A THREE DAY BATTERY CHARGE IN BARCELONA!

Ahhh Barcelona…
For us it’s one of those cities with an undeniable, infectious buzz.
No matter how many times you visit, there’s always something new. There are so many options when eating vegan in Barcelona, but we could only visit, and list a few this time around. I guess we’ll have to return to report about those other hidden gems.

Monday, September 25th. We departed from Brussels Airport early in the morning, and found ourselves on Spanish (Or Catalan?) soil around 11am. It was still a couple of days before the turbulent referendum, so we’ll call it Spanish, for now.

We exited the airport and decided to use public transport to get around the city, like we do most of the time. We both got our Hola 3-day (72hrs) card from the vending machine and jumped onto the metro, and headed straight for the hotel (Ibis Plaza Glories 22) to drop off our luggage.

After quickly checking the Happy Cow app ,we walked to Aquari Bay. It was relatively close to the hotel, and in the general direction of the beach, which we were headed for anyway.

It’s a nice little restaurant with a cool atmosphere. You can choose a spot inside, or outside. We ended up inside.

We ordered the sharing platter with tofu tzatziki, catalan hummus , roasted aubergines, cassava chips and corn tortillas and the meditarrean azuki kofta croquettes with macerated zuccini in mint and fresh chillies with greek yoghurt. (Ask for the vegan version so they’ll swap the yoghurt!). The menu is stacked with interesting dishes, and everything we saw in the hands of passing staff looked absolutely delicious. If you find yourself a mile or two north of the city center, we can highly recommend this place.

With our stomachs filled we took on the beachside walk towards the city center, passing the marina, and taking a little break for a cocktail not really worth mentioning. We noticed that a lot of squares and open spaces were filled with stages and such. The city was readying itself for the last day of La Mercé Festival, a multi-day street festival in Barcelona. We didn’t know about it beforehand, and decided not to head for Plaça D’Espanya to watch the fireworks and music spectacle.
Instead we met up with Charlotte (Kristof’s “sister”), who had been working in Barcelona for a few months. First we went for cocktails at the local Hard Rock Café, while discussing where we would eat later on.
Charlotte is not vegan nor vegetarian, but she did recommend Teresa Carles Cocina Vegetariana, which is a vegetarian restaurant with different vegan options.
We decided on the Seitan Hamburger with french fries, the Lasanyuki (a delicious lasagna) and the Rosseat De Fideus (toasted noodles with seaweed and mushrooms).
Apologies are in order, since we totally dove into our heavenly meals, and forgot to document the perfection photographically. Sorry, not sorry. (We promise to go back!)
Charlotte had a bottle of H2O, for Stefanie, a “Virus Killer” (pear, purified water, ginger, lemon, raw honey, echinacea, thyme, maria luisa, rock tea (jasonia glutinosa), and for Kristof a “My Sweet Horny Juice” (pineapple, melon, coconut water, aloe, maca).

Afterwards we dropped Charlotte off at her appartment, found a nearby metro station, and went on back to the hotel, for a hot shower and a good night sleep.

For our second day we planned a trip to Park Guell. If anyone is responsible for shaping the aesthetic of Barcelona, it must be Antoni Gaudi. Every Gaudi piece looks like it was made for a fairytale. Make sure you take time to explore all the must-see Gaudi buildings during your visit! The man is an architectural genius! We skipped a few of them this time, because we had visited them before.
At the moment Park Guell is under construction, and a for a few areas you’ll have to pay admission. If you have your heart set on sitting on the famous mozaïc benches, book your ticket online to skip the cue.

While walking to the park, we found Zuum.
They have a variation of salads, wraps and smoothies. We went for a smoothie and a smoked hummus, paprika and mushroom wrap to go.

We had a picknick looking out on Park Guell, perfect views!

The park itself was pretty crowded that day. And a little overwhelmed by street vendors, selling junk basically. One sells scarfs, the next sells coloured lizards, the next one selfie – sticks, the next one scarfs again, and repeat. There must have been 100 of them,
We also heard the words ‘water, one euro’ about a million times.

We walked through the city, looking forward to having dinner at Cat Bar, but found it closed that day. So much for winging it! Don’t make our mistake. If there are musts on the list, make sure to check the opening hours!
Instead we went to a beachbar for some mocktails and tapas (patatas bravas, olives. ..
After that.. time for bed.

Last day of our short citybreak…

For our mid morning snack we went to La Boqueria.
La Boqueria is Barcelona’s most famous food market where you can find just about everything under the sun. (a lof of meat and fish too, though)
Upon entering, you’ll find a rainbow array of smoothies and fresh fruit.

We stumbled upon “Organic Barcelona” with some amazing looking burritos. We went for the 10 euro mix plate. Vegetable paella, hummus, lettuce, salad and a burrito of your choice. We went for the spicy one.
Not everything is vegan, so ask for it!

Since no visit to Barcelona is complete without checking La Sagrada Familia, we decided that our noon was best spent at the beautiful cathedral.

The cathedral that has been under construction since 1833. We hope we can see it completed in our lifetime! We didn’t do the inside tour, since waiting times were very long, and we had a plane to catch… but we can assure you it is beautiful!

If you wanna visit the inside, we would recommend booking your tickets in advance so you don’t have to cue for hours or miss out altogether!

If there ever was an ideal place to get lost, the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona would be it. So that’s what we did in the afternoon. Throw aside all plans and spend a few hours simply meandering through the endless maze of intriguing alleyways, quaint shopfronts, hip bars and Gothic architecture. We spent hours wandering through these streets.
We found some lovely vintage shops, an lp store and some really cozy cafe’s.
Sit down on a terrace , enjoy the sun, drink some mocktails and enjoy the tapas!

Barcelona, we’ll be back soon!

 

How to get around:

Getting around in Barcelona is pretty easy. In our opinion, walking is always the best way to get from place to place as it allows you to get a feel for the city and see all the beautiful buildings. We walked around 20 km every day.

Barcelona has a great public transport network of metros and buses. We used the hola 72 hours pass to get around by metro if we didn’t felt like walking. If you are going to use public transport during your visit, your best option is to pre-purchase a transport pass for the duration of your time in the city.

The city is also very bike-friendly with their bikelanes and lots of rental possibilities.
So biking our way through the city is on our list for the next visit.

Where to stay:
This time we stayed in Ibis hotel. However there are loads of fun hostels, air b&b’s and hotels in Barcelona..

Have you been to Barcelona? Got something fun to add to our food hotspots? Or want to reply to this article, click here.