to a few shops, before heading to the church for the concert. We sang at the Iglesia Josep Oriol. First we had a rehearsal with the orchestra, got ready and then at 7.30 pm we had the concert. The concert was great, a fantastic experience and the audience seemed very happy. Afterwards we had a delicious and nicely arranged dinner at Palau des Casades. Beautiful building, wonderful food. 

On Sunday we took it slowly. A bit of shopping and one more lunch at El Cercle, before heading to the airport. Apparently we were one of the last flights to leave Barcelona because of a storm. 

I really enjoyed exploring Barcelona, its architecture is amazing and there so many things to see and do.