Barcelona Part 1, April 2012

                                

Oh-la! Barcelona!

Oh-la - meaning "Hello" in Spainish. I never expected Barcelona to be such a beautiful city in Spain. Mr Potter brought me to Barcelona to celebrate my belated birthday. Was a tad bit excited, because of the branded goods from Spain such as Loewe, Desigual etc.. Haha!

Of course, I was also excited to see the magnificent city. Was excited to taste the famous Paella, Tapas that alot of people rave about. Was excited to see the infamous Gaudi works and enjoy myself to the fullest. We planned for a 10 days in Barcelona. 

Then Mr Potter said to me, "In Barcelona, we MUST visit the famous Nou Camp stadium! You know Messi?" HUH?! Who the hell is Messi? I know Beckham because he is handsome. I know Ronaldo too because he is damn handsome. Messi???? As in Messy??? So, the ulterior motive of Mr Potter to bring me to Barcelona was also to watch a game of soccer @ Nou Camp. Poor me. To suffer once again in a stadium with men shouting over my shoulders just like in Manchester United last year.

So on 26 April 2012, we set off to Barcelona on SQ 68 @ 0040hrs. We reached Barcelona El Prat Airport @ 0800hrs.

You might think that we looked fresh. But actually, we were quite tired but not to waste time. We figured the way out of the airport by the blue bus directly to the hotel that we were staying - The B Hotel.

The Hotel buidling

Hotel Lobby

Hotels in Barcelona are generally quite expensive during this period. We are not able to stay in the city area because the prices are really too steep and for that quality of hotel, I rather stay somewhere further but convenient. The B-Hotel is not cheap either. It's about SGD$200 per night without breakfast. Rank #43 on Tripadvisor, I was rather hesistant to choose this hotel. However, they do have some good reviews and base on the hotel's convenient location and design of the room, I took the risk! Let me show you the room picture.

Quite basic right? And also, the room is quite dark. There's an open wardobe area where they let you store your luggage there, you need your iphone flashlight to search for your clothes. However, the bed do us justice and there's not much channels to watch on the TV because most of them are in Spainish. There's a little balcony outside where you can step out but you wouldn't want to do that because it's cold!

We headed out to see the famous Church of the Sacred Family - also known as the Basilica De La Sagrada Familia. We took the train from our hotel. The train tickets are not expensive if you buy the 10 trips in one card and you can share with as many people you like.



Me on the train



Their trains are much cleaner than trains in Paris. Don't you agree? Singapore trains have more seats than them but their stops are not as far as ours. So lesser seats are ok. Took us less than 10 minutes to reach Sagrada Familia from our hotel. You can never miss that stop because A LOT of people are getting out. So beware of PICKPOCKETS!

TA-DA!! The magnificent World Heritage site by UNESCO. Nice right? Although it's still under construction (has been under construction since dunno how many donkey years), it's still very attractive and awesome looking. The works of Anthoni Gaudi, the building itself is in the centre of Barcelona. It is a MUST SEE for every first time tourist who visit Barcelona. The outside of the buidling is attractive. But I cannot agree with what's inside. Personally, I do not think it's nice inside. Maybe I am not a Gaudi fan. The Vatican in Rome is nicer. :)

Inside the Basilica - The Roof

To let you have a glimpse of the inside of the basilica inside. You may think, WOW, yeah WOW.. but that's about all. There's still some rooms which shows you the history of the church and Gaudi's work here and there.. but I find it rather boring.. We went to the store and grab a few souvenirs for relatives.. and we head on to Park Guell, another World Heritage Site, says Tripadvisor.



This is the road leading to Park Guell. From the Basilica, we walked and saw the slope. Ok, nevermind we thought, should be ok. Since we are well trained to walk most of the time in Europe. As you might want to see carefully, at the end of this "mild" slope there is a steeper slope! WTF?!? I almost could not breathe when I reached there. Luckily I was carrying a not so heavy bag. I seriously would NOT recommend those with knees or heart problems to attempt walking up. Take a f***cking cab!

This is halfway up the slope and nice stupid pose right? You think I wanna pose like this? It was that stupid Mr Potter who asked me to take a picture to show that I was still going strong! What was he thinking?!

We managed to reach half the park. I was actually awed by the those crowd up there. So many people are crowding up there surrounding th crosses taking pictures. I think they thought they are in heaven. The view up there and where I was standing was actually almost the same to me. So, by going up there and touching the cross, does that means they can step closer to heaven??

Lunch: Nameless Store in Park Guell

You must be wondering what good food I had at Park Guell, after all the tormenting walks.. Heh Heh... Here goes!

Look at MY FACE. Does it tell you that my lunch was good???

That sandwich I was having was COLD, HARD and taste like a ROCK. Mr Potter had to queue for 15 minutes with crowds to get this stupid sandwich. And it cost like Eur$10. I will never never eat it again I swear.

So after the sandwich lunch, we walked down further. And saw 2 cute houses that are worth a picture. Do not ask me the name of the house. It was too crowded for me to get near there.

Not too bad huh? It looks like Hansel & Gretal house in fairy tale. Let you see a close up of the one them.

This is another facing of the Park. In the end we realise there's another entrance. And we went by the back. :( This is all Mr Potter's fault because he didn't do a thorough research. We could have easily reach the other nicer entrance without the tormenting slope. If you notice in this picture, NONE were wearing jackets anymore because it was bloody warm.

We did not have proper dinner that night. We were totally worn out.

We visited Montserrat the next day and it's actually quite worth it to go all the way there. The journey there was a bit difficult for us as there are language barriers. But we pulled it through and the scenary is beautiful. I will only show you a few pictures because Mr Potter took like 500 pictures on that place alone.

We opted to take the cable car ride up which was like 200 years old and still operating. If you got a weak heart, you can opt to take the "Cremallera" aka "rack train" up.

Monsterrat is a religious site moutain which I was told that our Holy Virgin Mary was once sighted there. So I die die must go. It also means "jagged" mountain in Catalan. Why "jagged"? Look at the next picture and you'll understand why.

Cable car up to Montserrat

This is after we arrived at Monsterrat. The view is awesome. Standing high up above, you can feel the fresh air and get mesmerised by the astonishing and captivating view of Barcelona.

As you can see, the rocks of the mountain are somehow "moulded" and they are not manmade. The rocks look "jagged' don't they? The Montserrat monastery is in the centre.

                                                                                          

We bought tickets to go up the top of the mountain by way of a Funicular railway. It was an interesting ride where the railway is actually up a steep slope. Taking the funicular is fun, but hiking up the mountain was not that fun though the view is breathtaking. It was very tiring to hike all the way up.

After the hike, we went down to the monastery to queue and looked at the famous Holy Vigin Mary who is black in color. 

The picture on the right is the famous black face Holy Virgin Mary. It was originally not black. It is also known as The Black Madonna. If you want to know why, google it as the explanation is too long for me to narrate here.

We took another Funicular down to seek for the chapel that people believed that apparitions of the Virgin Mary has been seen by people at the Holy Grotto. 

The Orange building behind me is the place!

I finally reached the entrance after a 30 mins hike. I travelled all the way from Singapore mainly just to see this. From the funicular stop, there are 12 stations of the cross till you reach this little cave. This is the exact spot that the apparition is believed to be.

So this is how it looks like inside the small little chapel. There are benches for you to sit and pray, take a silent moment..

We left Montserrat shortly after taking the funicular ride up and back to the City. We went to look for dinner then.

La Rambla

We headed out to the most famous shopping and dining district at La Rambla. There were millions of people there and were warned of pickpockets. Here's a view of the streets with Mr Potter.

La Rambla

The Barcelona Cathedral

This is a very beautiful church in Barcelona. And its called the Barcelona Cathedral. It has a magnificent structure both on the outside and inside. Millions of tourists and I was one of them. Spot me!!

In the Cathedral

Inside the cathedral is impressive. The structure is old but beautiful. It will be a very peaceful place for prayers only if there aren't so many tourists hovering around making it not so peaceful anymore.

Lunch @ Montiel

I went through the top restaurant list on Tripadvisor before I left for Barcelona. So at that time, TA members rated "Montiel" as the top and must-go. So I made my reservation for lunch as dinner slots have all been taken up. We made our way to the restaurant with the help of our GPS and made it there 5 mins before the reservation. However, we were told to go back at exactly 2pm because they weren't ready. I was already quite tired and I was not able to sit inside to wait... Tad bit of disappointment with the service already at the beginning.

                                                                                               

Montiel Entrance 

Without further ado, let me introduce you to our lunch. 

This dish was a complimentary from the restaurant. Except for the olives, I seriously have no idea what were the rest because the waiter introduced us to the complements in half perfect Spanish and English.

This is the best of the best starter. Foie Graz!! My favourite dish!! It is definitely a must try! It was perfectly done and I wished that it was more than 2 pieces...yummy!! But! This is not mine!! It's Mr Potter's.. Hmpf!!

Ok lah.. This starter is mine.. It's scallop with crispy suckling pig on top. Oh-la!! It taste as good as Mr Potter's starter. I can still remember the taste in my mouth. They should make this into a main dish too.

This belongs to Mr Potter. His main dish. What do you think it looks like? Make a guess? Duck? Chicken thigh or goose? 
Answer: Suckling pig thigh.
It taste really good too but some part of it was rather tough. 

Now this is my main dish. I know I know.. I can see the look on your face.. You must be wondering WTF was I thinking right? How would I know that the beef was so raw. It looks like cat food, Ceasar Brand. And yes, I felt like a cat.. and it taste funny. With the raw egg on top, my stomach was queasy. I had to finish though as it was not cheap. It cost like 28EURO at least, though I cannot remember exactly how much. 

We didn't take a picture of the dessert because it was a normal cheesecake or something like that. We had a bit of wine and after lunch we went for a little shopping at H&M. And Mr Potter went a bit nuts to try out the hat. He wants to be Bruno Mars.






The H&M in Europe is really very nice. It's also huge like Singapore but the clothes are much nicer I feel. And also the price are much nicer too!!  LOL!!

H&M at La Rambla

We were curious about the Tapas everyone talk about. It is also a must-eat when you are in Spain. So we came across this Tapas bar along the shopping area. This Tapas bar is like a buffet. You can take whatever you want and each cost about Euro $2-3. Every tapas inside is tasty. And although it look kinda small, they are actually quite filling. Here are some Tapas that we had...

Nice lei... haha!! I really miss these food!!

We walked around to shop and eat the whole day. Barcelona is famous for her beautiful beach. So we walked along the beach and took in the beautiful sea breeze. And we had this as tidbits!!

Churros!! This is sugar-coated. Damn nice!!

W Barcelona

Dream hotel.. W Barcelona. Cost? EURO$300 per night at least. Facing the sea, beautiful rooms.. but location wise to shopping? Nah... I still prefer my B Hotel... But the comfort of the room at W cannot be beaten in anyway..

Tired of my food blogs? This is for the men... SYT's nice ass huh? :p

Barcelona Nou Camp

Now this is the part that Mr Potter urge me to put up every single day. This is HIS highlight of the trip and he was so excited to getting there that we reached the stadium few hours ahead of the game. According to him, he said that we must soak into the atmosphere, shop and cheer for Barcelona.

The game : Barcelona vs Malaga

This is the ticket we bought online but collected there in the city. We were confused of where and how to collect but through some forum members contributions on Tripadvisor, we managed to collect the tickets at the shopping centre bookstore next to our hotel!

This is the Barca store. It has 2 levels and almost the same size as the Man Utd store in old Trafford which we visited a few months before this trip. 

We bought a T-shirt each and obviously the premium price. Obviously Mr. Potter is more a Man Utd fan rather than a Barca fan comparing what he bought in Man U!!!

The stadium main entrance. It looks good with the glass panels. But this is only the front. The rest looks just like Singapore National Stadium in Kallang.... It looks really similar although bigger.

Doesn't this look like the old Kallang stadium???

But obviously.. the inside of the stadium is twice the size of kallang stadium with a seating capacity of about 100,000

Kick Off! Messi is pulling up his pants

I got to agree that Messi is a fine player. Once the ball is with him, his legs are like a magnet to the ball.. no one can then snatch the ball away from him.

It was a good game that I  got to agree. Plus the weather was nice and I had a good time. And the final score was:

Huge stadium, perfect weather!

Beautiful Barca Store

This is the train station entrance where we were suppose to go to take the train back to the hotel. The whole road was filled with people and it caused a massive human and car jam. We thought taking the train would be easier but we were so wrong. It took us more than half an hour to get into the station where we were packed like sardines. So the best advice for fans after the game is to go for dinner, and wait till the traffic is clear.

The next day, we went to another beach again to have a taste of their famous Paella. My friend Gillian told me that Spain is famous for their Paella especially their squid ink paella. So we tried both different types on 2 separate occasions.. Oh boy, my stomach.. is so full of Paella but I can never get enough!!

I had forgotten the name of the restaurant. Food was good but service sucks. So I didn't care about the name. This seafood paella was good but I guess in Spain, there are better ones.. Shall do more research next time!

Lunch @ Gravin

I wanted to eat something of good quality. So I went TA to search for restaurant around the La Rambla vicinity. And I came across a restaurant name Gravin which have a lot of positive comments.

Entrance of Gravin, Tapas menu on the left

I had the squid ink pasta. The seafood was very fresh and it taste excellent!!

Mr Potter's pork dish

Restorante Gravine
C/ Rera Palau 3-5 | 08003, Barcelona, Spain

Shopping @ Passieg de Gracia!

Passieg de Gracia is Barcelona's most elelgant district. You can find all the brands of designer goods here. 

The Chanel boutique that is filled with Asians

Spot me!

This shop sells most recycled stuff.. including coloured recycled toilet rolls..

Loewe

This store is the highlight for me! Store is huge and beautiful. It took me less than 30 mins to select my beloved. Her skin is so soft and leather so beautiful. I have not started to use it yet because it is simply too beautiful. Service was ok.. not bad.. Take a peek at my beloved!!

My beloved!

Thank you Mr Potter for buying me this as my birthday present.. :)

Dinner @ Pura Brasa

Our last night dinner was at Pura Brasa. A restaurant that is just next to our hotel and everyday we walked past it to go to the train station. Food was excellent!

I chose to have the Sangria that night as it was the last night. The Sangria they made was really nice. Look like Ribena right? Haha!!

I had the grilled beef. And it was tasty!!

Dessert!! This is Tiramisu.. a very nice piece for Mr Potter.

And this is mine! This is cheese pudding. Soft and delicious! Together with the whipped cream, it just melt in your mouth. I wish I can taste this agin and hopefully, this year end I can taste a similar dish in Europe again.

End of the Trip, Ciao Barcelona

We had a wonderful holiday in Barcelona. The city is vibrant and alive. Rich in culture and have wonderful people. So for those people who have not visited Barcelona, please do. It's a lovely city that is not to be missed!!