Travel
24 Hours In… Barcelona
Slide Nr 1The largest city on the Mediterranean will lure you in with stories of slain dragons and the aromas of rustic, traditional cooking, then slap you over the head with a sophistication reserved for wealthy world capitals. Are you looking for a beach holiday, art retreat or foodie adventure? Well, you found it. Barcelona has it all.
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Travel
24 Hours In… Barcelona.
Slide Nr 27am: Watch The City Awaken – There’s no better start to the day than grabbing a seat on the famous mosaic benches, called Le Banc de Trencadis, at legendary Park Güell and watching the city and sea as the world rises from its slumber. Antoni Gaudí’s utopian housing development/modernist park welcomes nine million visitors a year, most of whom pay the entry fee. However you, my clever friend, are going there for free at 7am before they put up the barricades and start scanning tickets. Make sure to time the visit with the sunrise, though as it varies by season.
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Travel
24 Hours In… Barcelona.
Slide Nr 38:30am: Grab Some Local Breakfast – After the park, we take a quick walk down to Lesseps metro station and grab the green line to Liceu, where we pop out happy and hungry in front of one of the world’s best food markets: La Boqueria. We make a beeline for Bar El Quim de la Boqueria for a savoury Spanish breakfast of fried eggs with baby squid and/or butifarra sausage with mushroom. Afterwards, we head to stand 334 (Fruites i Verdures Jaime i Montse) to buy any of the €1.50 smoothies that we can sip as we check out the rest of the market, with its farm-fresh fruit and veg – and still-moving seafood. [Photo: El Quim de la Boqueria via Facebook]
2/18
Travel
24 Hours In… Barcelona.
Slide Nr 510:15 am: War And Peace – We switch squares with a short walk up to the haunting stillness of Plaça de Sant Felip Neri. It’s one of Barcelona’s most peaceful squares, hidden in plain sight and marking the entrance to the city’s Jewish Quarter. If you’re there early enough in the day, you’ll hear only the slowly running water of the small ornamental fountain in the centre. But its tranquility belies a tragic past. One can still see shrapnel punctures in the stone from a 1938 Spanish Civil War bombing that left 42 dead – many of them children playing during school recess – bringing us back to a time when fascism ruled the land. [Photo: Julien Lagarde/Flickr]
4/18
Travel
24 Hours In… Barcelona.
Slide Nr 610:30am: A Gothic Gem – Our sequence of squares continues with Pla de la Seu, home to the famous 13th-century Barcelona Cathedral. The Gothic exterior with its intimidating gargoyles is striking, as is the cloister and its 13 resident geese paying homage to the short 13 years of life of Barcelona’s co-patron saint, Santa Eulalia. It’s free to enter for religious purposes during this time, though visitors are asked to dress modestly and refrain from photography. What’s more interesting is the eastern façade and the original entrance, called La Puerta de San Ivo, which was built with marble from nearby Montjuïc. [Photo: Mariano Mantel/Flickr]
5/18
Travel
24 Hours In… Barcelona.
Slide Nr 711:30am: Explore El Born – Just off Pla de la Seu we duck into the fashionable El Born neighbourhood. This old town district is famous for its artistic bent, fashion boutiques and textile ateliers. The two main stops here are the Palau de la Música, an art nouveau music venue with its colourful mosaic teardrop chandelier and awesome acoustics, and the massive Picasso Museum, which needs no explanation. Spend an hour at either, and then begin the afternoon on the terrace at cultural hotspot Antic Teatre to engage in one of Spain’s favourite pastimes: drinking a caña (a small beer) in the sun. [Photo by Alessia Bombaci, courtesy Antic Teatre]
6/18
Travel
24 Hours In… Barcelona.
Slide Nr 81pm: A Local Lunch – We’ve done a lot of walking, and unless we stuffed ourselves with chocolate after breakfast (I know I did) there’s probably no better time for lunch than now. Restaurante Cadaques is just a 10-minute walk away, and it’s the perfect place to try some classic local dishes like tortilla de patatas, wood-fired clam and monkfish paella, and crema catalana. It’s fashionable, spacious and has service to match the food. Seafood lovers will also have their pick of any fish from the Mediterranean.
7/18
Travel
24 Hours In… Barcelona.
Slide Nr 92:30pm: Hit The Beach – We’re full and the sun’s probably shining (isn’t it always in Barcelona?), so getting on Passeig de Joan Borbo and heading straight for the beach is in order. If it’s the off season, we’ll sit in the sand and digest our lunch with a bit of photography and people-watching. In summer, we’re packing a swimsuit and going for a dip. The water is cleanest in the little cove just below the sail-shaped W Hotel, one of the city’s top places to stay. Expect nudists. In either case, don’t be shy in buying a beer from one of the street vendors – but don’t pay more than €1.50.
8/18
Travel
24 Hours In… Barcelona.
Slide Nr 104pm: Visit A Barcelona Icon – Now we’re energised! It’s time to pay a visit to what has been rated the #1 attraction in all of Europe: the Sagrada Família. This epic impact basilica – still not entirely finished – blends Gothic and art nouveau forms together in a way only local ‘starchitect’ Antoni Gaudí ever could. It’s like walking through a rainbow. General admission tickets are only sold between 4-6pm, but we, clever tourists that we are, planned ahead and booked them online to guarantee not being shut out!
9/18
Travel
24 Hours In… Barcelona.
Slide Nr 115:30pm: Vermouth Hour – You may think I’m crazy suggesting a third drink of the day when we haven’t even reached 6pm, but this is the type of ‘historical drinking’ that can be justified on holiday. Locals usually sip a vermouth (vermut) as an aperitivo, and to avoid offense, we’re going to follow suit at El Celler del Vermut. The vermouth here is stored and aged in barrels and this is one of the few authentic bars in close proximity to the Sagrada Família.
10/18
Travel
24 Hours In… Barcelona.
Slide Nr 126:30pm: – We hop on the blue line of the metro at Sagrada and take it two stops to Diagonal. We’ll exit right at the top of one of Barcelona’s most luxurious shopping streets: Passeig de Gràcia. Spend to your heart’s desire. Walking down this main drag of the ruta del modernisme, though, we’ll pass near my favourite hotel, which hosted the Beatles when they played their only Barcelona show ever. El Avenida Palace also has an amazing breakfast buffet, if you’re looking for a place to stay. [Photo: François Morard/Flickr]
11/18
Travel
24 Hours In… Barcelona.
Slide Nr 148:30pm: Drink Like Dalí – We’re in Spain. It’s too early for dinner, but it’s never too early for a cocktail – especially at Barcelona’s oldest cocktail bar, Bar Boadas. It’s just minutes from Casa Batlló, right at the top of Las Ramblas. We get the €9.00 cocktail of the day (usually a traditional one, like a martini) and soak up the old-school vibe. Dalí drank here, and he’s infinitely cooler than us. [Photo: Bar Boadas via Facebook]
13/18
Travel
24 Hours In… Barcelona.
Slide Nr 159pm: A Long Dinner – We walk down Las Ramblas to my favourite restaurant: Louro. The refined Spanish tapas menu gives us a taste of Galicia, in my opinion the most delicious region on the peninsula. We spend the next two hours devouring steak tartare, jamón ibérico, crunchy octopus and much more. If we do it right, we’re closing the place down over digestivos at 11pm (11:30pm on weekends). Done!
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Travel
24 Hours In… Barcelona.
Slide Nr 16Before You Go: Read & Understand – As the largest city in the autonomous region of Catalonia, many people in Barcelona speak Catalan – not Spanish – as their first language, and have a cultural identity separate from Spain. It’s a good idea to read up on Catalonia’s history and culture before arriving, to better understand the Catalan people, their traditions and way of life. For history buffs, I recommend George Orwell Homage to Catalonia, George Orwell’s brutal account of the fighting in Barcelona during the Spanish Civil War.
15/18
Travel
24 Hours In… Barcelona.
Slide Nr 17Before You Go: Know This – Tipping is uncommon in Spain, rejoice! You’ll save tons of money not having to round up for every drink you buy. It’s customary to leave a few euros for particularly good service in restaurants, but there’s nothing expected by servers here, and even less so in bars, taxis, beauty salons and so forth.
16/18
Travel
24 Hours In… Barcelona.
Slide Nr 19About Ashley Pilfold – Born in Vancouver, Canada, Ash left to see the world 12 years ago. He’s lived in the UK, Italy, Russia – and now Barcelona for the past 8 years. While teaching English in 2015, he started Barcelona Hacks as a casual way to help tourists. It has now become his full time job. [Photo: Oscar Martucci]
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