Adventures of David and Paul: December Trip to Spain

Last year we took a trip to Italy for David's birthday, and we decided to replicate that this year and take another early December trip. Based on weather and costs we decided on Southern Europe again, settling on Spain after throwing around a few options. We decided to start in Barcelona and travel south, ending in Valencia.

Unfortunately, right now there aren't direct flights to Barcelona from Atlanta, so we connected through JFK. The trip started out interestingly when David found a big wad of cash on the floor in front on him. The guy in front of us had dropped $1,700. Oops. We returned it to him and he seemed pretty happy about it. No questions were asked. ;)

After a rather lengthy layover at a rainy JFK, then a redeye cross-Atlantic flight, we arrived in Barcelona on a Thursday morning. We took the Aerobus into town, since it's the most convenient and quickest method. Our lodging was kind of a hybrid between a hotel and and AirBnB called En Ville Apartments, in the Sant Antoni neighborhood. It was a good location, with easy metro access, lots of nearby restaurants and amenities, and a short walk from Plaça de Catalunya as well at the gothic quarter. Really anywhere in central Barcelona is a good place to stay, as it's really easy to walk or take a bus/train. We were a little early and our room was still being cleaned, but they let us drop our bags off and we started our day. We began with a great starting point for anyone visiting Barcelona - Antoni Gaudí. David had previously visited Casa Milà - La Pedrera in 2019, and Paul visited Palau Güell way back in 2003, so we decided on Casa Batlló, a 1904 house. We enjoyed the unique ocean-inspired organic design throughout the house, and the trippy "cube" multimedia display at the end of the tour.

Rooftop chimneys on Casa Batlló.

The front façade of Casa Batlló.

A cool wavy ceiling.

The house has a central shaft adorned with blue tiles.

These walls are made of chains, and were somewhat common around Spain. They look cool at least!

The cube was a weird but cool end to the Casa Batlló tour.

Next we had a quick lunch at Ciutat Comtal. It's a simple but very popular tapas restaurant. We weren't sure if we'd get in since we didn't have reservations, but luckily there were two seats at the bar. We had a couple of traditional tapas including croquettes and pan con tomate. After eating we walked around a bit, exploring La Rambla, and quickly popping in to Betlem Church and Mercado de La Boqueria before wandering around the gothic quarter and the Christmas market in front of the cathedral.

We were pretty jetlagged and exhausted at this point, so we stopped at supermarket and then went back to our AirBnB for a siesta. We finished off the night watching the Spain vs. Japan World Cup game at the Bullman Pub, a nearby Irish pub. It got pretty crowded since it's a small pub, and we shared our table with a couple of Germans who were living in Barcelona and anxiously watching the Germany vs Costa Rica match at the same time. We also saw a woman bring in a Papa Johns pizza, of all things. Quite the international experience. :)

Walking on La Rambla. Barcelona is a pleasant walking city.

The entrance to the busy La Boqueria market.

Beer and the World Cup.

Motley crew assembling for the game!

The next day, Friday, we took the subway to the Sagrada Familia area for our pre-booked entrance time. Barcelona's subway is convenient, efficient, and easy to use. Highly recommended when traveling across town - otherwise we mostly just walked everywhere. We started off with a quick coffee and pastry at Blackbird Coffee Corner. One thing we've notice is that American style "to go" coffee shops are becoming much more common in Europe. There are still all of the European style cafes, but its nice to have options when time is limited.

We've both been to Sagrada Familia before - Paul in his post-study-abroad visit in January 2003, and David in his break between jobs in 2019. We were both excited to return. It's one of the most iconic buildings in Europe, and for good reason. It was way ahead of its time when construction started in the late 1800s, and even today it's a unique and impressive architectural and artistic work. Our booking also included a trip up one of the towers - we chose the nativity tower. This involves taking the elevator up, being able to walk around a small section at the top including an outdoor portion, and taking a very long spiral staircase back down. It's a good way to get different views of the structure and to see that it is still very much a construction site.

Blackbird coffee.

The tree-like columns and soaring interior.

Rainbow light through the windows.

The main reason to visit is the lighting through the stained glass!

The view of Barcelona from the Nativity tower.

Decorations on the tower.

Five Guys and a statue on his cell phone.

David with the cool staircase.

The Passion façade.

Overall, the outside is kinda meh compared to what's inside.

Leaving Sagrada Familia, we walked north to Recinte Modernista de Sant Pau. A UNESCO world heritage site, this is a former hospital campus that was built in the art nouveau style in the early 1900s. Its kind of on the edge of central Barcelona and seems to get fewer tourists than a lot of the other sites, but it's worth a visit for its distinctive architecture, and is a pleasant place to walk around. The main building has a really impressive interior.

The entrance to the old hospital.

Inside the main building.

Staircases don't come much more impressive than this!

Overview of the campus.

One of the sunny hallways in the main building.

It was early afternoon by now, so we set off for lunch. We planned on trying to eat at Mont Bar, since David had eaten there in 2019 and really enjoyed it. But apparently it's become much more popular since then and earned a Michelin star, so we were out of luck without a reservation. Instead we ate at nearby Micu Maku, which had a pretty delicious selection of typical tapas.

After lunch we walked back toward our AirBnB, after a quick stop at the nearby Sant Antoni market. Once night arrived, we took a stroll through the gothic quarter to the Christmas market in front of the cathedral, and stopped for some cocktails at Pax 49. This is a tiny but good cocktail bar. Finally, we went to dinner at Sesamo, a vegetarian restaurant. We had the multi-course tasting menu, which was affordable and yummy.