Places we visited
La Sagadra Familia is a must visit in Barcelona. Buy your tickets beforehand is the best advice I give so far. The exterior shines out way better in the night with the lights than the day, but the interior never fail to make our jaws drop. Do not forget there is an underground exhibition hall near the restrooms. We almost missed it until we went to the restroom.
Montserrat is a must visit place in our opinion. 1 hour journey from the main city is worth it. It has an awesome view, nice trekking route and interesting mountain structures. Plan for a day trip, and check the train timing as they only run hourly to enjoy leisurely. If you are physically fit, try the walking trek down instead of the tram. Get your tickets at Placa Espanya station, remember to get the all in 1 tickets that include the short tram rides to the highest point.
Parc Guell restricted area can be a hit or miss place in our opinion. It has beautiful architecture but it was really small and not a convenient place to get to. I think the weather simply kills this place for us.
Barcelona Cathedral was our last stop for the trip. It was huge, and free. Ladies, dress decently, else there are always some "vendors" selling scarves outside. Sadly, this cathedral does not resonate with me as much but the walk around the alleys in Gothic area near the cathedral was interesting. Such a different feel walking in it, and a "oh I'm back to reality" feel when we emerged into La Rambla area.
On top of these places, we took a 24 hour hop on hop off bus and went around. We made an effort to go to the musical fountain near Place Espanya at 9pm for the show despite it was Kyven's bed time. There is no schedule for baby during traveling anyway! It was a nice show after all the architecture visitings.
The last few hours before we leave for airport, we popped by Casa Battyo to have a look at the architecture. I do see the resemblance in Gaudi's work after this trip.
Food we had
Oh, this is always my favorite part. I did extensive research as usual for food. Below are those we managed to try. (P.s. I have a whole list not tried though)
Ramen Ya-Hiro is a simple fuss free ramen place. Owner/chef is a Japanese behind the counter cooking ramen there and then. We tried all the 3 broths and love the miso one best.
Taller de Tapas was near our hotel and on my list, so we went for a late dinner after musical fountain. Tapas there was nice, but I didn't have the photo as I had a cranky baby on hand then.
Rincon De Aragon Restaurant was situated near La Rambla, and we went for suckling pork based on review. It was really good. We had paella and some tapas there as well. Personally I find the paella too salty and tapas was just ok. We went back for a 2nd time of suckling pig.
Bouzu Tapa Japanese was so good that as I am writing now, I am drooling. Again, it is a simple no fuss place. Small and cozy. We tried the tuna carpaccio, pork katsu, sashimi, gyoza, chirashi don and pork katsu don. All were good. Although the tuna carpaccio was not as awesome as the ones we had at London, but it was good. Totally worth the walk there.
That's about it. I went on to try churro and hot chocolate at Chokz and Granja Velda. I love chocolate and churros but the ones I tried doesn't interest me. These 2 are the most recommended ones that I found. Jamon was the da bomb in Barcelona though.
