Hello everyone!
After resting and moving room, I'm here to write about my recent Easter Escapade at Spain and Portugal. So, I'll start with our first pit stop, Barcelona.
We took the 8.15am flight from London Stansted and arrived at Barcelona around 11.30am local time. Spain's time is 1 hour ahead of London. Once we arrived at the airport, we took the train to Barcelona Central. If you're planning to use the public transport in Barcelona, I would recommend the 10 trip ticket. The ticket costs €9.95 (for zone 1) for 10 journeys and many people can use 1 ticket. So you can share the ticket with your travel companions. This is the most cost-effective way to go to city center as single ticket from the airport will cost you €4.10 to Barcelona Sants or Passeig de Garcia station (Barcelona Central).
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| Snowy mountain tops. London -> Barcelona |
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| Barcelona at last! |
As our accommodation was near Sagrada Familia, we had to change at Passeig de Garcia and change to the purple metro line to Sagrada Familia. When we were walking to the metro line, the three of us were talking to each other in Malay. Suddenly, a Spanish guy interrupted us and asked us what language we were talking? We told him it's Malay and we're from Malaysia. Then he started talking in Malay with us. The three of us were dumbfounded, apparently he went for an exchange program in Malaysia during high school for a year. He was quite fluent. We chatted until we had to part ways as he's going to the beach to celebrate his girlfriend's birthday. Unfortunately we forgot to ask him name and took photo with him.
Once we reached our accommodation, we had lunch and went out again. We wanted to go inside Sagrada Familia but we were told at the ticket counter that the tix for the tower has already finished and the entrance was in an hour. So not to waste time, we decided to buy tickets for the first entrance the next morning (€17.50 for tower and basilica; student rate) and decided to explore Barcelona. Our next destination was Casa Mila,
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| La Sagrada Familia |
We had problem trying to look for this place. We asked a few people and they directed us in the wrong direction, luckily a security guide directed us in the right direction. Casa Mila is one of Gaudi's work that can be seen in Barcelona but we didn't go inside as it was a bit expensive for us (€16) since we've already paid the entrance for Sagrada Familia. Then we head to Casa Batlo, another piece of Gaudi's work. Casa Batlo differs from Casa Mila as it's a bit colourful compared to Casa Mila. Again we didn't go inside as the entrance fee is €18.
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| Casa Mila |
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| Sneak peak of what's inside Casa Mila |
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| Casa Batlo |
Later of the day, we walked to La Ramblas; the central street of Barcelona. We stumbled upon Boqueria Market; a market that sells many stuff including meat, fruits, vegetables and other items. We really liked this market and hoped to come back the next day to try other foods.
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| La Ramblaaaaa... |
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| Boqueria Market |
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| Inside Boqueria Market. Look at all the foods..Drrrroooooollllll! |
After tired of walking around, we decided to have dinner at Traveller's Bar. We got a coupon from our accommodation where we'll get free meal with every purchase of drink. But the choices of meal are only spaghetti bolognese or pesto pasta (vegetarian). Plus, from a Muslim worker there; the spaghetti bolognese at this place is halal. So, we just had to pay €2.50 each for our dinner that night. Win!
After dinner, we decided to head to Magic Fountain as recommended the people at our accommodation. The magic fountain can be reached via metro stop Plaza Espanya or Poble Sec but it's closer if you stop at Plaza Espanya. The fountain is located in front of National Museum of Art of Catalunya. Unfortunately there's no show from Monday to Wednesday night. So, we didn't get to see any show that night. But the view from National Museum of Art of Catalunya is very beautiful at night as it's located on top of a hill. Don't worry, there's escalator to go up; so you don't have to climb uphill.
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| Magic Fountain with National Museum of Art of Catalunya in the background |
That's all for day 1 of Barcelona. Will continue about the second day soon.
Till then~
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