Exploring Barcelona

Back at the end of June, me and the girls jetted off to sunny Barcelona for 5 days to do some relaxing, sight seeing and cocktail drinking as an end of second year getaway. Barcelona itself can get pretty pricey for accommodation so because of the good deal, we ended up staying in a town called Mataro, a 40 minute metro ride from the bustling city of Barcelona. Mataro is a beach town and our hotel overlooked the pretty port, I was slightly hesitant on our arrival as it isn't a very touristy place at all but as the day went on I realised how nice it was to actually be in with the locals. This made for the perfect mix between a relaxing poolside/beach holiday and a city break. So, as well as soaking up the sun by the pool we ventured into Barcelona to do some touristy things on one (and a half) days as travelling meant we only had three full days there. The metro system is thankfully really good with clean and air conditioned metros, I would definitely recommend it as your main mode of transport if you're visiting. Our journey from Mataro to Barcelona passed many beach towns which made for a journey more pleasing to the eye than the darkness of the underground. 

We chose a bus tour to transport us around the city which was a great way to see everything with multiple stops. We chose to spend our time in the city seeing all of Gaudi's beautiful work, including the incredible unfinished cathedral, La Sagrada Familia which is just as gorgeous inside, his park, Park Guell and two of his buildings, Casa Batllo and La Pedrera. We took an audio tour around Casa Batllo which definitely highlighted the amount of detail and thought that had gone into his work. Barcelona is definitely the city of amazing architecture, no matter where you look no two buildings are the same, the quaint little streets were my favourite with their picturesque balconies. Our second visit into the city was the evening before we left and we spent a while wandering the streets in the search for the Arc de Triomf which was unfortunately rather unsuccessful, so we headed along the beach finally reaching the Hard Rock cafe to fill our tummy's with a tasty burger and a cocktail. We took in the sights one last time when the sky was darkening and the fountains in the main square were lit with the prettiest colours before heading back on the metro. I loved our time in Barcelona, it was the most relaxing break and I would definitely like to return to do some more exploring one day.

Rachael x