Barcelona, Spain (Jul 2016)

It’s hard to believe that while living in Spain for a year, Christine never made it to Barcelona. It’s something that she’s always regretted. When we decided to finish our trip in Spain, we knew that we’d have to spend some time there. Although Barcelona has been on Christine’s bucket list for a while, aside from the Sagrada Família, she didn’t know what else there was to do there. With some quick research, we found enough to keep us busy for weeks – but we settled for six days instead.

We took a train from Valencia to Barcelona. It was a three and a half hour scenic ride that hugged the coast for part of the way, passing walled cities and old castles on top of mountains. With views like that, the journey went quickly. For our first day and a half in Barcelona, we didn’t do too much. We did a small hike to an old bunker that overlooked the city, explored the Gothic Quarter, and found a pedestrian street full of pinchos. Our good friend Louis was flying over to join us, and we didn’t want to see too much without him.

When Louis arrived, we made sure to see most of the sights that Barcelona has to offer, while still enjoying the relaxed pace of the Spanish way of life. We found a cafe around the corner where we became regulars for breakfast. It’s the type of place where everyone knows everyone and you don’t even have to order – they already know what you want. We also found a bar where we decided to be regulars – they had the best pinchos. There was a market tour and a cooking class, which was followed by a stroll around the city where we walked off everything we had just eaten. We saw the cathedral, went to a Jamon museum, and saw the inside of a few more bars while eating just a few more pinchos. We walked around Güell Park and the Sagrada Família and marveled at Gaudí’s brilliance. We sat outside and laughed over coffees as Louis recounted his late night / early mornings out after Christine and Kevin went to bed.

We spent our last night in Barcelona at a hole in the wall bar listening to a Spanish band, celebrating the one year mark since Kevin left his job. While Kevin has been talking about a trip like this since he and Christine met, leaving his job was the big step that brought us closer to the life we’re currently living. For that, we’re thankful, and it deserved to be celebrated.

Here are some of our favorite pictures from Barcelona. ¡Esperamos que las disfrute!

Pre-Louis

Post-Louis