A Short Weekend In Barcelona – With Teenagers! – 2021
September 2021
Having been stuck in lockdown for the year before, and having hoped to take my two teenage daughters for weekend in New York which kept getting delayed, cancelled I decided to cancel my NY trip and book a long weekend in Barcelona. I wasn’t disappointed.
We stayed at the Hotel Catedral Barcelona hotel (https://www.barcelonacatedral.com/en/), located in the heart of the Gothic quarter and 1 minutes walk to the Cathedral and 5 minutes to La Rambla, it was a great location. The hotel is a mix between a corporate and a boutique hotel, rooms are modern, staff very helpful and the small pool and deck was perfect after long days of sightseeing, just to cool off. I would highly recommend the hotel, but if you are looking for a larger pool then this probably isn’t the hotel for you. We liked the hotel because it was central and allowed us to walk to most places that we wanted to go too.
What can you say, Barcelona is a delight on the eyes, every walk allows you to explore this wonderful city, and due to the location of the hotel, we were right in the middle of it. However to ensure we saw the main sights we jumped on the open top bus tour (https://barcelona.city-tour.com/en) While the tour was good, I do think the majority of the sights are behind the main roads, so you are better getting off and roaming this wonderful city.
While on the bus we did hop off at the Sagrada Familia, currently you need to book tickets online Once inside, what an absolute treat, what you see on the outside doesn’t do any justice to the design inside, to say it took our breath away when we walked through the door is an understatement, this is a must do for any visit to Barcelona.
We spent a lot of time walking around the city, but the promenade by the beach is lovely albeit the nudist beach is a bit of a shock the first time you walk past! Getting to the beach requires a walk through the streets of Barceloneta which was originally where the fisherman lived, and still feels as if you are stepping back in time, with small homes, bars and restaurants.
I honestly feel that you could spend months in Barcelona and see something new every day, the architecture is outstanding, and every walk just opened up new things to see!
Beaches
Maybe the best part of Barcelona, we have everything a major city brings but then you have the wonderful beaches right there! it truly gives you a balance between city break and beach holiday. So, we wanted to treat ourselves to a beach day at one of the main beach clubs. We went to Puro Beach which was located in land at the Hilton hotel, although good, it was very expensive, so in hindsight I would have rather just gone to the public beach and got pretty much the same experience.
Our next visit to the beach was to the beach! we tried out a small beach bar / restaurant called Mokai – a small beach bar, you can rent sunbeds and umbrellas for 10eur per item. We spent the day there, had good food, drinks, cocktails and the beach was nice.
Later in the weekend, we just headed down to the public beach, and again it was a good choice.
Eating and Drinking
When in Barcelona ….. there is no shortage of some of the finest eateries in Europe (in my opinion) there is so much choice, we had a little bit of help from a great blog (https://www.barcelonafoodexperience.com) obviously written by an expat living in Barcelona so well trusted, and didn’t fail us ! Avinyo 10 (http://avinyo10.com) – we stumbled across this cute little tapas restaurant on our first evening, as we were exploring around the gothic quarter, not far from La Rambla. Croquets were probably the best we had all week, while probably not the best, but it was a good experience for our first taste of what was to come.
Camping Mar (https://www.encompaniadelobos.com/en/camping-mar/) – what a find, this restaurant is literally behind the W hotel, but hidden in the marina, so when walking to the restaurant trust google maps. We were looking for Paella (albeit here they just call it rice!) and we were disappointed, the biggest dish arrived at our table, very basic (prawn and squid) but was exactly what we wanted. The wine was good here, and due to the location, it was quiet, but sitting in front of the yachts in the Marina, made it perfect.
La Xampanyeria (http://www.canpaixano.com) – shh don’t tell anyone, this was recommended to us by some friends in Dubai. Just to be clear this is essentially a sandwich shop that is open during the day. We arrived early afternoon and saw the queue down the street. The restaurant is small, but you stand at the bar, and eat your cooked sandwich, I can recommend the country sausage, as well as the fried Chorizo. Drinks wise it is easy, it is water or cava, so we ended up with our sausage sandwich sipping rose cava.
Asado burger – you can’t always win! after several days of tapas, we decided it was time for a burger! Asado came highly rated, having a good reputation in Bristol and having just opened their Barcelona restaurant. It was OK but not worth a special trip. If you do go, a top tip, they don’t have English menus (strange for an English brand) but if you pull up the Bristol menu you can find your way around.
Amarre 69 (https://www.amarre69.com) – if you are looking for fun sundowner bar, this could be it, just behind the beach, and while it is restaurant the focus is on drinks, the music was pumping, the tables were having a great time. We stopped for cocktails and would have gone back if we hadn’t been leaving. Pez vela (https://grupotragaluz.com/en/restaurant/pez-vela/) – on our last night, we wanted to find a great tapas restaurant with a view, and we were not disappointed! Pez Vela is under the W hotel, right on the beach, we sat with a great view and enjoyed the music from the pool deck up at the W, and the food was amazing, we went for all the traditional tapas favourites but the choice was huge, so something for everyone.
Ramblero de la boqueria (https://www.ramblero.com) – maybe our overall favourite! we ate here twice once when we first arrived for a snack, and then before we left for the airport on the way home. Think Borough market in Spain! This is a seafood bar located in a busy food and drink market on La Rambla. It quick, noisy and busy, the food was amazing, we tried the octopus, and I can highly recommend it!
Overall, we loved our long weekend in Barcelona, it is a great city that gives everyone everything so would highly recommend a visit!
