Barcelona - Day 2

Day 2 in Barcelona was filled with more excitement and we visited more places than on the first day (considering we arrived in the afternoon at 4-ish). 

Surprisingly, we got up as early as 9 - 9.30AM. I would credit jetlag for us all waking up that early during summer. We flew back to London and went back to Nottingham on the 10th September. Sara and Elwin arrived Heathrow 2.5 hours earlier than me and Cow. We flew with Singapore Airlines and the both of them flew with Malaysia Airlines. So after we got ready, it was around 10.30AM, and we took a cab to Las Ramlas area for breakfast.

Hard Rock Cafe Barcelona!

Barcelona's concert hall - Palau de la Música Catalana. 

Haha this is so random!

Sara & Elwin were concentrating on something whereas I'm adjusting my camera settings 

Museo Picasso! Yay!

But to much dismay, the museum was closed on the particular day when we were around the area. So, to make do with the closure, we:

Took a (few) picture(s) with the sign, haha :P

Afterwards, we took a cab to Park Güell. Park Güell is another amazing work by Antonio Gaudi. Honestly, I have never been so amazed by the details of architecture... until I witnessed the many wonderful works by Antonio Gaudi. Situated on the hill of El Carmel, Park Güell is a garden with complex architecture.

Pavillon at the main entrance of the park

At the main entrance

A house picture of the 4 of us

In landscape view

The girls

Beautiful mosaic work

With pillars around, us girls couldn't help but to do a Bollywood pose for it!

The trio :)

Cow made a shadow of a bird

The two buildings at the main entrance and the city view. Breathtaking!

City view. HOW BREATHTAKING! :)

Another nice house picture :)

Bird nests by Gaudi in the terraced walls. Looks similar to an oasis eh?

Colonnaded pathway. One of the scenes of the movie: Vicky, Christina and Barcelona was shot here. 

Us 3 again

After that, we went to Las Ramblas area for lunch. We went into one of the restaurants and settled down.

 We ordered around 4 dishes to share. One of it: 

Our mixed paella, amongst others

After lunch, it was... shopping time!

Us infront of Benetton

After hours of shopping, we went back to the hotel to rest for a bit, freshen up and we went out again, for dinner. For dinner, we went to Citrus at Passeig de Grácia.

The main entrance

The menu

A glimpse of the restaurant

We ordered quite a bit of food.

First it was seafood paella

One of the catalan dish with different kind of cheeses and tuna. It was good!


Creamy risotto with parmigiano reggiano


Then there's fish


And finally, there's fish, beef steak and mushrooms

The bill came about €45-50 per person and the food was good. The atmosphere is great as well. After dinner, we walked around the street of Las Ramblas.

Gaudi's Casa Batllo at night

Us at night

Then there were some immigrants selling this luminous thing where it's like a lastic. You shoot it up in the air and it goes all lighted up. I think they were selling it for €3, which obviously it came from China or Thailand and is selling for only €0.10 in the respective countries. Out of the spur of the moment, Elwin bought one and everyone played with it. Here's a video of Cow experimenting with it:

Barcelona - Day 1

Last autumn, Sara, Elwin, Yit Ling and I decided to go to Barcelona just before Autumn/Winter term started. SPAIN WON THE FIFA 2010 WORLD CUP! Yay! I organised our first Flat 11 trip and booked via Lastminute.com. No, we did not go to Barcelona to celebrate Spain as FIFA champions. But it definitely biased my selection of places to go in Autumn and Winter! Our flights and hotel was £245.21 per person. It was a good deal as we stayed in Hotel Derby, a 4* Hotel located next to Barcelona's Diagonal commercial and business area. We went to Barcelona on the 12th of September to the 16th of September (5 days, 4 nights), flew via BMI Baby from East Midlands Airport to Barcelona. 

It was our first time taking BMI Baby, and we had no complaints. The seats were comfortable enough, the restrictions were not fussy and checking in was easy, plus it was punctual. We have heard great things about Barcelona, but yet to experience anything from the great city... until September 12th :)

Upon arrival, we took a cab and went to our hotel, checked in, freshen up and we were out and about,  exploring the fabulous city!

 The 4 of us

 I may sound very ethnic, but this is my first time seeing a number of recycling/compose bins all lined up properly.

  I know what you are thinking right now. Of all places to eat.... WHY KFC? We were very, very hungry and we went into the first fast food restaurant we can find :P

 One can choose to rent a bicycle and explore the city

 One of the metro stations. 1 thing I realised about the Spanish Metro stations. They are bright, punctual and very clean. Which is definitely very pleasant and makes the surrounding safe. I've been around Italy and their metro stations are nowhere near the Spanish ones. Time to invest for a better infrastructure and maintenance, Italy! With the deepening Eurozone Crisis, it'll be much more difficult for investments for a better infrastructure and needless to say, maintenance.

 Around Passeig de Gracia

The author and her 2 friends. Credits to Elwin for the photo :)

 Bank of Spain

 There were stalls that sells beautifully painted stoneware

The shopping area

 El Corte Ingles

We took a night bus tour to several places.

 Gaudi's Sagrada Familia at night

Then, we went for the fountain show:

Palau Nacional, which houses the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya at night

The Magic Fountain of Montjuïc. It's a fountain located at the head of Avenida Maria Christina in the Montjuïc neighbourhood. Built in 1929 for the Barcelona International Exposition, it is housed at Palau Nacional on the Montjuïc hill.

Here are 2 videos I took of the fountain show:

That pretty sums up the Day 1 of our Barcelona trip!