Barcelona - brilliant for a city break

Brian Telfer on 23 July 2013
What comes to mind when you think of Barcelona?

For me I always think of Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé singing ‘Barcelona’. The song is exciting and slightly over the top – which sums up this amazing city perfectly!

With this in mind I was very excited about our trip to Barcelona. We flew out early on a Thursday morning, and returned on a Sunday evening.

The flight was on time and only few hours later, we were sitting at a pavement cafe in the sunshine, unleashing our rusty Spanish on the unsuspecting staff. It was the perfect start to a fantastic long weekend.

Our hotel was lovely and the staff were friendly and helpful. There was a sun terrace on the roof and all in all it was very modern. The location was very handy - a short distance from the main tourist area, while still within easy reach of some lovely cafes and restaurants. The city is built on a grid system so it is very easy to find your way around. It’s a modern city, with many items having a QR code to link to a web site for more information.

We bought tickets for the Barcelona Bus Turistic which is an excellent way of seeing the key sights. There are 3 routes to go on - red, blue and green - which take you all around the city. You can jump on and off as you wish.

Gaudi's Pedrera and La Sagrada Familia are amazing – completely mad but fantastic - and not to be missed. We also went into the cathedral which was beautiful. We took the Teleferic de Montjuic up to Parc de Montjuic with its panoramic views of the city and the La Sagrada Familia rising out of it. When on the red route, we spotted Cafe Alaska in the lovely area of Gracia and jumped off the bus to go there for a spot of lunch. It was the perfect spot for people watching – we loved it.

The beaches looked great, however we’ll have to save them for the next visit. We also didn’t get a chance to visit Camp Nou, the Science Museum or Sitges which I’ve heard are all great.

We fell in love with the culture and atmosphere of Barcelona. We loved the way people socialised at the cafes, meeting up with friends and family at all times of the day. There was a real buzz and sense of community and fun. A real find one evening for dinner was the Cheri Restaurant - lovely staff, lovely food. However you must go and look inside too – fabulous. It reminded us of an apothecary.

Soon it was time to head back to the airport but not before we'd squeezed in another morning of sight-seeing. We had such a good time that - even though it was a short break - we felt revitalised.

If you want a quick break away, call me now as I’ve lots of ideas, hints and tips.