¡Barcelona!

This past weekend, Jeannie, a friend from school, and I decided to take advantage of our long weekend and head to Barcelona! The trip started off with us sprinting through the airport to barely make our plane due to our delayed bus to the airport! We arrived in Barcelona and and continued our streak of bad luck in terms of transportation. We got on the bus going in the wrong direction. Unlike the US, in Barcelona the buses are extremely confusing and the even if the number is the same (i.e. bus #59) the direction is more important because they do not have the same stops. After about an hour of on the bus we realized something was wrong. The bus driver was extremely helpful and realized what we did so he escorted us to the correct bus in order for us to reach our hotel.

With the afternoon ahead of us we headed to Parc Guell. Parc Guell was designed by Antoni Gaudi and built in the early 1900s. Sadly, one of the two main buildings was under construction and therefore covered in scaffolding so we couldn't really see it. However, the parc entrance was still beautiful and we were able to see the mosaic covered benches, the mosaic salamander "el drac" and the building's twisting architecture! After we went to see the Sagrada Familia, also designed by Gaudi. The church is still under construction and is expected to be finished in 2026. The inside of the church was unlike anything I've ever seen!

Overlooking Parc Guell

Inside the Sagrada Familia

Thanksgiving dinner consisted of sangria and tapas at a popular restaurant. The meal was not our favorite, but we were glad we experienced some typical Spanish food. Thursday was shopping night out so all the stores were open late so the streets were packed! We ended up at a Hotel rooftop bar that was holding an event for the night, we may or may not have crashed it...

Tapas and Sangria!

Enjoying the view!

Friday we set out to explore the city. We stumbled upon Cornelia and Co. a restaurant on Carrer de Valencia and had an amazing breakfast! (the restaurant was so good we returned Saturday for breakfast and lunch!) We continued to Passeig de Gracia and Las Ramblas until we hit the pier. The day was perfect. We wandered in and out of shops having our own little Black Friday while taking in the sites! We saw Casa Batllo, another Gaudi design and La Boqueria, a public market with stalls filled with meat, fresh fish, fresh squeezed juice, chocolates and more! We ended the night with dinner at Sesamo, an amazing vegetarian restaurant, that gave us a a seven course tasting menu and pumpkin pie for desert (a little belated Thanksgiving)! After, we had drinks at the rooftop bar of The W overlooking the water and the city.

Inside La Boqueria

Saturday was more relaxed, after breakfast we headed to Camp Nou. We ended up not going inside due to the fact that they were charging an obscene amount to tour the stadium. FC Barcelona was away playing in Russia, so we sadly couldn't take in a game. We went back to Cornelia's for a late lunch and some apple pie (some more American fall dessert!) Tired, we stumbled upon a wine bar to complete our day!

Outside of Camp Nou

The trip was a lot of fun and Barcelona was a great city. The weather was beautiful and sunny all weekend which was a nice reprieve from the rain here in Lugano. If it was just  a few degrees warmer, we would have been on the beach! Jeannie and I returned to Lugano Sunday morning and now face the growing amount of work that needs to be done in the next three weeks!