Our flight from Palma was at 6:30 am. We needed to be at the airport 2 hours before take off since it was a RyanAir flight. We woke up at 3:30 to drive from our hotel to the airport which was on the other side of the island. Lucky for us it’s not that big of an island. We landed in Barcelona at 7:30, and surprisingly Barcelona was already awake, which is definitely not what I’m used to in Morocco where noon is an acceptable time to get up on the weekends. First thing we had to do when we landed was figure out the public transportation from the airport to the city center. Andy and I walked around like total tourists for a while until we figured out the bus system, which in hindsight was simple.
We got off the bus at Plaça d’Espanya to start. Not much was open at the time so we went to Manso’s Cafe, a highly rated cafe I found on Google. Andy got a panini, and I ordered an omelet and the best green tea cookie I’ve ever had. It was so soft and delicious! I highly recommend.
After having breakfast, we took a subway to the Cathedral of Barcelona. There was an entrance fee to see the interior of the cathedral but Andy and I decided to pass.
After the cathedral, we got back on the subway to check out the Mercado de La Boqueria. Surprisingly, the market ended up being my favorite part. It reminded me of Pike’s Place in Seattle near where I grew up. Except more beef and less seafood.
After we had our fill of bumping past people in the market, we took a subway to Ciutadella Park and got photos at the Arco de Triunfo de Barcelona.
From there we walked to La Sagrada Familia. This was honestly the only reason we went to Barcelona. I have been dreaming of seeing La Sagrada Familia in person since I first read about it in my freshman year Spanish class. It was an out-of-body experience to actually see the cathedral and walk around it.
From La Sagrada Familia, we hiked to Park Güell. When I say hike it was honestly a hike. The entire half hour walk ended up being a 122 meter elevation change. When we finally got to Park Güell, we were dismayed to find there were even more stairs. But we trooped it out and got to see some amazing views.
Andy and I were both pretty tired after that so we decided to head back to the airport. Our return plane was in four hours anyways.
One our way back, we took one last stop at Arenas de Barcelona in Plaça d’Espanya. Arenas de Barcelona is a mall in an old arena but if you go to the rooftop area you get a cool 360 degree view of the plaza.
Then we caught our subway back to the airport and had Burger King for dinner. My apple watch said we walked 34,265 steps, 14.7 miles, and 37 floors so I figured we deserved a Whopper.
