Jamikins and Bikerscott do Barcelona and San Sebastian
 

Hello folks,

We have been taking a break from Fodor’s for the past month as it just wasn’t fun anymore. But I wanted to pay back those that gave us the great tips, and help others planning a trip to Barcelona and San Sebastian.

This will be a brief trip report covering the places we went and any tips we can pass on.

Photos are here for Barcelona: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pug_gi...7644215874841/

And here for San Sebastian: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pug_gi...7644330328153/

Planning:

I spent a lot of time planning as we hadn’t been to Spain before and I wanted to eat some great food and hit certain spots for photography.

We pre-booked most of our meals in Barcelona and ate some amazing food as I will comment on below.

I pre-booked the following sights: Casa Battlo, Casa Mila, La Sagrada Familia, Park Guell and Palau Musique de Catalania

I would highly recommend pre-booking unless you want to be there right at opening or later in the afternoon. The lines for La Sagrada Familia were RIDICULOUS.

Day 1 12 April

Landed in Barcelona at around 10:30, picked up our luggage and headed for the taxi queue. After hearing all the bad press about petty crime in Barcelona we were a bit paranoid and so just decided to pay the €30 for acab to our door. Worked out perfectly.

We stayed at Hotel Gaudi http://www.hotelgaudi.es/
Nou de la Rambla, 12
Ph. 0034.93.3179032 Fax 0034.93.4122636

Great little budget hotel – we paid just over €100 a night for 4 nights and it included a decent breakfast. We enjoyed the location as it was just across from Palau Guell, about half a block from La Rambla and easy to get to anywhere using the Metro.

Our room wasn’t ready so we wandered around La Rambla looking for the roving gangs of pick pickets and happily didn’t see any. For the entire trip. In fact, we thought that Barcelona felt safer and cleaner than Paris! Maybe we were lucky, but hopefully they are cleaning up the city…?

After a coffee in Placa Reial we headed back and checked into our room. Basic, nothing special, but served its purpose.

From there we headed to Gracia for our first lunch at Somodo

http://www.somodo.es/
Calle Ros de Olano, 11 08012
Reservas: 934 156 548

This place was amazing. They only serve a tasting menu on Sat at lunch for €25 each. This includes 2 chef’s ‘tapas’, a fish dish, a meat dish, cheese dish, pre-dessert and dessert…and petit-fours. And the quality was amazing. This was our best meal of the trip and the price was ridiculous for what you got. They only have about 6 tables and you need to phone to reserve. The photos at the beginning of the report above.

From there we didn’t have anything else planned for the day so we decided to walk back to the Barri Gothic and see the cathedral. It was a lovely walk and we stopped at a Vermuth Bar to try out this beverage. Enjoyed them very much and then went to the Cathedral where there was a fabulous band playing and dancing going on in the square.

We took photos in and around the cathedral and then made our way to lively bar in the area where we enjoyed a cava for me and a beer for Scott. Met a lovely couple from Yorkshire who were celebrating a special birthday. They treated us to ‘the best mojito in Barcelona’ and I have to say it was delicious and such a nice gesture.

We had reservations at Tickets that night and I would highly recommend the effort to get the reservation. You need to call at midnight Spanish time exactly 60 days from the time you want the reservation. Apparently they sell out in about 10 mins.

After refreshing at the hotel we hopped on the Metro and got to the restaurant about 30 mins too early so were forced to have a cava and beer at a local café where Barcelona was playing another Spanish team and not doing too well.

We headed to Tickets and were seated at one of the many bars around the restaurant. Our server was a lovely girl that explained that we could either order a la carte or she could just bring us courses until we were full. We went with this option and it was amazing. She first spent quite a bit of time asking about what our likes and dislikes were and then we were off! You can see our pics of most of the courses in the links above. The food was fantastic and the atmosphere a lot of fun. I think we ended up paying about €130 including a bottle of wine. Less than we were expecting given the amount of courses and the quality so we were happy customers.

Ended the night with a cava and beer on the La Rambla at a horrendously expensive tourist trap, but the people watching was fun.

More to come…

Been looking forward to this for ages and now salivating over your foodie pics while I eat my meagre lunch of a tired sandwich in the grim glow of a computer screen.

Ty and keep it coming :-)

A relief to see you posting.
I was getting worried that my recommendation to try absinthe while in Barcelona might have had catastrophic lifestyle changes.........

Thanks for the lovely pictures and report. I was wondering where you were!!!! We were in Le Marche around the same time you were in Spain. Please check out my ongoing TR. And thank you for the tips and suggestions!!

Thanks everyone, glad you are enjoying it so far! I am writing this one so not quite as descriptive as Scott's tales but hopefully gives enough details to provide help to others doing research!

RM67 – I am salivating as well, my soup just doesn’t taste quite as good remembering all those great meals!

SeeDee – haha, unfortunately (or fortunately) we didn’t end up trying any this trip…maybe next time!

Flame123 – I am just reading your report now! So glad you enjoyed the winery and Le Marche, isn’t it enchanting?? We are going back for another 2 weeks in August! Might even do a little house hunting…

Sunday 13 April

We were up early today to be at Casa Batllo at 9am when it opened. We were the first ones allowed in and went directly up to the roof to photograph it. It was great to be alone up there, even if you aren’t taking photos. The views are great and the rooftop interesting. Spent about an hour exploring the whole house. It was a bit empty and I am not sure I would pay the rather large entrance fee in hindsight.

Lunch was at Paco Meralgo as they were open on Sunday.
http://www.restaurantpacomeralgo.com/
C/ Muntaner, 171 08036 Barcelona

Food was great and really fresh, had the best potato bravas here. Seriously great potatoes!

Spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the streets and enjoying a pitcher of Sangria. We took the metro to Barceloneta and spent an hour or so having a cava and beer on the beach in one of the many cafes. Fabulous.

We had reservations for Casa Mila at 6pm so took the metro back and spent about an hour just on the roof. I loved photographing this rooftop!

Dinner was at a fairly average tapas bar in El Borne. Wouldn’t recommend it but we loved the area and had a night cap at a great little wine bar. Actually wished we had booked a hotel in this area.

Monday 14 April

Today we were heading to La Sagrada Familia and took the metro there for our 11am reservations. Our intention was to pick up a tour once inside but we actually never did. We arrived a bit early so walked around the building and took photos of the two facades. Amazingly different. I love the melting candle like effect on the one side! The line-up was absolutely HUGE, there is no way I would stand in that line to get in so I was glad that we had reserved slots. We entered the church and spent about an hour taking photos. Some of it was blocked off for works so we weren’t able to get near the organ side of the church. After that we went up the towers and walked back down. Brilliant building, amazing church. A must see.

We had reservations at Alkimia for lunch which is right around the corner:

http://www.alkimia.cat/?lang=en
Tel. 93 207 61 15
[email protected]
C/ Industria, 79
08025 Barcelona
Closed: Saturdays and Sundays.

After a nice lunch we decided we wanted to head back to the beach for the afternoon so hopped on the metro and spent a few hours relaxing in the sun.

Dinner that night was at a great restaurant called Restaurant Etapes
http://www.restaurantetapes.com/?lang=en

They are in the Eixample Quarter, just 200 meters from the house and 300 meters de Plaza Batlló Catalunya

This restaurant was lovely – run by a family with the son serving. Excellent food and great service, we would highly recommend it.

We were in the States then on a transatlantic crossing from 22 March until last week but I HAD noticed you two were MIA. Looking forward to this report--we try to get down to San Sebastiàn about once a year (2.5 hour drive for us) but I feel we never do it justice. Barcelona on the list for 2025.

Make that 2015!!!!

Cathinjoetown - you had me so excited! I actually DO have a spreadsheet with trip ideas up to 2020 so I was impressed with your 2025 planning :)

Tuesday 15 April

This was our last day in Barcelona and I forced Scott to get out of bed at a very early hour so that we could be the first ones in Park Guell when it opened to get photos of the dragon with no people in it. We took a taxi and were there about 8:45. Only one other photographer was there with us. We waited for a bit then she just walked in as there was no one collecting tickets. So we did the same! It was great to be the only ones around and we were able to get some cool shots. Not sure Scott thought it was worth getting up so early for though!

After that we headed back down to the metro stop (seriously worth taking a taxi to avoid climbing that hill!) and stopped for a coffee and were ripped off for the first time! Two cappuccinos were running us about €4 – 5 in the touristy area of La Rambla…this place charged us over €9!!! Not impressed!!

Made it back to La Ramba area to head to the Boqueria market for a light breakfast. Loved sitting at the market stalls having tapas – fabulous!!!! The food was great – one of my favourite pictures is the one with the Burrito sign behind what is clearly NOT a burrito!

From there we headed to our lunch reservation at Cinc Sentis

http://cincsentits.com/en/
ARIBAU 58 • BARCELONA

This was an amazing meal – only drawback was the solo diner that would NOT stop talking to us! Hey there, so what’s that course you are eating?? Hey there, is that good?? Hey there, have you got to this course yet?? He even had an entire conversation on his mobile with his bank back in the US while the rest of us were eating in this small dining room. SO ANNOYING!!!!

After lunch we hopped back on the metro and headed to El Borne. Loved the atmosphere in this area and would definitely stay here if/when we head back to Barcelona! Saw the Basilica of Santa Maria del Mar and enjoyed the sunshine. Ended up at Palau de Musica de Catalanya for our 6pm tour.

This is a great tour – small groups, interesting guides, and loads of time to take as many photos as you want. The only thing you can’t do is get on stage – a reasonable request!

From here we wandered around some more, enjoyed a few more cava and beers. Our final dinner was at Bambarol
http://bambarol.cat/?lang=en
93 250 70 74
[email protected]
C/ Santaló, 21 08021 Barcelona, Barcelona

This place has excellent tapas, very friendly staff, and was a great way to end our time in Barcelona.

Next up – we fly to San Sebastian…or do we????

Love the report Jamikins! Looking forward to the San Sebastian segment, a favorite place of mine! :-)

Btw, my Barca TR has almost exactly the same pic of the mini pigs in La Boqueria - spooky!

LowCountryIslander - thanks so much! Working on that bit shortly!

RM67 - sounds like you have a good eye for photography ;) ha

Wed 16 April

We were actually quite sad to leave Barcelona. We had heard so many negative things about pickpockets that we had actually written off even visiting Barcelona. It took me quite a while to convince Scott that it was worth at least a look. In the end we LOVED IT! Food was amazing, city was beautiful and we didn’t see any gangs of pickpockets anywhere – and we were staying basically on La Rambla and using the metro regularly. We must have been lucky!

So it was with regret that we packed our bags and took a taxi back to the airport. Excited about San Sebastian but sad to leave after so short a visit.

We had booked a flight on Vuelling from Barcelona to San Sebastian airport ages ago and about 2 months ago they had sent us an email changing our flight from 7am to around 1pm. No problem. So we got to the airport and looked at the screens to find out where to check in – and no flights to San Sebastian were listed. Hmmmm….so we found the Vuelling check in, handed over our passports and boarding passes (stating San Sebastian) and checked in with no problem. Girl spoke fluent English and sent us on our way through security. Interesting. We headed through security and sat and read our books. I wasn’t sure how we would know what gate to go to if our flight wasn’t listed but hoped that it would become clear. Then we noticed that there was a flight to Bilbao 10 mins after ours that had the same flight number. Phew – this must be one of those circle flights that leaves Barcelona, stops in San Sebastian and then lands in Bilbao…? So we head over to that gate and enter CHAOS! Apparently the flight had been reschedule to land in Bilbao but no one had thought to tell any passengers until they found their way to the gate! There were Spanish people throwing fits and yelling at the gate people (who obviously cant do anything at this point). Still no one had announced anything in English so we just joined the ‘queue’ to board thinking we would take the bus from Bilbao rather than San Sebastian – longer but meh, we are on vacation!

We finally get on board and there are still people complaining! I don’t really blame them…then the flight attendants hand out complaints cards to people that ask and these are being filled in frantically! The guy next to us turns out to be an Aussie who speaks Spanish so he finally explains to us what is going on. The airline has also arranged a bus to take us into San Sebastian. Problem solved, for us at least.

We arrive in an hour, get our bag and then rely on our new Aussie friend to get us to the bus because nothing has been explained about how to get there in Spanish or in English so he had to ask. We settled in and an hour later we were in beautiful San Sebastian! Phew! We shared a taxi with our new friend and finally arrived at our hotel:
Hotel Zaragoza Plaza
https://www.hotelzaragozaplaza.com/en/

This was a great hotel right off the main street where the beach is. Walking distance to the historic centre. We paid about €140 a night without breakfast.

After freshening up we heading out on the town for some pinxto hopping! We had a few maps from several websites describing places but in the end found it to be the most fun to just wander around and sample when we saw somewhere interesting. Scott’s favourite was a place that served delicious fillet and also garlic braised mushrooms! We found the quality of food and wine extremely high given the price! Amazing quality and tiny prices.

One thing that I hadn’t really thought much about was the type of food on offer here. It is very fish based – lots of pinxtos with prawns on ‘Russian Salad’ a type of mayonnaise based ‘coleslaw’, anchovies etc. So if you don’t enjoy that type of thing you may want to do some research into other places to eat or what other pinxtos are available.

Another thing that surprised me was the size of pinxtos! They were HUGE! Almost all were served on slices of baguette. Scott was in heaven hahaha! I enjoyed it, but as I am not a big lover of anchovies etc I didn’t try as many adventurous ones as Scott did. I did love the wine – exceptional!

More to come…

Great information , can anyone recommend a tour company in Barcelona that would cover the same things? Have friends going but want everything done for them! They are only there for 3 days before heading out on a cruise. Also, where would you recommend they stay not too far from port.

Only a year to go until Barcelona. Thanks for the tips. Great report and, as usual, spectacular photos!

((H))

Enjoying your trip report as always and about to look at your photos now which are always gorgeous.

What a shame that the forum isn't fun anymore and that is causing terrific posters to retrench - I agree.

Was waiting for this trp report. We returned on Sunday after a fabulous week in Barcelona. Trip report over the weekend.

Thanks for coming back and writing about your trip.
More food descriptions please ! I have some Spanish cookbooks lurking in my kitchen bookshelf, they need to see the light of day.....

Enjoying this!!!

Jamikins, your report is great. I'm headed to Barcelona and San Sebastian the middle of June (can't wait to read about San Sebastian).
Thanks!

Jamikins, really enjoying your report. And your photos! We recently belatedly posted a TR from our trip to Barcelona. We share many of your observations. Sagrada Familia almost falls flat in pictures, doesn't it? As you mentioned, we would recommend buying tickets ahead for some of the most popular sites. We're looking forward to your report on San Sebastian. The Costa Brava, the Pyrenees, and San Sebastian are on our list. Thanks, again, Jamikins!

Great report! Heading to BCN for first time in October. Have noted the restaurants. We had to decide between San Sebastián and Andalucia this trip , and chose the latter because of the time of year. Hopefully we'll make it to SS someday!