Report by Harry Lawrance

In December 2005 my girlfriend and I took a weekend’s metropolis break in Barcelona in eastern Spain. At the time of booking our choice of destination was a toss up in between Barcelona, Paris and Rome, none of which possibly of us had at any time been to. For no certain explanation, Barcelona came out on leading and I am extremely glad it did as we each had a wonderful time. This post is a brief summary of our weekend.

Acquiring just moved into a new residence, we didn’t have a quite big finances to devote on this holiday so we discovered ourselves a couple of low cost flights to Barcelona, a very low price hotel in the vicinity of the metropolis centre and bought the very first manual book we could locate. The weather when we touched down could almost certainly best be described as abysmal but this didn’t dampen our spirits.

Following obtaining our way to our hotel and dumping our bags, our first port of contact was the nearest metro station (the metro is Barcelona’s equivalent of the London underground and is a excellent way to get about). We purchased a three day unlimited pass for roughly €14 (£9.sixty) and hopped on a distinctly punctual and un-crowded train bound for La Sagrada Familia. If I had been to recommend just a single sight to see in Barcelona, La Sagrada Familia would be it. Gaudi devoted 40 decades of his daily life to the layout and development of this incredibly elaborate cathedral and constructing is still ongoing these days. From the ground the building is very impressive and its spires every get to to a peak of 300 feet with strategies to extend this even more.

We paid €8 every single to acquire access to the cathedral and museums. Though an elevator is offered inside the cathedral to take guests to the top of the spires (at an additional price) we chose to walk up the 400 plus measures to see the watch from the leading. The staircase is narrow and steep and I would only recommend the climb for people with strong legs and a head for heights! The climb was definitely worthwhile the two for the views throughout the city and for the balconies along the way where you can cease at consider a near up appear at some of the hundreds of intricate carvings that enhance the exterior. We also took a stroll around the museum and liked the scale designs and early images of the building.

After some lunch we took a stroll along La Rambla, the major road in Barcelona, in the direction of the marina. Along the way you will see a excellent assortment of stalls marketing all types of items from souvenirs to reside birds. There is also a very good offer of efficiency artists and street entertainers to watch which held us amused for a few of hours. We completed the day with tapas at a little restaurant ahead of retiring for the night.

The adhering to morning, at my insistence, we took the metro to Collblanc to consider a tour round the famous Nou Camp, house to Barcelona football club and renowned as 1 of the world’s biggest football stadiums. After wandering all around outdoors the stadium for about fifty percent an hour hoping to operate out how to get in, we discovered the ticket workplace and paid €11 euros each and every for the tour. The stadium is vast and as a football fan it was a fantastic experience to stroll by means of the player’s tunnel and stand on the pitch side. The tour took us by means of the behind scenes regions of the stadium like the absent modifying room, the commentary gantry and the chapel that was put in to let the religious gamers to pray prior to video games.

We completed our go to with a trip around the museum, wherever trophies and photographs of Barcelona’s several successes are displayed. The photograph of myself next to the European cup still hangs on the wall of my lounge. Although we didn’t get to watch a sport as there wasn’t a residence match becoming played the weekend we had been there, it was still an extremely pleasant and worthwhile excursion.

The afternoon was put in with a stroll close to the marina and a pay a visit to to L’Aquarium, a sea lifestyle centre with more than 450 distinct species of marine daily life. The entrance payment set us again €15.50. Several of the aquatic creatures were fairly unusual and enjoyable to observe but the highlight of L’Aquarium for us was the underwater tunnel. This is an eighty metre extended passage beneath an tremendous tank, with sharks, rays and other fish swimming inches over your head.

Our previous night was spent eating Mexican foods and drinking cocktails in a little, contemporary and stylish Mexican restaurant referred to as Margarita Blue followed by numerous more drinks in the Difficult Rock Café (how shamelessly touristy) and then on to Razzmatazz, a large nightclub famous for stay audio. Needless to say, consuming late into the night time didn’t make for the most enjoyable of flights home the subsequent morning!

About the Writer

Harry Lawrance is an knowledgeable writer based in the UK