After ten years at ARC, I (David) decided it was time for a change and decided to switch jobs. Since this is a big shift, I decided to take a few weeks off between jobs for a vacation. I'm visiting Barcelona and Athens for about 10 days before meeting up with Paul in Cairo for a 12 day trip to Egypt. Luckily, I have some of the best friends in the world and they're joining me in Spain and Greece to keep me company and liquored up (more the latter).
After a long flight from Atlanta to Paris, I caught a connecting flight to Barcelona and arrived at around 11:30 am on a Sunday. My friend Thomas met me at the AirBnB, a really great two bed two bath penthouse in Eixample. Since the AirBnB wouldn't be cleaned until 5pm, we set out and strolled the streets of Barcelona for a bit before having a late lunch at a restaurant called Enkle. We had some arepas and a modern interpretation of patatas bravas along with a few drinks. Everything here was really delicious!
Next we strolled over to the Barceloneta neighborhood to check out the beach. Since it was such a warm and sunny day there were tons of people enjoying a stroll. We hung out in Barceloneta a bit and got a drink at a little (not great) bar near the water before going up the Westin for a view of the city. After taking it all in we decided to head back to the AirBnB to chill for a while. The sun was going down and it became very windy and cold, so we were happy to get out of the weather.
After exploring a bit on the way back to the AirBnB, and rallying after being awake for nearly 24 hours at this point, Thomas and I decided to go to a few bars in Eixample before calling it a night. Since it was a Sunday and kinda early, most of the bars were pretty empty. We did have an awkward conversation with a locale about how much he loved Americans and was still sorry about September 11th. Weird. Sometimes I wonder if the only reason the rest of the world hasn't written America off is due to sympathy over events like that.
Overall, a great first day of my three week trip and a wonderful introduction to Barcelona. Pax 49 and Enkle are both great places and you should give them a try if you're in town.
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| La Rambla pedestrian street. |
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| Didn't take long to find an anti-Spain sign. |
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| First meal of the trip at Enkel. We had arepas and patatas bravas. |
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| Plaza real in the evening light. |
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| Lots of narrow cute alleys and streets in the Gothic quarter of town. |
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| Yay! Barcelona! At this point I'd been awake for almost 24 hours... |
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| Basilica de la Merce. |
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| Opulent interior of the Basilica |
Next we strolled over to the Barceloneta neighborhood to check out the beach. Since it was such a warm and sunny day there were tons of people enjoying a stroll. We hung out in Barceloneta a bit and got a drink at a little (not great) bar near the water before going up the Westin for a view of the city. After taking it all in we decided to head back to the AirBnB to chill for a while. The sun was going down and it became very windy and cold, so we were happy to get out of the weather.
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| Happy lobster near the water. |
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| Pedestrian area near the beach at Barceloneta. |
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| Beach with the W hotel in the background. |
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| Looking north from near the W, lots of development and highrises along the shore. |
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| Similar view but from the W...we snuck up to the 11th floor. |
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| Matcha white chocolate cocktail and a beet cocktail at Pax 49. |
After exploring a bit on the way back to the AirBnB, and rallying after being awake for nearly 24 hours at this point, Thomas and I decided to go to a few bars in Eixample before calling it a night. Since it was a Sunday and kinda early, most of the bars were pretty empty. We did have an awkward conversation with a locale about how much he loved Americans and was still sorry about September 11th. Weird. Sometimes I wonder if the only reason the rest of the world hasn't written America off is due to sympathy over events like that.
Overall, a great first day of my three week trip and a wonderful introduction to Barcelona. Pax 49 and Enkle are both great places and you should give them a try if you're in town.
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| I need to find a second expression for these selfies... |
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