Woke up earlie that day to catch our Vueling flight to Barcelona. Vueling flight was quite comfortable. With big enough leg space. Think it’s better than Ryanair. Hmm…my impression of Barcelona..sun…sea…sand…beach…I know it’s a place full of festivals and culture…we went there thinking like this indeed!
Got settled down at Hotel Sagrada Familia…I arranged the airport transfer to our hotel as it’s a bit complicated to get to the city from the airport..the hotel was great…im quite satisfied with the look and the bathroom..im quite particular of the bathroom and the cleanliness of the bed sheets…these have passed my criteria..
we had a walking tour with this guy called Kris, from myft ..which I searched from the net..it was a challenge finding the meeting point..unlike streets in Madrid which clearly state what they are so that we can manoeuvre easily…streets in Bcn are complicated..and the map is not comprehensive at all..we got the map from the airport…it only states major street names…but there are thousand and one small streets in Bcn that are unnamed.. in the end, we were 1/2hr late..gave a call to Kris..and luckily he waited for us..phew…is like a maze!
And so Kris brought us to walk through the streets of Bcn, the dark alleyways, the interesting shops and cuisine..introduced us to the gastronomy..went through El Raval, Barri Gotic, El Born, Las Ramblas areas…and the Mercat de la Boqueria market..
Messy Street maze
Las Ramblas
Along El Raval
Rat as a Pet!
Place to rest and relax
Façade
Restaurant recommended
another restaurant that sells catalunya delicacies
Church in Barri Gotic area I think..
The market showcases the food which locals eat…we never understand why there are so many stalls, even in Madrid, that sell pig legs..it’s only when Kris told us that each family, will at least purchase one of these legs, and they will slice them to eat..that leg can last for about a year!the prices are quite varied..ranging from 50euros to about 200plus euros..i tink it’s all depending on the quality of the meat..is like preserved meat..you can hang the whole pig leg at your kitchen and slice whenever ure hungry.
Red Tomatoes!
Football Craze!
We went through many fruit stalls and learnt about the use of different tomatoes for their cuisine..all along I only thought there’s only one type of tomato..either you slice it…or eat as a whole like cherry tomatoes..but it isn’t..there are certain tomatoes for salad making, certain for handburgers..and some for fruits..maybe you guys willl have known about this..but haha..not for me..
Apparently it was the strawberry season…so Kris recommended us to walk to the back of the market to purchase some strawberries..you will realise that those stalls in front sell their strawberries..sometimes 3 times higher than what is sold at stalls located at the back of the market..wow…I mean we will buy from the front stalls if we duno this..half kg of strawberries…huge and juicy…sgd2…you cant get this in sg can you???
there were some areas which tourists normally wun venture in..but we did them all that day…it kinda gave us the ugly side of the city..each city is bound to have a good and bad side..usually tourists will only see the pretty side..and oblivious to the bad side…but this walking tour really exposes us to all sides which we like the experience.. vices of life…though dangerous to venture through these areas,as the people look at your pockets and bags all the time.. it’s an enlightening experience indeed.
Flags
We also came across little shops that sell superb choco cakes, which we glady got a few back home..one of them was ranked one of the best world’s choco..which I still tink of it even now!...
The wonderful cake!
and also shops that sell cava..we got one relatively big bottle for less than 10sgd..all these wun be possible without Kris..as we dun speak Spanish..i got back some interesting souvenirs along the way too..is like treasure hunt..there are also many great eating outlets which Kris have recommended us to visit..we hope to rmb the directions since there were so many areas we walked and slided through the narrow streets..but it’s a tough job~
Our hotel was located near Sagrada Familia…the famous workpiece that has not been completed yet..since hundreds years ago…why so magnificient?..you shall see from the pic…we manage to catch a view of this both in daylight and nighttime..this is one of the must-see in Bcn..in fact…all Gaudi’s workpieces, architecture..has so much influence on the architecture in Bcn that one is not possible to neglect..we will see more the next day…with that..we ended with KFC…which chicken was so tasty…that we cant have in Sg…but we also got lost en route back to hotel…definitely need some time to adapt to these messy streets..
