15th Sept (Wed) - Barcelona

6th day into my trip and 3rd day of my stay in Barcelona. I never thought nor expected it to be hotter than Singapore! So it's really an uphill task to actually explore the city when I constantly felt as if I was (1) melting and (2) almost blinded by the blazing sun. And forgetful me, I hadn't brought my sunglasses along for this trip. So now I suffer, BIG time.

Nevertheless, let me do a recap of what I liked and didn't like about the city. Let's start with the dislikes first.

DISLIKES:

1) The city's too busy and touristy. It doesn't have that certain charm even in the old town. But if you're here for a shopping trip, then you'll like it. Not quite the tranquil nor charming place and sit back and relax though.

2) Food's more expensive when compared to those in Madrid and Santiago de Compostela. In addition it seems like there's a lot more 'modified' or fusion Spanish dishes than homemade/ traditional dishes. Well, this is just me speaking based on what I've seen for the past few days. A paella in Madrid cost about 6-8€ whereas in Barcelona, the cheapest that I found was at least 8€. Thank goodness it turned out to be rather delicious :)



Well, at least there's a wide variety of Tapas to choose from:









3) Admission fee to most attractions are also quite high. For Museu Picasso, it costs 9€. For Casa Batllo, it costs 17.80€. And for La Sagrada Familia, it costs 18.50€ in total if you include the admission + audio guide + lift.

4) Palau Guell is currently closed for restoration dunno till when - which means I had walked all the way there but it was closed.



5) The various transports to Tibidabao is only available on Saturdays - which meant I came at a wrong time.

6) Parc Guell - many people hogged the iconic frog sculpture for photo-taking that I had no chance of intercepting to take a pix of it. And not forgetting the super steep walk up the slopes... but the place itself was nice.







LIKES:

1) Cute chefs and nice food plus slightly frozen (think smoothie) Sangria at Tapac 24 @ 269 Carrer de la Diputacio.





2) Nice and comfortable hostel that I'm staying in.

3) Despite the cost and that it's still unfinished *probably takes another 2 decades to complete), La Sagrada Familia is a MUST visit!











4) The big, muzzled patrol dogs at Sagrada Familia metro station. They looked so fluffy and cute beside the guards.

5) Sangria! Kinda reminds me of vodka cranberry but tastes much stronger (alcohol due to the red wine in the mixture), less acidic and much nicer! And I would feel sleepy and happy after drinking it :) Hahahhahahaha

Well, so far the 'dislikes' seems to outweigh the 'likes'. But we'll see. I still have one more day to go in Barcelona before I move on with my trip.


Other places that I've visited to date are:

1) Old town along La Rambla - which is a super long stretch of road that took me hours to walk from end to end. Of course, in between I diviated to explore the lanes on the side :p









2) Catedral (aka La Seu)

3) Museu Picasso



4) Antic Hospital de la Santa Creu near Liceu Station




5) Basilica de Santa Maria del Mar



6) Casa Batllo





7) Casa Terrades aka Les Punxes



8) Casa Mila aka La Pedrera



I haven't got a chance to catch a proper flamenco show yet, nor Carmen. Let's see if I have the luck tomorrow to catch these!

In the meantime, here are some shots around the neighbourhood :)