Barcelona has definitely been one of my favourite places so far! It was beautiful weather, the food was deeeeelicious and there were a lot of cool things to see. I think I really liked the mazes of streets between the old buildings, each with their own little shops and quirky food places.

I’ll try to break down what we did as easily as possible..

1. Sagrada Familia

The construction of this church building began in 1882! It’s still not finished… in it’s defence certain things have slowed down the constructions. The initial architect passed away 44 years after construction started (at that point it was only 15-20% completed – yikes!) Then there was the Spanish Civil War, where some of it was destroyed, then more of it was damaged in a fire a few years later. They reckon that it’s now just over 70% completed, thanks to a bunch of other architects who have taken on the task. And it’s expected to be fully finished in 2026, although the decorative elements will only be completed by 2032 (talk about patience!)

It was pretty cool to see, but if I’m being honest, the giant cranes and building material was a bit of an eyesore…Maybe we’ll have to come back in 15 years to see the finished product – HAHA!

2. Arc de Triomf

After visiting the Arcs in Paris, we just had to say hello to the Spanish one too. I actually preferred it, because it was the gateway to a beautiful park, with loads of palm trees and people walking, playing music, selling things. It seemed like there was quite a bit of culture there! And the Arc was really nice to look at, especially for something that was built in 1888!

3. Gothic Quarter

I loooooved walking through the streets here. It was an endless maze of hidden gems and alleyways. We stoped to get a snack at a shop called Las Fritas; they did super yummy hot chips, we got it topped with chilli and some spices! It was just what we needed! The Gothic Quarter is basically the centre of the old city of Barcelona – I’d recommend that anyone visiting Barcelona gives it a visit, super quirky!

4. Museu Picasso

Ahhh, the Picasso Museum, if you are in Barcelona for slightly more than 1 day I’d recommend! That being said, we were only here one day, and we still did it. It just took over an hour to get through, and by the end of it we were pretty pooped from walking around and taking in so much information.

It is home to one of the biggest collections (with a grand total of 4,251 of Picasso’s works – how can one person even paint that much!!) What’s cool about the museum is that it’s housed in five adjoining medieval palaces. The rooms were really big and they display his work beautifully. We did the audio tour which was awesome, because it gives so much insight into his life and developing style.

You weren’t allowed to take pictures of the actual paintings, but I managed to get a few snaps of what the inside of the museum looks like – ahhh how magnificient are the ceilings!

We (me more than d) really enjoyed it, but we did treat ourselves to some ice cream afterwards! Like I said, we were pooped!

5. Els Quatre Gats (aka 4 Gats)

After visiting the Picasso museum, how could we NOT go to his regular cafe. We decided to just admire this place from the outside, rather than go in for a meal (I think you have to make a reservation anyway)

6. El Cap de Barcelona + the waterfront

We just walked over to the waterfront, and boy was it beautiful. There is this giant sculpture there, which we originally thought was a Picasso tribute, but turns out it’s a sculpture created by American Pop Artists Roy Lichtenstein for the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona (who would’ve thought!) The waterfront (harbour) was really nice to walk along, there were some cool restaurants there as well.

7. The Box

We found this cool “street food” styled bar called The Box which we decided to have some dinner at. The inside was super cute with loads of pickled foods on the shelves opposite the bar. I had a yummy mojito and D had a beer. They specialise in Hot Dogs, and maaaaan, they were tasty! I’d definitely recommend this place to anyone on a budget, they’re pretty affordable and filling.

8. Back to the Arc!

I’m adding these pictures in because to get back to our car we had to walk back through the Arc. The sun was close to setting, and the atmosphere had picked up like crazy. There were acrobats there, live music, and this cool guy making the biggest bubbles I have ever seen! The lighting was also a photographers dream, so I have added some bonus snaps of Le Arc for your enjoyment!

We had an awesome day all round, I should probably mention that we also walked to some parliament buildings and got snaps of them, but I just feel like every city in Europe has certain building landmarks, and you could go on and on about them for ages, but these sights were a bit more quirky and fun to talk about.

Has anyone else been to Barcelona? Would you go back? If not, would you consider going one day in the future? I’d love to know your thought!