LittleMissPrecious.: Barcelona!

I just got back from the wonderful city of Barcelona. I've been there 3 times now..and I still have the feeling that there's a lot to discover.. We were gone one week.. we arrived on monday..had some issues with our apartment when we got there, but we were able to fix it..so disaster diverted. We were so tired of our trip, that we went to bed early.

The next day, it was a lovely 26 degrees, so we decided to go to the beach, to get our tan on. So we went to the beach, hung out, at 3 in the afternoon, we had a bite to eat at our favorite beach café ' Sal Café' . The people are so nice there, plus the food is really good. A must have in Spain, is a Tinto de verano. It's a drink, with red wine and lemonade, and lots of fresh fruit and ice. Some kind of Sangria..but just better!

After our afternoon at the beach, we headed over to the Barcelona Zoo. This trip we actually had the chance, to do whatever we wanted to.. Last time we did all the major touristy places..like Sagrada Familia, Park Guell, Ramblas, magic fountains, etc. But it was more laid back this time. We had a lovely two hour stroll through the zoo. I'm a huge animal freak, so for me it was like Disneyland. I was the crazy Zoo lady, climbing on stuff, and in bushes..to get a good look/picture of the animal. My boyfriend had to pick me up..it was so funny! After the zoo, we headed home.. and got ready for dinner. Our apartment is located in the Marina district. It's in the middle of everything. Ramblas and Place Catalunya is 2 stops away with the subway.. The beach is a 15 min walk.

We stayed in the Melon residence. What I like about this place, is the vibe. You have so many different people there. Students, families, young couples, ... it's a nice atmosphere. Last time, we just took a room, with a shared kitchen.This time, we had a studio..that contained, a bathroom, bed, and our own kitchen. So back at our place, we started thinking about dinner. We had a lovely moment on the rooftop terrace..had some beers, guacamole dip and crackers. For dinner we had a mozzarella plate with small tomatoes, rucola, hummus, olive oil , balsamico vinegar, and bread.. YUM.

Second day, started out cloudy..we wanted to visit the Old city. Barcelona is so much fun..just walking around the little streets, with the small shops everywhere. We first went to ' La Boqueria ' it's a huge market, with a lot of fresh fruit, fish, meats, candy, and herbs... The colors are so great! After that, we just started walking through the small streets, I found this little store called mayday. Where my man got me the cutest purse ever. We walked around for about two hours.. and then ran into this little café..where we stopped for some tapas and drinks. We had the patatas bravas, pan con tomate, ham croquettes, and the BEST guacamole dip ever.. the 'chips' were made out of these fried pieces of vegetable..we couldn't figure out which vegetable it was. But it was GOOD! After that, we headed to a place called Tibidabo. And as we were travelling there by bus, it hit me, that we were driving through the Beverly Hills of Barcelona. The houses...were AMAZING! Once we got there...we had a drink in this little bar, with an incredible view! It was a perfect ending to a tiring day.. sitting there, with the sun going down..just me and my man..perfection. So we headed back to the apartment afterwards..had some beers, and I made some torteloni with a 4 cheese sauce. We ended the night, with watching a movie, and falling asleep in each others arms.

Third day, we wanted to go to the beach, one last time..I love the beach.. but I can't lay there a whole day..a couple of hours is enough. So we went to the beach, had lunch at Sal café.. this time we took the Gazpacho ( Mmmm) , my man got the pan con tomate, and I had the Foccaccia with manchego cheese and roasted vegetables. It was soooo good! After the beach, we headed back to the apartment. We changed into our evening outfits..because it was our last night..we decided to go out for dinner..so we headed down to the Ramblas..for our ritual. we always have dinner at Rossini, at place Reial. It's a gorgeous square, right off the busy Ramblas. Rossini is an italian restaurant, but has a steakhouse in the basement for the meat lovers out there. We sat down at the bar for 5 minutes, and had a table pretty fast. We both had cocktails, I had the beef carpaccio as a starter, my man had the plate of bresaola, with a side of rucola salade, parmezan cheese, and tomato. As a main dish , I had the spinach tagliatelle with a parmezan cheese sauce, roasted pine nuts, and raisins.. and my man got the spinach and ricotta ravioloni with a tomato sauce. It was very good. Like always. So after dinner, we strolled down the Ramblas some more.. and headed back to the apartment. Where we got everything ready for leaving the next day..and finally went to sleep while watching American beauty.

To round up this trip... AWESOME. I love this city..I still have the feeling that there's a lot for us to see.. I would love to go there every year..and just enjoy getting to know the city more and more.

Can't wait for our next trip! Enjoy our pictures!