First day

We went to Barcelona in the last weekend of March. This is a fine weekend to visit Barcelona the weather is awesome and the sun shines without burning.

The weather was marvellous, since we had the chance to enjoy one of the first weekends what it was good to go to the beach. The goal of the trip was to see the city, so we did not sunbath, but we had the opportunity to rest in the beach.

We arrived at the Barcelona Airport at 21:30 and we had booked the Zenit Borrel near the Barcelona Sants Station. The hotel is near the train station, which is a plus since you can catch the train instead of the Aerobus.
If you ever see youself in Barcelona Airport, the train is a good decision, curiously this is why the train is mostly used by Spanish, it was cheaper than the bus and the station also gets you to the city center.

After leaving the station and eating something inside the Barcelona Sants Station, we grabbed a taxi to the hotel, we felt the price was fair, charging us €7 for a small distance that we did not want to walk since it was dark and we did not know the city.

The colours of a Taxi in Barcelona

Day 1 in Barcelona

The first day we decided to walk to the Plaza de Catalunya, it is one of the main plazas and the place where you can catch the tourist bus. We decided to walk by the city, so we headed to the Gothic neighbourhood, and after that, to the coastal area.

View of the Montjuic from the “Ronda Litoral” the coastal street

The Gothic part of the city is a very different part of Barcelona, it is unique and in the city centre. The curious part is that you are minutes from the beach, which is rare in the big cities of Europe.

The Barcelona Beach  near the famous W Hotel.

After walking by the beach and enjoying the breeze we reached the Carrer Marina. It is a nice part of the town, with modern buildings and big avenues. It is not a must see, but it was worth the walk.

View in the Parc de la Ciutadella

Getting back to the tourist part of Barcelona we passed by the Parc de la Ciutadella, the city park.

Small statue in the top of the fountain

The park is also a great spot to rest and recharge your batteries. It has nice benches where you can seat and enjoy the view and fresh air. We decided it was the perfect place to have lunch, so we bought some sandwiches and eat in the gardens.

You can also find the Castle of the Three Dragons in one of the park exits.

Three Dragons Castle in Barcelona

The exit near the castle leads you to the big walking avenue, The Passeig Lluis Companys, that leads you to the Arc de Triomf, the Barcelona arch of triumph.

Since we still had time, we decided to get a little further from the Hotel and visit the Sagrada Familia, a must see.

The Sagrada Familia

Sagrada Familia and people in the queue

We did not enter inside the Sagrada Familia, we know it’s worth it but time was short, so we decided to continued our trip to see the buildings of Barcelona, even some regular buildings are artistic, not like La Pedrera, but still good enough to enjoy.

Some examples of the Barcelona unique Buildings.

Depending on what you are going to visit, and your walking speed, this can be done in eight hours, or you can even take two days to visit everything, you may even want to spend a day in the beach.

Second Day

View of the Plaza de España with the National Museum of Catalonia Art behind.

Zoomed view to the National Museum of Catalonia Art in Barcelona

Plaza de España

Parc de Joan Miró on the right, Carrer de Tarragona on the left.

View over Barcelona from the Arena top

Walking path around the last floor of the Arena

Swimming pool on one of the last floor of a building , with the Sagrada Familia on the background, on the right.

As you can see in some of these images, the trip to the Arena is worth the effort and definitely a place I highly recommend. Many sightseeing buses stop nearby, it is also a good place to eat and drink and it is between the Ramblas and the Montjuic.

After the Arena, we headed to the National Museum of Catalonia Art, walking through Av. Reina Maria Cristina where you can find benches if you want to rest a little.

View over Barcelona from the NMCA

From there you can walk in the parks and use the escalators to reach the higher levels. It is a nice place to walk with all the green area around you and the city so close.

On the area of the NMCA there are treadmills available for the public.

After some minutes walking you will reach the Olympic Stadium and the Olympic Ring (Anella Olimpica), an area which was the main centre of the Olympic Games in 1992.

Plaza Europa in the Anella Olimpica

It is a wide open area where you can view the Sant Jordi Palace, the Montjuic Communications Tower, the Olympic Stadium and an excellent view to the south of Barcelona, where the Airport is located.

Palau Sant Jordi

Montjuic Communications Tower in Barcelona designed by Santiago Calatrava

Olympic Stadium

After seeing the Europa Plaza we headed for the Olympic Stadium to see the interior, open for the public for free.

Olympic Stadium

There was a little mistake in one of the boards in the Stadium

We had seen the stage of the Olympic Games, and we continued our journey to the top of the Montjuic, we decided to go by the Carer l’Estadi / Av. Miramar. On our way we stopped at the Estació de Funicular (Cable Railway Station) which has also the stop to go by cable car to the Montjuic Castle.

One of the overviews that you can see when on the cable car

The Montjuic modern Cable Cars

Gardens around the Montjuic Castle

When you reach the top of the Montjuic Castle be prepared if you think you are going to be hungry, thirsty or with a strong will to use a bathroom, there are not much facilities there.

View of Barcelona from the Montjuic Castle

Montjuic Castle Collage

After enjoying the moment in the top of Montjuic it was time to go down, back to Barcelona, since we had the cable car return tickets, we used it and went to the Funicular Station, there we got the cable railway and ended in the Av. Paralel. It is not a great place to view, it is strange and I read that in the evening there are some signs of “illegal activities”.

We headed to the Plaza Drassanes and then to monument to Columbus, after that we started our tour by the famous Ramblas.

It was time to eat, we decided to stop in sandwich restaurant. You have several choices in the Ramblas, from typical places to the big brands.

Sustained by nice columns, this is the main belvedere of Parc Guell, always with people enjoying the view

As normal, be prepared to walk, walking throught the park can be a long journey to see everything, if you need to eat or drink something, there are some nice alternatives ten minutes from the park, specially on the “Travessera de Dalt”

View of Barcelona from Parc Guell

As you can see there are lots of trees in the park, the green area is also good to walk with the nature around. In the main paths you can find street sellers, selling sunglasses, handbags and other counterfeit objects.

One of the bridges in Parc Guell with its own architecture and the nature around

Columns made from rocks

Mapfre tower on the left and Hotel Arts on the Right, view from the Parc Guell

View of the Passeig de Sant Joan in the centre

View of Barcelona from the Parc Guell

We had completed our visit in Parc Guell and decided to go to see the water show in the Magic Fountain of Montjuic. The show is worth the visit, but be prepared since there are lots of people who go there and the best places are occupied.

Sustained by nice columns, this is the main belvedere of Parc Guell, always with people enjoying the view

As normal, be prepared to walk, walking throught the park can be a long journey to see everything, if you need to eat or drink something, there are some nice alternatives ten minutes from the park, specially on the “Travessera de Dalt”

View of Barcelona from Parc Guell

As you can see there are lots of trees in the park, the green area is also good to walk with the nature around. In the main paths you can find street sellers, selling sunglasses, handbags and other counterfeit objects.

One of the bridges in Parc Guell with its own architecture and the nature around

Columns made from rocks

Mapfre tower on the left and Hotel Arts on the Right, view from the Parc Guell

View of the Passeig de Sant Joan in the centre

View of Barcelona from the Parc Guell

We had completed our visit in Parc Guell and decided to go to see the water show in the Magic Fountain of Montjuic. The show is worth the visit, but be prepared since there are lots of people who go there and the best places are occupied.