Book a ticket & Just Leave to Barcelona, the perfect city to visit!

Hello, Hola stemians

How are you? How is 2018 until now? I wish you a great and productive 2018. Today I am gonna tell about my visit in Barcelona. I wanted for long time to visit this amazing city, voted several years in a row the perfect destination in Europe, but my dream come true in the early summer of 2017.
I visited with two of my best friends and we spent there 5 days, so I am going to make two posts about this city.

Why to visit this city:

• Architecture
• Food
• Sangria
• Beaches
  How to get from the airport to the city:
  Barcelona has only one main airport, which it’s pretty close to the city centre, around 17 km away and it’s very well connected to the city.
  You can choose one of the options below:

1. Train
   We took the train to the city because the station in Barcelona where the train stopped was really close to our accommodation. It runs twice per hour and it costs around € 2. All of the stops in Barcelona are connected with the Metro, so you can easily use it.
2. Bus
   If you are not in a hurry, you can definitely take the bus number 46, one of the most affordable way to get in town, besides the train. The bus also runs on night time (N17 and N16) and the ticket costs only €2.20. You can use the T10 which is valid for ten journeys on Barcelona buses and metro.
3. Aerobus
   Aerobus is far cheaper than a taxi and the ride length is similar to a taxi ride. Suitable if you are travelling alone or with your pair and you are in a hurry, you have more space and it stops at a few stations only. Price single ticket: €5,9.
4. Taxi
   This is the most expensive way, but you have your own comfort and it’s the shortest trip, around 20 minutes. Is it suitable for a group of four. The minimum amount is € 20.

Accommodation:

It is quite expensive and really hard to find an accommodation without bathroom sharing, but we eventually found it and it was located super close to Placa d’Espanya. You should search at least one month before your trip, just to be sure you will find what you need. Though one of my friend booked a great hotel just last minute.
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When it’s the best time to visit:
Anytime, but I think in summer is kind of hot, I got sunburns in the middle of May, but if you are prepared with a hat and sun cream protection, you are safe. I guess it’s pretty awesome to visit this city in winters because is warmer than rest of the European cities, probably cheaper and not too crowded.

Public Transportation
You can buy the tickets from any Metro stops and in the airport from tobacco shops or RENFE train station. By the way, the single ticket you can buy directly from the driver, but be aware that drivers don’t receive any money bigger than €20.
Depending on how much you walk or not, you can choose one of the Barcelona travel cards Hola BCN. You have unlimited journeys for public transportation. You can buy starting from 2-day card till 5-day card. (€15 for 2-day card vs €35 for 5-day card, you have 10% off if you buy online).

• Single Journey: €2.20
• Ten journeys (T10): €10.20

Prices:

• Breakfast: around € 3-6
• Lunch around € 10
• Dinner around € 15-20
• Cappucino around € 2
• Coke/Pepsi € 2
• Water € 1.5

This cathedral is worldwide known as Antoni Gaudi's masterpiece. The construction began 136 years ago, in 1882. The original sketch of the church had 18 towers with a capacity of 13,000 worshipers.

In 1926 when Gaudi died, the process of construction was slowed down until 1950, when the construction began in earnest. Nowadays there are just eight complete tower and two facades. In 2026, when it will be the celebration of 100 years since Gaudi died, the construction is due to be finished. Hopefully, this will happen, fingers crossed.


DID YOU KNOW HOW GAUDI DIED?
Antonio Gaudi’s death was violent, it was hit by a tram, and because he had a messy appearance and did not have his id with him, he was thought to be a beggar, how sad is that?!

If you think the interior is not that amazing like the exterior, you are so wrong. It was really impressive, we observed for at least 1 hour and half and we were stil amazed. The pillars inside look like thick trees and ceiling is a beautiful structure where the trees meet. If you want to see the city from above you can take the elevator and walk up into the towers. You can also visit the crypt where Gaudi is buried.

There was a huge queue at the ticket desk, so we bought the tickets online but it was kind of crowded and we had to return later in the evening to visit this majestic cathedral, but I remember we had some discount, so after all the waiting wasn’t a bad thing.
Did you know that the construction of this cathedral is longer than the Great Pyramids?
We had a lot of time to kill so we walked a lot that day in the city. Usually, on my holidays I prefer to walk a lot instead of using the public transportation, because I get to see the locals, how they, the buildings, the streets. Barcelona is a city where is great to rent a bike because the city has 180 km of bicycle lanes.
Here are the kilometres per day we walked during our trip. What do you think? Is it good?

We made a great promenade to the Diagonal Avenue which is the widest and beautiful avenue which divides the city in west and east. It’s also a great place for shopping because you can find Diagonal Mar, Glories and El Corte Ingles and Primark. We walked a lot for Primark, but eventually, we found it and made a little shopping.

After that, we went directly to Casa Mila (La Pedrera in Spanish). This stunning building is the creation of the greatest Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi. It was built just in 6 years, finished in 1912, and of course is a UNESCO World Heritage There you can find a cultural centre.

The unique structure has no straight lines, and no load-bearing walls, instead it relies on pillars and steel supports. The façade is self-supporting like a curtain wall. The irregular design includes ceilings which are of different heights.
It has 9 floors, including an underground parking which was not in trend in 1912, it was a courageous move made by Gaudi.

Casa Batllo is one of the most beautiful houses I ever saw and of course is designed by the greatest Gaudi. It reflects Gaudi's playful side and the strange and fantastic style he is known for.
The facade wall was made to curve and bend like a wave, this was then plastered and covered with a colourful mosaic made from glass and ceramic fragments. Obviously, the interior is just as wow, it’s a must see it, so if you have to choose between other attractions you want to visit I will strongly recommend you to visit this one, you won’t regret it.

The house near Casa Battlo is Casa Amatller. It was the house of a chocolatier named Antoni Amatller who bought it in 1898.

The design is, of course, a Catalan one, but also has some elements from Germany (the gothic style of the windows). The front of the building has the drawings with knights, dragons and other creatures. There I tasted a great homemade chocolate, and you can also buy choco as a gift for your loved ones. If you are a traveller, there you can see the pictures made by Amattler during his trips.

From there we walked a lot until we arrived in a large square, Placa de Catalunya. It was built over 80 years ago and it’s one of the busiest squares in the city. It is surrounded by wonderful buildings, restaurant and banks, you can shop at El Corte Ingles, there are also some fountains which are best to see on nights because are lighted. It has a perfect location because is at the border between the old city and Eixample district (an amazing neighbourhood). We took some pictures with the pigeons and then continued our promenade until we reached the Rambla.

On our walking I saw a great Gelateria, I totally recommend to try it.

La Rambla is One of the main attractions of Barcelona is this long and wide boulevard that has 5 sections, often referred as Las Ramblas.
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The landmark buildings along La Rambla include the Palau de la Virreina and the Boqueria Market. There you can attend to street shows, artists selling their creation and a lot of souvenir shops.

Another must-see is the market Sant Josep de la Boqueria is a huge market located in Ciutat Vella at the entrance to La Rambla. Thirteen years ago this market won the prize for best market in the world, awarded by the World Market Congress. There you can buy a lot of goodies, especially fresh juice, you can taste a lot of unusual flavors. Also if you are hungry, you can have some great tapas here.I love the juices over there, I drank five, all delicious.

Port

After walking 1.2 km, the total length of Las Ramblas we arrived near the Port Vell and we saw this astounding monument dedicated to Christopher Columbus. It was built in 1999 and has a height of 60 meters and you can see that Christopher Columbus pointing out to sea, there are a lot of opinions regarding this aspect, some claim he is pointing towards America, others say it’s India or Genoa. If you didn’t see the city above from the Sagrada Familia, you can totally see it from here.

After we walked almost 15 km by foot, we returned and visited the MAJESTIC SAGRADA FAMLIA. There we saw the sunset.
After that, we went directly to a restaurant where we ate some tasty Paella and drank yummy Sangria, it was eventually the time time to call it a night because the next day was an exhausting, full of activities, but beautiful day too.

Prices of the main attraction:

• Sagrada Familia tickets starting from €15
• Casa Batllo € 24.5
• Park Guell € 7.5
• Camp Nou € 25
• Casa Milà € 22
• Casa Amatller €14

If you are staying just one day, you can buy a ticket for Hop and Hop Off bus, a ticket costs €27.
If you like to go shopping and you have some spare time, you can pay a visit to La Roca Village, a famous outlet located only 30 minutes away by train from Barcelona. For more information, please check up the website.

This is the first part of my trip to this amazing city, for the second one, please stay tuned, I will post it in the following week..

Did you visit Barcelona, the most visited city in Spain? What was your favourite part of the trip?
Thanks for reading my post. If you like it, you can upvote and resteem it!
Have a wonderful time.
Xo A

Source:

• https://www.tmb.cat/en/barcelona/fares-metro-bus/barcelona-travel-card-hola-bcn
• https://www.visiacity.com
• https://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/en/airport/transport/night-bus-barcelona-airport.html
• https://www.larocavillage.com/es/home/
• https://thesavvybackpacker.com/daily-costs-visit-barcelona/
• https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/in/Barcelona