February 7, 2020

“We are now in Barcelona! I am so tired from a full day exploring. I’m really happy to have a full week here to see everything and not feel too rushed. The beach is 15 minute walk from our Airbnb, which makes me very happy. Even though it’s chilly there are a lot of people out, playing volleyball, windsurfing, sailing, running, biking and laying out. The water is turquoise blue, with a big paved path that runs along the beach and city.”

Food:

I got A LOT of food recommendations from friends, and really I don’t think you can go wrong eating in this foodie city. Here is some of our favorite restaurants: Santagustina, Raco de la Vila, The Little Basket, Contigo, Bo de B, and of course the Boqueria Market.

Vintage Shopping:

We were pleasantly surprised with the immense amount of vintage shops and markets we found while exploring the city. Many of them are found in El Born and Gothic Quarter. Flamingo is a chain with multiple shops throughout the city (and world) that is priced by weight. I found some awesome silk pieces here. Magpie Vintage was more curated and very chic. La Principal and Holala! were some other favorites.

There was also an awesome vintage market called Flea Market Barcelona that happens on the first Sunday of every month that we happened to be there for! This is an outdoor market with a variety of offerings.. a lot of 80’s/90’s clothing vendors and a lot of knick knacks. You can definitely negotiate prices here and spend a long time looking through everything.

Mercat del Encants is the biggest second hand market in Barcelona and there is a lot of everything. It happens a few days every week.

“It was huge with all kinds of things, from new cheap clothes to old clothes, home goods, electronics, plumbing, antiques, food… just really anything you can think of. We walked around, Dan found some pins he liked, and got empanadas.”

Montserrat Hike:

This ended up being one of our all time favorite hikes! It’s about an hour train ride out of the city to get to the cable car that takes you up to the Montserrat temples. From there you can start your hike up! It’s definitely very steep and lots of stairs, but so worth it once you get to the top. Such incredible views and landscapes. There were even mountain goats hanging out on the peaks of rocks and two ran across the trail in front of us! Down at the temples there are some gift shops and food. This will end up being a full day of exploring so leave early if you plant to go!

El Born:

“We had a great last day yesterday discovering the Born neighborhood. Super artsy and filled with really cool boutiques with studios in them. It was definitely my favorite part of the city and the area I could see myself living. We stumbled upon the Picasso museum, turns out it was a holiday so all tickets were free! We continued walking around and stopping into all the shops, each one so unique. It made me want a retail space even more, very inspiring.”

There’s so much to do in Barcelona and this is just some of our favorites.. If you have any questions feel free to comment or send me a message!