Barcelona Day 1 – Exhilarated & Snacky

Never having been to Europe, we booked a repositioning cruise aboard the Celebrity Apex, which would depart from Barcelona, Spain, sail west through the Straits of Gibraltar, stopping in Portugal, first Lisbon then two nights in Porto, with a final stop in La Coruna, Spain, before disembarkation in Southampton, England. We had an amazing experience with Celebrity, sailing to Alaska aboard the Solstice, back in 2018, and were armed with the knowledge that London beckoned after the cruise. This is the first in a series of posts about our first European vacation.

The plan was to have a couple of days in Barcelona before boarding the ship, and then a couple of days in London after disembarkation. Most flights to Europe from the United States are overnight, so with embarkation on Sunday, we chose a flight leaving Thursday evening that would get us into Barcelona early in the day Friday. Heeding the Cruising Canucks’ advice about avoiding jet lag, we needed to try to sleep on the flight, and then hit the ground running in Barcelona, not napping, not closing our eyes, staying up as late as we could. This left us most of Friday afternoon and all day Saturday to explore the city.

Arrival

We managed to catch a few hours’ sleep on the flight from New York to Barcelona, which meant our plan to stay awake until 9 or 10 o’clock was a go. After landing at 12:30pm local time, we quickly got through customs in the Barcelona airport, and, after a short delay, picked up our bags. We took a short walk to the taxi stand, and within a couple of minutes were on our way. TIP: Taxi drivers in Barcelona aren’t required to speak English and our Spanish was rusty. I had already printed out the name and address of the hotel off their web site, and handed it to the driver, which eliminated any confusion. 

We had booked two nights at H10 Casa Mimosa in the Eixample (pronounced ah-SHAM-plah) district of Barcelona, which was centrally located among all the places we intended to visit. The taxi ride to the hotel cost ~$42 with tip, took about 30 minutes, and we were in our room, having sent the view to our kids by 2:15pm. Flight touchdown in Barcelona to a view of La Pedrera (Gaudi) from our Eixample hotel room in under two hours.

Mercat de la Boqueria

After quickly freshening up in our hotel, we set out for a 30 minute walk, headed for Mercat de La Boqueria, a market with food stalls carrying fresh seafood, Iberian ham, cheese, fresh fruit and juices, candy, and more, that countless vloggers had us drooling over. 

The walk took us past numerous luxury shops along Passeig de Gràcia, as well as Casa Batlló(Gaudi), through Plaça de Catalunya, with its pigeons galore, and down Las Ramblas. Las Ramblas is laden with touristy shops and restaurants, though being mid afternoon in early April, was not as crowded as it can get. We did stop at a Starbucks on La Rambla on the way back to the hotel to pick up a Starbucks Spain mug for a friend.

We eventually arrived at La Boqueria, and having not eaten yet, boy were we hungry. First priority was Jamon Iberico, and there was no shortage of food stalls offering Iberian ham and cheese stuffed into a paper cone. This was some good stuff, as Rona’s smile will tell you, and plenty of it for around $6. Iberian ham, which you can only get in Spain (and cannot bring it back to the U.S.) is known for its rich flavor and marbling, resulting from the pigs’ diet of acorns and herbs. 

Next up, pulpo, a.k.a. octopus, which is boiled, and then topped with olive oil, paprika, and salt.  Dude. So good, and crazy inexpensive! Seafood in general was far less expensive in Spain than back home. The plate of octopus in the picture below cost $7.75. We ate this yummy-ness twice more in Barcelona.

There were several stalls in La Boqueria that had limited bar seating, but they were packed. It was overwhelming how much choice there was and how fresh everything appeared. We wound up buying some chocolates for the hotel room, as one does, and then had the absolute best fresh squeezed orange juice either of us has ever had, against which all future orange juice will be measured and inevitably come up short. Also, it was $2. What? Yes. Crazy. There are no photos; they would not do justice to the juice.

Gothic Quarter

Fortified with octopus, Jamon and the world’s best OJ, we headed out of La Boqueria toward the Gothic Quarter, with a quick stop along the way at a Caganer shop to pick up a couple of the classic Catalonian pooping guy figurines for us and Scott. If you’ve never heard of of Caganers, just google them. It is… something.

The Gothic quarter is a warren of narrow medieval streets with all sorts of shops, bars, and Catalan restaurants that we had to see. Two separate Barcelona vlogs – Spain Revealed and Patrick Guide Barcelona, showed this arch-bridge above the street that connected what used to be the courtrooms on one side and prison on the other. I only just discovered it is called Pont del Bisbe, or the Bridge of the Bishop. In contrast to everything around it, this is more modern, and was built in 1928 by a disciple of Antoni Gaudi. On the underside of the arch is what is believed to be a real skull pierced by a dagger, and we were excited to actually find it.

There was much to see and lots of shops in which to poke around, but we were also hoping to find the surviving 2000 year old Roman columns from the Temple of Augustus. At the time we only knew there were Roman columns somewhere in the Gothic quarter, but Google Maps hooked us up and we found them. They are tucked in a courtyard off one of the narrow streets, surrounded by a medieval building that houses the Hiking Club of Catalonia.

By this time, we needed a rest room, which are not as readily available as they are in the U.S. Armed with the research of numerous Youtube videos, we sought out a cafe that served Churros con Chocolate. In general, we found that every third doorway in Barcelona was a restaurant, bakery, or bar, so this was not difficult. We wound up going to Farggi Plaza Del Rey, and after a short wait, snagged a table and placed our order for churros and warm chocolatey goodness. With a couple of drinks, this cost us $19 plus gratuity. Even better, it had a clean rest room.

We spent much more time wandering the Gothic Quarter, and then checked out the Barcelona Cathedral. Sagrada Família was on the docket for the following day, so we did not go inside this time. That said, the cathedral is top of the list for our next visit to Barcelona, as it is stunning from the outside.

After much wandering, it was time for some hopefully authentic Catalonian paella, so headed back toward La Boqueria to a restaurant we had seen earlier called Ancora. By the look of it, this was a place the vlogger Spanian had checked out on one of his It’s All Eats episodes. Let’s OGG! There was Cava, a sparkling Spanish wine, croquetas, Patatas Bravas, and seafood paella. The croquetas were okay and the Patatas Bravas were just fine. The next night we would have much better, at a different restaurant. The paella, however, was great. With drinks, this set us back $60, including a small gratuity.

Tired from the long day, and with full bellies, it was time to make the 30 minute walk back to the hotel and turn in for the night.

Have you been to Barcelona? What cool things have you seen and eaten in and around the Gothic Quarter and la Boqueria?