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Travel Mug Podcast
Barcelona Adventures: What Meggan Did, Ate, and Saw!
Meggan is back from Barcelona! She shares the neighbourhood they chose to stay in, where they ate, what they did, and the tourist traps they fell into along the way. She also shares her personal experience on being cautious of pickpockets, dealing with language barriers, and choosing the right travel spots within the city.
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We are travel enthusiasts who do not claim to be professionals! Instead, we are two Halifax, NS natives with travel blogs who somehow found one another on the internet, and now, we have a podcast!!
Join us every week as we talk about our favourite destinations, travel tips, travel fails, and all things travel!
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Disclaimer: All episodes are based on our opinions and experiences. Always do your research and make travel plans based on your budget and comfort levels.
hey everyone, and welcome back to this week's episode of the Travel Mug Podcast. As always, I'm joined by my partner podcasting. Jenn, how are you today? And like what have your final weeks of summer looked like? Yeah, I mean I had my, um, annual trip to Wolfville Nova Scotia with, uh, my mom and some friends last week, so that was lovely and a nice little local getaway. But more importantly, you actually got on a plane and traveled, and I haven't heard about your trip yet, so I'm so excited to hear about what you got up to. Yes, we have return from Barcelona and I am here to tell you and our listeners about it. There has been, of course, a lot of things in the news over the last year or more about over tourism and protests against tourists. And Barcelona is also known as the pickpocket capital of the world. So what was my experience? Let's get into it. Yes. I know that Barcelona wasn't really on your radar until recently. How was your travel? I know you had a direct flight from Halifax. How did all of that go? Yeah, so we flew WestJet , direct to Barcelona from Halifax. And honestly, this is gonna sound so rude. It was one of the main reasons we chose Barcelona. You are definitely right. We hadn't really thought too much about it before. So the direct flight was quite appealing because not many people love connections. Yeah. Nah, not, it's not for me. No, uh, the flight was, you know, the flight over to Barcelona was event less on a large scale because that's definitely what you love about travel when nothing happens in that regard. But the plane was pretty cramped. It was a little bit older and the leg room was minimal. We did have a baby right behind us. It was an overnight flight, but to be honest, she did great. Her and her parents slept most of the night and like. Lucky for them. Yeah. Amazing. I did not., So besides the leg room, I do think I had a hot flash for like the first half of the flight. Yeah, I, I did get up because I remembered our travel tip Tuesday about getting up and walking around, so I actually listened to our own advice, so I did do that. So that was a good experience to sort of get up and stretch my legs. The only real issue is there was a guy right behind Peter who literally probably bathed in his cologne in preparation for the flight, and it was all that we could breathe in for six straight hours. Like when we went to the washroom and we came back, the air was fresh at the back of the plane, but then literally within four rows of our seats, you started like, it was a cloud that like hung over the, it was, it was terrible. And I think it's like seared into my soul. I'm pretty sure the smell. Um, yes. So people just put deodorant on for flights and leave it at that. for real, this person has not listened to our pet peeves on the airlines episode. That was obvious. That was real, and he was talking to the guy next to him. Seemed like a lovely man, but I hated him immediately. I mean, that's That's He was. He was, he was an enemy right away. So on the flight home, the flight was less full and the row in front of us ended up being empty. So we did ask to move, and the flight attendant did tell us it was a paid row with extra leg room. So people literally paid to get into that row. But she's like, I'm gonna walk away, and if you choose to move, so be it. I just didn't tell you you could, but i'm simply walking away and we're like, okay, bye. So we did move to that row and it was glorious. The seats included free booze. We did not want any at this point. Um, but the leg room was amazing. The fresh air was perfect. There were zero babies within our vicinity. It was a true do-over from the flight over to Barcelona, and this one was longer. It took seven hours to get home, so it worked out perfectly. Mm. And what time of day did you leave barcelona? Our flight was at 1120. We did not leave until 1155 out of the gate, and we were on the
ground in Halifax at like 2:05 PM. Okay. S five hour time change. Yeah. And WestJet uses terminal two in Barcelona, which is actually the domestic terminal at that airport. So it was honestly a pretty chill experience overall because it wasn't all the international comings and goings. Terminal one, of course is bigger., So we actually had a pretty smooth experience arriving, going through customs, literally Jenn at customs going into Spain. The man didn't ask us a question or speak to us. He took our passports, he stamped our passports, he handed our passports back, and that was passport control. All right. Uh, amazing. There was not I, I said to Peter, I'm like, he didn't ask us anything. Peter's like, it's just different here, I guess. I'm like, okay. I guess I. it was, I mean, welcome to Spain. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So tell me about getting from the airport to your accommodations. Right, I hate this part. I hate planning this part. Like you've just landed in a new place, you're tired, you have all of your stuff. Like, it's like overwhelming. So how did that part go? Yes. So I would say from the airport I had researched all of the travel options and we decided after a red eye that we wanted the most direct easy option. So we did go for a cab to get to our place. So in the Facebook group I was a part of, people said to be aware of some cabbie as they tried to up the cost on the meter or charge you if you had luggage. But honestly we had zero issues. It was a lot of fear, moning, I felt like. And the ride from the airport to our street where we stayed was 35 euros, which was reasonable. Um, and we were fine to pay that because honestly it was so simple. It was worth the 35 Euros. The bus would've been cheaper. It would've been like $7, but it would take you to one of the metro stations. We would then had to get a cab from there after zero sleep. It was just fine to pay that. And then to get back to the airport, we actually used Uber and it cost us 32 euros plus a tip. And it was also a very smooth experience and as an FYI, we gave ourselves three hours in advance of leaving the Barcelona airport. But like I mentioned in terminal two, everything was less busy and the lines weren't bad at all. And this was an experience at 8:30 AM on a Monday. Again, I can't speak for terminal one, um, but terminal two was no problem. Sweet. Well that's really nice 'cause there's nothing worse than like being rushed like at the airport. that's exactly it. And again, you hear, um, people saying like, oh, you should be here X, Y, and z, and three hours is pretty standard. And I kind of go by that and we were there probably two hours and 50 minutes early and had lots of time. Yeah. Awesome. Okay, so you've taken a cab. Tell me about your accommodations. How did you end up picking the neighborhood that you stayed in? What was it like? Did you have a good experience there? So before we went and we were planning on our accommodation, we kind of actually asked chat GBT, like what were the popular, areas of Barcelona where people stayed? And there's a lot of different opinions on that because it really does depend on what you are looking for in your vacation. What we usually do is look at the different neighborhoods and then take street view on Google and look around. What is, what does it look like? As much as you can tell from that, and we stayed, uh, we ended up choosing a spot in the Sant Antoni neighborhood, and I cannot recommend it enough. There were so many shops and bars and restaurants, and it was mostly locals and some tourist, and it was the perfect mix and we loved it. We were easily from there, able to get to other parts of the city via bus or metro, and we always felt so much like calmer when we got back to where we were staying because it was just less peopley. It's like when, it's like in Halifax, when you go to Dartmouth and you come back to the Halifax, you just automatically like feel better. Um, so the vibe in the neighborhood, it really was incredible. And we would personally never stay close. Now that I know to the popular tourist attractions as there were simply too many people and things did cost more. The prices in our area we stayed, actually were quite reasonable and it felt local. As far as the accommodation itself. So we stayed in a legal flat that we had booked months ago. I know that a bunch of places were uh, taken offline because they were illegal illegally being rented. And we did learn though, from the proprietor who rented us the flat for the week that, and he has about 20 of those types of apartments. It's kind of a business for him, that after 2028, they are no longer going to be able to do that. It's literally going to be illegal. Yikes. Yeah, so he has to sort of decide if he's going to sell his apartments, if he's going to rent them out to locals. So the government is trying to change things for better, for the citizens. So yes, we definitely didn't stay at a hotel. We did stay in a flat that we had booked before the whole big kerfuffle with Airbnb and stuff had come up. But it is still good to know that by that time, uh, the changes will be made. Our apartment was pretty basic, but it was quiet. It had everything we needed, including bars and restaurants, and , those were literally steps away from our front door. I do wanna mention, uh, that all accommodations in Barcelona, no matter what type you are staying in, if it is legal, will come with a tourism tax, which is generally collected separately on arrival, and it is per person up to seven nights. And the rates vary based on the accommodation type. Okay. ours was a flat, and it was 93 euros for both of us for the time that we were there. And they will also ask for your passport. So that is common practice, Yeah, that's a really good point because I always see people in travel Facebook groups asking if it's normal for accommodations to ask for passport info, and people are like afraid that they're being scammed and obviously like don't give out your passport info like willy nilly to anybody who ask, but like in this case of accommodations, it is like perfectly common and and necessary in this case. Yeah, and, and when I think of it, a lot of international accommodations from our past trips also asked for our passports when we checked in. Also, do resorts down south, they also want your passport information. So those are the types of places I feel Okay giving it. But you're right, just don't go throwing your info around willy-nilly. Yes. Okay. So how was getting around the city once you were there? Did you use public transport, uh, to get around at all? Yeah, so Barcelona is a very walkable city, so unless you need to use cabs or Ubers for whatever reason, or bolt, I guess is also, uh, works there, you won't need to. Besides to and from the airport, we didn't take one taxi our entire stay, and we did walk over 10,000 steps every day we were there including our first day of arrival. I don't know what we were thinking. We're probably walking zombies, but anyway, we were walking, whatever. And that's still with us at least once a day, taking the metro or a bus or a cable car or a funicular depending on the day's activities. So a lot of walking. As far as the cost of local transportation, we purchased the T Casual it was called, it's a Metro Pass and it was 10 one-way rides for around 13 euros each. There's also a pass called the T Usual, and that is for unlimited use for 30 days, and you need to actually enter an ID number when you purchase it. You actually enter like your passport number. This is a willy nilly one, so they want an ID number in the machine, and then you have to have that document with you in case you are asked for it, it's kind of serious business. So I understand that rarely probably happens, like we didn't see anybody doing anything like that. Um, but I didn't really wanna give my passport number, although that was a, probably a better deal at 23 euros for unlimited rides. Mm-hmm. I guess it's really up to you. We just went T casual and then we reloaded it once and overall spent about 24 euros each, so around the same cost. If you're staying within Barcelona, choose zone one. It can be confusing because there's lots of zones to choose from when you're purchasing the card. And we were able to use that card for the Metro buses and the funicular up to Montjuic., And if you follow Google Maps for Transportation, which you should, it is amazingly easy. We had no issues at all. It literally walks you to the train station, tells you which train to get on, tells you which direction you're going, which stop how many stops. Like it can't be any easier. And I find that when you like take public transportation while you're traveling, like it feels like you've conquered travel Yeah, it does when you like successfully get where you're going, uh, with public transportation. It's so true. It gives you like a high for it, it's a traveler's high indeed. I love that so much. And can I also just like say that I'm so happy that I live in the time where Google Maps can literally like walk me through exactly everything. Oh yeah, I just, I mean, I did, I did travel before having a cell phone to like literally walk you through step by step. But man, I'm so glad I live in this time it. with Like Maps. when you, right. And when you leave your apartment and it tells you which way to turn, walk seven minutes to this train station, go down. There's two options, of course, directions to go. It tells you which one to take. Like, it's brilliant. I mean, there's, there's trouble of course, you know, there's whatever you wanna say about big corporations, but I'm grateful for that. Samesies. Yeah. so let's talk about what you actually did while you were in Barcelona. I know when we were talking on a recent travel tip Tuesday episode that you pre-booked a few things and then opted to stop pre-booking because there was too many things to do. So how did it go and what did you get up to? Yeah, so this might be a little bit, uh, long-winded, but we did a couple cool things and I wanna make sure that I fill people in in case they want to include these on their itinerary or not really at the end of the day. Um, so of course, first and foremost, Sagrada Familia, it is from the Mind of famed architect Antoni Gaudi. The Sagrada Familia has been under construction since 1882, Wow. still is. I mean, same with my house. Uh oh. Did Gaudi design yours as well? Sadly, no, no. That might be better off.'cause his, his mind was his a wondrous place. Um, and this is the number one tourist attraction in Barcelona. We got there Sunday, we decided to do it Monday. Start off the big things with a bang. It is, I'm gonna call it a beautiful monstrosity. that's Okay. We bought tickets two months in advance. Um, if you choose to go up in one of the towers, the overall cost on their official website was 36 euros per person. People I saw in the group were buying tickets elsewhere and paying a lot more. They don't need to cost that much. Please try to buy them directly from the website. And there is no such thing as skip the line. So if you are buying tickets somewhere and they're like, come with us and skip the line, that's not a thing. Don't do We all have to get in line, put our bags through the metal detectors. It's all the same thing. And they do have a QR code around the perimeter so you can scan it for same day tickets, but I would never rely on doing this unless you find yourself all of a sudden in Barcelona like you are. could happen. mean, you never know. Um, now was it worth it? I would say yes. It was beautiful, especially on the inside. The stained glass was incredible. It was very unique, lots to look at. And we did the nativity tower, which also gave us great views of the city. Uh, at the highest point. It of course, was busy, but in my opinion, you shouldn't skip it. You can do a guided tour., And our general ticket also included an audio guide you can download from the app. So some things are popular for a reason. Does that make sense? I mean, I, I agree. Yeah, Yeah. sure. Now on the same day as we went to Sagrada Familia, we ended up just heading out on a walk and we ended up at the port, which is called Port Vell. Kind of just a peaceful, nice spot, uh, where we sat on a bench, looked at the seabirds, the marina. This however, I wanted to mention, because this is where we had our one tourist trap meal, so. We didn't have a plan for supper that night. I try, you know, to be, to be flexible., So we were just gonna find a place and we happened to be down there by the port and there was a mall, which maybe should have been like my first inclination. But from afar they had this sign over, this cool pedestrian bridge, which I did know about and I did wanna walk over. But the cool pedestrian bridge led us to what they described at the mall as food heaven. Oh, Yeah. Hmm. Okay. I, I know, I know. And it just wasn't, right? So, and it was unfortunate because this is where we were when we were hungry. Yeah. needed to eat. So yeah. anyway, we went up there. All we could find at first was booze, but then we eventually found a couple places actually selling food, and we ended up getting a Frankfurter and potatoes. It was fine, but it was also frigging for both of us, 36 Euros. Yikes. Hmm. we knew we had been had like, but we just ate in quiet and thought this is, this is not worth it. But the view from where we sat and ate these frankfurters was amazing. And it is where we got our first glimpse of the gothic quarter, which is where we headed afterwards. So I did thank it for that because I was like, what's over there? And then I was like, we must go there next. Yeah. the gothic quarter is where the city has its origins and also where you can find the Barcelona History Museum. I thought you'd be so proud that I went to a museum. you go to the museum? I, I am very proud of you. I know, I, I thought of you the whole time 'cause I'm like, I can't wait to tell her., And it was actually really good. So for like seven Euros 30, you can visit the museum and go under the city to see the foundation of the original city from the first century when the Romans founded it. Oh, I know cool. it was amazing to see and there was really old artifacts there, and it was super worth it for the price of admission. Now I fell in love in general with the gothic quarter. It's spooky, yet beautiful. Uh, it has like obviously these twisty turdy streets and alleys, and this is also where you can see the Barcelona Cathedral. You can also buy tickets to that and go inside. We were there after it was closed because we kind of stumbled upon the area, but it was big and beautiful in its own right. We sat in front of it and gazed upon it for a while., Also in the gothic quarter there are many bars and restaurants and shops plus the Pont del Bisbe or Bisbe. I apologize if I'm pronouncing that incorrectly, but it is the iconic Neogothic balcony dating back to 1928. Apparently it's Instagrammable. There are reasons I'm sure it was built. But to me it just looked like a Balcony. But I took a picture'cause I'm like, I'm here. And I'm sure I'm missing the point, but that's okay sometimes too. And also nearby in an Instagram-able moment is the mural. The world comes to life with each kiss. Peter just rolled his eyes at the whole thing.'cause you could tell there were just like teens there trying to get a picture of it. But the mural is kind of like on this random wall and it's made up of like from afar you see like mouths. Kissing, but when you get up close, making up the mural is tiny little other individual pictures. It's actually kind of cute. But anyway, he was just like, alright. He's like, this is silly. And I'm like, I'm gonna get a picture anyway. Oh, Yes. Anyway, but the gothic quarter, like if you are thinking of staying there, there's nothing I can say against it because it was really, really cool. awesome. Yes. Alright, next, uh, Montjuic. So you can go up, it's a, uh, a hill, a mountain ish and sort of in the middle of the city. You can go up there by escalators at the National Palace, which is actually now an art museum. But it was originally built, uh, for the 1929 International exhibition, and then it was turned into a museum after that was over or down the road. Once you're up there, you can visit the gardens and the 1992 Olympic Park area, as well as the Montjuic castle. Now, the castle we also went to, and it requires a funicular from one of the train stations, which is included if you have the pass because you're already underground, uh, you've taken a train to get there, then you have to do a cable car, which was , 17 euros per person. The ride was only about 10 minutes, so I was like. Um, that's cut a little steep, so to speak as you went up in the cable car., And then it's another cost to enter the castle, so 12 euros per person, Yikes. so it does give you really great views of the city from all sides, which was great. But we did feel it was, the castle itself was a little bit money grab-ish. Mm-hmm. individual thing costs you to do it. And then you can get great views for free, right from the palace that I mentioned earlier, or just walk up the hill a little bit further. So the castle, which is kind of honestly just like a fort, not even really a castle, was not a highlight personally. So we did it, but I wouldn't do it again because I kind of thought it was just a little bit nickel and dime ish. I mean, that's, that makes sense. And it's like good to know that like if that, if people like look it up and they're like, wow, I really wanna do that. Just know that it is gonna cost Yeah. costs. And if you're like, oh, that is not worth it to me, then all right, move Right. And that happens for sure. Yeah. Next I wanna talk about another area called Parc de la Ciutadella. So with Ciutadella, if I'm not saying that right, uh, equals Citadel in English and also in the same area was the Arc de Triomf, not the Parisian one though. And we loved this area. So there are so many parakeets and other birds flying around. There was a man there feeding the parakeets as soon as we went and I thought, this is where I'm supposed to be., And he had like, , handfuls of sunflower seeds and we went over and I just wanted to be close to the parakeets, of course. And he came over with this big grin and he like put sunflower seeds in my hand and then they landed on me and ate for my hand. And I thought I can die now. Like it. we're opposite people. If a bird touched me, I would lose my I felt like I'd been like chosen by an angel. I was like little parakeet friend, and there was three on me at once. Oh, it was heaven. I loved that man for giving me those sunflower seeds. Anyway, so that was cool. The birds were awesome and there were some really great green space there. Which Barcelona, one thing I have to say, has very little of. Interesting. Yes. Here you can also see the Arc de Triomf. There's a beautiful fountain, which is very opulent in the park, and uh, it was Antoni Gaudi actually worked on that fountain as an assistant. Um, the park was once a citadel, but it was demolished and made into Barcelona's first park. So this was actually the first park in the city, and it then it was transformed for the 1888 Universal Exposition and then the Arc de Triomf, which does, I mean, it is a big archway that was built as a gateway to the exposition in the park. Mm-hmm. So we went back there a couple times. Really loved the area. There were people doing like, groups of people doing group workouts. There were people feeding the birds. It was, it was actually really lovely there. I have to say, that was probably one of my favorite parts of the city. Yeah, sounds like good vibes unless you're terrified of birds. I don't recommend the parakeets for you at all. This makes me so sad. Well, we can't, we can't like, you know, all the same things. It's true. The other thing we booked in advance, besides Sagrada Familia was Parc Güell also from the mind of Antoni Gaudi, Parc Güell, uh, was started with what he envisioned being a community that he would build of like fun, fancy, whimsical houses, but it did not pan out. And now you can visit the houses that were constructed as well as really cool viaducts and other tile work. Honestly. Absolutely beautiful. His mind was a magical place. So we did buy our tickets about a month in advance.
We chose the 10:00 AM as the entry time because we didn't wanna be there, like right at opening. Now that I look back, it's probably good to go early. It's gonna be busy no matter what, but. I, I think people were probably there at like 8:30 trying to get in because it was like packed by the time we got there. You can do a tour if you wish. We did not. Of course, as you know, we're not tour people and our general admission tickets were 18 euros each. It was warm even at that time of the day., And there's a huge, if you go into the main entrance, there's a huge, huge hill to walk up. Okay. And, and then there's two escalators that kind of like get you the rest of the way. So once we were in there, it was only like 10:00 AM and it was boiling. So we actually sat in on a bench under some trees, like cooled off, and then we went out into the fray of people to get some photos. It was worth a visit and we did enjoy it, but just keep in mind you're not gonna have it to yourself like, like it was very busy and like there were lines to get into the two houses that were there and stuff, and we didn't, we didn't go in. You could also go into what was originally Gaudi's house when he did live there as well. So that's another option if you wish. Gotcha. I dunno if this is gonna come out in the recording, but while Meggan was talking, all I could hear was a bird like squawking. And I'm like, it's, it's taunting me It's, or saying that. I'm like, don't love it's a bird karma. It's bird karma. they're coming haven't hit 40 yet. Maybe we'll talk again when you've hit 40 and see if you like birds better. Alright, well check in in five years. All right. Okay. What else did you get up To finish off the Gaudi attractions. So there's also Casa Batlló and Casa Milà. Casa Batlló is the more unique and beautiful of the two. It was designed actually as a personal home for a client. Casa Milà was also a private residence and the last one designed by Gaudi. You can go into both. You should buy your tickets in advance. We chose not to buy tickets, , for that, but we did go and see the outside and his his mind really was something else. And both spots are within walking distance to one another. So if you go to the area, you can cover both at once. And it was in an area where it was very high-end, like all the high-end shops were there, like Tiffany, like everything that you could imagine High end was also in that area. Gotcha. The big thing we did, 'cause I know we talked, just you and I personally about what we were gonna do, like in terms of day trips and stuff. And so Montserrat, this was the only day trip we ended up taking, as we found there were so much to do in the city, which isn't a bad thing. And we also didn't want to over schedule our days. So we went on a Friday.'cause I fi figured like the weekend, it would probably be busier., We thought, okay, well we have Friday free, let's do it. And we bought our tickets the same morning we went. So that was very easy. Uh, it, we did buy the full meal deal ticket and that cost us 69 .90 euros per person. That included the hour long train ride to and from. Uh, it included either a cog train or a cable car up and down the mountain. We chose the cable car'cause it was faster. There's two funiculars you can take once you're up there to get higher views. Uh, all of the religious buildings, including seeing the Black Madonna, which I'm going to be very honest, we didn't really have any interest in seeing those things, but we wanted to have the option just in case. And it also included a buffet lunch. Hmm, Oh, there. I know. And we had to search for that lunch and I was finding it and I did. Um, so we did just go for the views. We did some hiking, we had our buffet lunch. We tried to take it all in and without doing like the major hikes and I'm talking, there were long hikes to get to some of these religious buildings. We didn't go into the other religious buildings that weren't on hikes. We still were gone seven hours door to door. So that is something to keep in mind, that if you wanna do all the things up there, you should get.
And we left on the 10:36 train in the morning.
So there was a 9: 36 train, maybe 8:36. It goes on 36 after the hour. I would go the earliest as possible if you intend to do all of it, because it is a long day and we were exhausted. There's also a couple of hostels up there. Oh, So if you wanted to plan ahead, you could stay if you like, but the views were amazing. The highest funicular up, the view from there was really incredible. It was a tiring, but a really great day. oh, awesome. I know. And the last thing I wanted to mention was Barceloneta Beach. So this is a beach quite close to us. We were able to walk there within like I think like 30 or 35 minutes. Um, there are a few beach options, so definitely do your research on that. But we walked to this beach one evening to be able to touch the me Mediterranean sea. This was actually our first time on the Mediterranean. I know. So we wanted to do that and we kind of wanna just check out the beach scene. We were there a little bit later, so we were there in the evening, but there were still lots of people on the beach on blankets playing volleyball. It was really kind of like chill cool scene. We did not go to the beach during the day while we were there because we knew we wouldn't be able to go into the water together because you can't leave your stuff alone. Yeah. So we were like, what fun is that? And then we're, when you get to the beach to go into the water, it's kind of, the sand has washed up, so there's kind of a big hill. So we wouldn't have even been able to see one another while we were in the water. So we were, I, I was fine with that. Um, I didn't mind not going to the beach, but I'm really glad we went. We sort of sat and stayed there for probably half hour, 45 minutes just checking out the scene. It wa it, it is worth it. It's cool. Yeah. Oh, that sounds so nice. I'm so glad you got to do all of those super fun things. So let's talk about like one of our favorite topics, which is food, obviously. So where did you eat? How was the food? What was that like? Yeah, we ate a lot of our breakfast at our flat with yogurt, bananas. We did buy some coffee and whatnot, and otherwise we had a few meals planned, but mostly just chose to sort of eat by the seat of our pants wherever we were. As you can tell, with the food heaven, which was not, , or based on recommendations from people that we met. Breakfast is not a huge thing there. Like our traditional breakfast in North America is really not a thing there. Um, they're not really into that.
Lunch is very late between two and 3:00 PM and supper is usually 8:00 PM onward. But having said that, like if you're listening to this thinking of going, like, don't fret though, you're always gonna be able to find something to eat as they do cater to other times. There's always a bakery, there's always something. And I did kind of worry about that because we're not late eaters, but it was not an issue at all. Awesome. Yeah. A few places that we did try, um, but these aren't all of them. But there is a chain there called 365 and apparently, um, it is open 365 days a year. It's really just, uh, sandwiches, a cafe. It's quick and easy lunch at a reasonable price, but like longer baguette sandwiches that still felt European, so it didn't feel like I was at Subway, so that was good. Um, and there are many of those throughout the city. It's really affordable. I'm not a, I don't wanna linger too long for lunch, so it was perfect that way. Uh, we did meet a bartender at one of the bars I'll mention later. He recommended a, he was Italian himself and he recommended an Italian place, so I felt like I could trust him. Yep. And we did end up going back twice and it was called Spaccanapoli. And it was a, it was delicious. Um, there is another chain there called Las Muns, so this is empanadas. Empanadas are huge thing here. I love a, I love a little pastry with a delicious filling. Same. Yeah. are. So you could go to las Muns, but honestly, you could go to a lot of different bakeries. Just try the empanadas. I can't say this enough. Um, we did go to Gallo Nero. It was in the gothic quarter. They had great flatbread pizza, really reasonable wine places. I highly suggest finding a non touristy bakery. So come to Sant Antoni essentially, but any area that's not like a really, really touristy find one of those. Stuff is so reasonable and make sure you get some gelato. I also had some really delicious gelato. There's lots of gelato shops all over. One special place we did go was Bar Cordoba or Cordoba. I'm not sure exactly how you say it, but it's just outside of what is officially the city limits of Barcelona. And it is a place that Anthony Bourdain had been. He talked about it on one of his shows, and I really wanted to visit. We had good tapas while we were there and it was very local, which was nice as well. A quite a long train ride to get there, so that was also good. And then groceries, super reasonable. Wine is super cheap. Like we had a good bottle of wine and it cost us 2 99. Oh, Europe. Right? Every video we've watched of Europe, it's almost the exact same thing I say every time. I'm like, oh, Europe. I know. Anyway, I I, the food was great. You know, tapas is like a, like a religion there. Um, I do wanna mention some bars that we went to that I, I would recommend, um, most of them in the Sant Antoni area, which is Mr. White Cocktail Bar. Really inventive drinks there. Vinito, it was a place for tapas but also wine, uh, right in Sant Antoni as well. It was literally like 20 paces from our place. Um, one place in the gothic quarter we did go was Creps al Born. It's a really fun place with like swinging lamps and they had like Hawaiian type shirts on and it was a fun environment with really fun drinks. Plus they make you crepes if you want some. What could be better All right. And then the last place I wanna mention was called Bitter Cocktail Bar, also in Sant Antoni. Uh, we sat at the bar. We met local people, including one of the owners, Nacho, who was from Seville. Uh, we had incredible conversations with him and laughs. He loves Canadians, so whenever his friends would come in, it was a very locals bar, but it was a very high-end, cool drink bar. But when his friends would come in, he would always tell them that we were Canadians and then people would cheer. I was like, I'm like, I guess that's better than booing. Um, but yeah. Bitter cocktail bar. Can't recommend it enough. Awesome. So how did you find the language was, were you able to like get by? Obviously Meggan and I don't speak Spanish, as you can tell by our pronunciation in Yes. Um, how did you find that aspect of the trip? Very fair question because in Barcelona they do, they're in the Catalonian region, so they speak Catalan., But most people speak Catalan and Spanish or just Spanish. It really just depends, obviously, as far as for us, I did find if I started or Peter started our conversations with people, we were trying to be polite as possible. So if we started with hola, they would start talking to us in Spanish, and then there would this be this awkward silence of like. What? What the hell did you say? Yeah. then we would be like, I'm sure we were like deer in headlights. It probably looked so stupid. So what we started doing after a while was just saying, hello. Yeah. English and then we would mix in, uh, Spanish words to be polite in the rest of the conversation, like Gracias is, or whatever the case might be, because I just found that, of course, if you start with that, they may assume that you speak it. They don't know. So, which makes sense. So we made out find, there were a few conversations where, of course. It gestures came in, but overall it was fine and a lot of people spoke English. One thing I did notice was funny, our cab driver from the airport said she didn't really speak English, like maybe two or three words, but she had an English language radio station on, and she sang every word of every song. Amazing. I know. I was like, you know those English words? But yeah, it was fine. They're used to a lot of tourists. It was, it was. We made out fine. Now, if you go to like a really locals tapas bar, you're probably gonna need to like bring out like maybe a couple of phrases because those are some serious places. Um, but you know, overall you'll be fine. Awesome. Yeah. I wanna kind of finish off with just some other tidbits that I think could be helpful for travelers getting ready to go to Barcelona. Like I mentioned, breakfast, uh, not a thing. Late lunches, suppers, they still kind of have siestas, like there was a bakery really close to our place and I kept wanting to go there and it kept being closed. But then I kept realizing I was going during siesta time. Hmm. on it would be open. So that's just something to keep in mind. And also, apparently there are lots of restaurants closed on Mondays. Okay. Good to know. Again, lots of bakeries for breakfast, so don't panic, but you're probably not gonna find as many places serving eggs and bacon and waffles. Gotcha. day drinking is very acceptable. Yeah, There are people out at tables on the roadside all the time, and as in a lot of Europe, lots of people smoke. So just, it's not a big deal. But, just something that happens. As for shopping, uh, the sticker price on clothing that we bought, it comes with the tax included. Sweet. So when you get to the cash register, there's your price'cause you already know it. That is a better system I thought so as well, because seeing as tax is 21%, I'm glad I already knew what my final price was. Yeah. I mean, fair. I. A and that goes for prices on the whole menu as well. So menus that is your price. It includes tax, so it is a better system. Nice, Restaurants must legally provide you with tap water if you ask for it. So Europe has this thing about if they bring you tap water in a bottle, they're charging you like two or three euros for it. But in Barcelona, they must legally provide it. If you ask it, it's agua del grifo. So ask for that and they'll have to give it to you free of charge. sweet. We did not need cash one time we took 200 euros just to be safe. We paid for, literally we, we did spend the cash only because we had it, Right. but we did not ever need it, and we paid for everything literally with Apple Pay on our Apple watches, and right as rain had no issues at all. Sweet. Like I referred to earlier, there's not much green space in Barcelona, but there are so many dogs. And like not homeless dogs. There are people that own dogs, but I felt bad for the dogs. Like they mostly literally have to pee and poo on the concrete. Yeah. I'm like, if you knew Nova Scotia little doggies, you'd be living your best lives. I mean, I'm sure they were loved, but they don't know real grass, you know? Yeah. Um, tips are not expected, but of course appreciated. Uh, they will just hand you the machine with the number already typed in. There's never an option for a tip, so if you want to tip them, you are gonna have to ask them before they key in the price or give them cash. Gotcha. Makes sense. Something I did not foresee coming. Intersections are very confusing at first. They are not square. Okay. So to walk across, you actually have to go down each street a little bit and then cross. You do not cross anywhere near the actual intersection. So when you're looking at Google Maps, there's all these little dips in your instructions and you're like, where are you taking me? But they're actually just trying to save your life. I mean, You, you will get the hang of it, but it took us a few days. We were very confused. Yeah. Uh, so like I mentioned, tapas is a big thing there, and some of them are per piece. So when you are reading the menu, some will come with eight, some will be, you know individually priced. So just make sure you're watching for that. There is lots to keep in mind with tapas bar. Tapas bar is the culture. So there is a, uh, a YouTuber I'm gonna refer you to and they have some great tapas videos to sort of understand the culture. It is serious, can be intimidating, especially when the locals know exactly what to do. But I say give it a try anyway. And a good piece of advice we received is don't go into a spot for tapas that has tapas in the name. Okay. That is usually a tourist trap. He's like, we know what tapas bars are. We don't need to be told. Those are for tourists Okay. Fair. fair. yeah. Now, speaking of food, there are around 6,000 restaurants. Wow. So you're, you can ask for recommendations. People can give them to you, you can follow them. But if you're out and about, you're just literally, literally going to have to read Google reviews or like, like we did, belly up to a bar, meet some locals, and then they'll tell you where to go. And we did that a few times and the food of course, recommended by the locals ended up being the best. Yeah. Uh, and this included a tapas bar I wanted to shout out called Bar Bodega Gol in Sant Antoni. Best tapas we had, and of course, most locals were there. But yeah, with 6,000 restaurants, I mean, you're just gonna have to trust your instincts at times. Yeah, for sure. That's, Um. a. Uh, it's a, it could be confusing. So the YouTube channels, I wanted to reference, uh, to check out in advance of your trip to Spain and or Barcelona. The first one is called Spain Revealed. It's with a guy named James Blick. He's from New Zealand, lives in Madrid, but he does cover Spain in general with some amazing tips, so I can't recommend enough. And then for local recommendations, Barcelona with Marta. Peter found that literally right before we left and it was like cheap eats, but local, that kind of thing. It was really, really great. Amazing. Those are all super great tips. I did wanna ask you about the weather. So you were there the first week of September-ish. How was the weather? I will put it to you this way, and yes, my packing is a problem, we know. I, however, should have packed as if I was going to Mexico in February. I see. It was between 25 and 30 degrees every single day, which is about 77 to 86 Fahrenheit midday heat was, oh, she was strong., And it was quite humid most days and there were really warm evenings. Like we did not wear a jacket once and not a long sleeve one time. Sweet. I mean, lovely. But if you didn't pack the right clothes, then it's little bit challenging. we did. I just didn't use some of the other things I brought. And I mean, that could be a me problem 'cause I didn't really. I didn't really, I guess, look to make sure that I didn't need them, but also again, I have a problem. It's fine. for sure. All right. So I wanna get sort of your overall impression. I know we talked a lot before you left about keeping yourself safe from Pickpockets and how there kind of they could be everywhere. Uh, how did you feel there? And did you also feel any of the, like, hostility towards tourists while you were there? Very good question. So first and foremost, uh, spoiler alert, we had a great time. Before we went, and you're exactly right I did get caught up a bit in the stories of other travelers in the Facebook group I was a part of, which was super helpful in general, but they had either witnessed or experienced scams or pickpocketing, and I'm gonna be very honest not one time did we feel unsafe. Nor did we have any experiences with crime, scams, nothing. I know that we were probably lucky, um, but we tried to look confident while we were out walking around. Even though, um, we were navigating with our phones, we still tried to have an air of confidence about us. I wore a cross body bag the whole time. Peter had everything in his front pockets. We kept our wits about us in crowds, as you would anywhere. And then we had zero bad encounters. So, um, a lot of worry for nothing. All right. I mean, fair. Yeah. But also it's probably still good to be aware of because we did make sure that we were doing the right things when we were in crowds and that kind of thing. So yes, it's good to be aware of it, but I probably focused a little too much in my own pea brain before we left. Mm-hmm. I would also say just as general Catalonians and Spanish people in general are vibrant and alive and live life out loud, and the place had such an amazing vibe and no matter the hour there was someone out at tables on the streets, like I said earlier, having beers and cigarettes and conversation and people were friendly. I do find that if you don't speak the language, like I said, you can still, um, you can still get around. It's fine. You're not gonna stress, and if you only speak Spanish, which is some of the questions I had in the Facebook group, obviously you are also going to be fine, like we speak English and Spanish. That that's gonna be, you're gonna be good. My French should, for me, Yeah. surprisingly, we actually heard from a few residents, uh, that tourism in Barcelona was down this year. Okay. Find that the city wasn't as busy and we found it busy, but not crazy. The Las Ramblas area, which is kind of a famous area for shopping and stuff, which I didn't mention, is the main walking street. Also kind of tourist trap type restaurants and it was mostly under construction and like just insane and we just avoided it. Otherwise, the crowds weren't bad and in less tourist areas like ours. Even better. And every night there though, felt like a weekend night here in Halifax. Like the vibe was a Saturday night on a Tuesday, and then on the weekend it was just like Saturday night here, cranked up. Overall there was history and culture and great food. We loved it and would recommend it definitely. Um, and we know we have so much more of Spain to see, but in general, this was a really great introduction, but do tune in to the next travel tip Tuesday to hear something that did not work out on our trip. It's nothing huge, but it is a little bit thought provoking. Ooh. All right. I cannot wait to hear all about that one. So thank you so much, Meggan, for sharing all of this. I think this is going to be really helpful for anybody who's planning their first trip to Barcelona. So if you wanna see some pictures, find us on Facebook and Instagram at Travel Mug Podcasts. We'll be sharing those. You can also find us on our website, travel mug podcast.com. You can support the show through Buy Me a Coffee. Or by leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or by sharing the show with a travel loving pal. And until next time, bye everyone. Bye.
