Last June 30, we celebrated our 32nd wedding monthsary, so I thought of sharing one of our favorite travel destinations. (And Spain trashed Italy at the Euro Cup Finals 2012. Viva Espanya!)
I remembered how the husband almost did not make it to visit this beautiful city when he initially didn't want to extend his leave from work. But when we set foot in our first city in Spain, he immediately decided he wanted to extend :D I can't blame him!
His decision was worth it! Although I traveled a day ahead, our excitement never died down. Actually, I was more excited to travel alone for the first time on an overnight sleeper train from Madrid to Barcelona :D It was one of those experiences for the books. ( I will share more about that later).
Barcelona was a refreshing sight to behold after our busy stay in Madrid. We felt more at home as tourists. Although, we've read that pick pocketing is massive in the city, we did not feel unsafe. Probably we were just very careful of our belongings and mindful of our surroundings. You get that kind of feeling when you've been traveling for a while.
We admired every architectural beauty of every building designed by the famous Gaudi. I smiled at every beautiful Spaniard because truly they are indeed physically beautiful.
Even their market, La Boqueria was such a colorful tourist spot.
The shopping scene, of course, is not to be missed!
Although these are all souvenir shops, designer shops are also all over the city. So nothing to worry, shopaholics :)
And the fooood of course!!! They have lovely cafes along the streets, expensive restaurants if that's what you fancy and pretty little restos in alleys.
Apologies that I don't have the actual photos of food we ate. I realized I rarely took any food photos during this trip. What a bummer!
But there was one unforgettable experience that will always make Barcelona our favorite - watching a live football match...FC Barcelona live! The husband was hyper and hysterical at the same time.
This was by the way an unplanned activity. We were strolling around the city and noticed a football shop with tons of people queueing up. We inquired and found out that there was a live match that evening. Without hesitation, we booked our tickets and followed where the locals were heading. It was one of those memorable spontaneous activity!
See, I plan and research a lot everytime we go on a trip but I've learned now that it's okay not to have a detailed plan at all. You can read do's and dont's and take note of important stuffs like addresses and emergency numbers and still have lots of fun as long as you keep an open mind.
The experience - good and bad - has been very insightful to both of us. We learned a lot and appreciated our blessings all the more. Surely, this is one city that we will visit again soon!
Viva Espanya!
What about you, what's your favorite city in Europe?
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