My husband and I went to Barcelona for a honeymoon almost 15 years ago. To be honest, Barcelona was never a city I had thought of visiting so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I was of course excited to go to any new place. However, it was supposed to be a bit of a surprise and he had told me we’d be going to New York for the honeymoon, which is what I packed for. When we got to the airport, he told me to sit and wait somewhere while he went to check-in. I don’t like waiting so I ended up catching up to him at the desk for Air France. I got so excited because I thought we were going to Paris and when he finished checking in I said with excitement, “why didn’t you tell me we’re going to Paris?? I would have packed so differently!” Then he felt bad to let me know that we only had a layover in France and the destination was Barcelona lol. I tried my best to hide my disappointment especially since Barcelona was never on my list of places to see.

Anyway, I eventually got over that disappointment and once we arrived and got to our hotel, I was happy with our room and I loved the view. We stayed at ME Barcelona, which was a great location with easy access to attractions. Our room was on a high floor with floor-to-ceiling windows over-looking the city. We had Club Level access and were able to get snacks from there, which was nice. In our room I started looking at the detailed map the hotel gave us and began planning out our days with what to see and do. I was surprised to find there were quite a few places that looked really intriguing. I was looking forward to getting started.

The first thing we did was just walk around exploring, making our to Parc de la Ciutadella. The fountain was a very beautiful spot to take photos and to just enjoy. We then went to check out the Arc de Triomf. We didn’t do a whole lot that day since we had arrived in the evening. We grabbed dinner at some Italian Restaurant and were pretty much the only people there when it opened at 7pm. Everyone else must eat later than we do! The food was really good that we went more than once, but I can’t remember the name. Though, that was partly because it was hard to find good food options that didn’t have pork (which we don’t eat) and wasn’t seafood (it’s not my favorite. We walked along the waterfront for a bit and then went back to the hotel.

The next morning we went to Parc Guell and boy, were there some steep streets to get there. There was an escalator at one point so that was helpful. This spot would still be doable with kids, but might need a bus ride or Uber to get closer. It would still involve walking to the entrance, but not as much, about 10 minutes. There are awesome views once you get in the park though. The park was a great spot to walk around so we did that for a bit and then headed to Basilica de la Sagrada Familia, just to check out the outside of it since it wasn’t open for tours at that time. We would tour inside another day. We then went to Placa de Catalunya and had dinner and dessert and then went back to our hotel, which was just a few minutes away. We were definitely exhausted from all of the walking!

In the morning, we headed out to take the cable car to Montjuic Castle. There were great views from the cable car on the way up. The cost for a roundtrip cable car ride is 15.30 Euros for adults, 10.80 for kids 4-12 years, and free under 4 years of age. The entrance fee for the Castle is 12 Euros and is free for kids under 8. It’s also free Sundays after 3pm and every first Sunday of the month (per their website https://ajuntament.barcelona.cat/castelldemontjuic/en). It was very interesting to walk around and see the fortress and learn the history. After that, we took the cable car back and went to Placa d’Espanya. Interesting things to see there and I loved the architecture of the National Art Museum (though we did not go in). Also nearby was the Olympic Stadium where the 1992 Olympics were hosted. You can take a tour for free as long as there are no events going on. Once we finished touring the stadium, we were quite tired and headed back to our hotel, grabbing dinner first.

On our last day, we began with going to The Royal Palace of Pedralbes, which the Royal family used until about 1930. Now it’s the headquarters of the Union for the Mediterranean. We just walked around the gardens as you cannot tour the inside of the palace. From there we went to one of my favorite buildings – Casa Mila. I love the artsy design of it, but we only saw from outside and didn’t do the tour as we weren’t sure if it was worth the cost or not, especially since we already planned to tour La Sagrada Familia. Casa Mila is 29 Euros for adults, 12.50 for kids 12 to 17, and free under 12 years (which isn’t too bad). After checking that out, we went to tour La Sagrada Familia, which was beautiful. There was a lot of construction going on at the time so we weren’t able to do a complete tour of it. It’s been under construction since 1882! Gaudi took over in 1883, but there were many delays, Gaudi’s death in 1926 being one of them with construction being at only 10-15% completion. It’s anticipated to finally be finished in 2026. The last stop on our list was to check out the Columbus Monument (just a monument).

Overall, I enjoyed visiting Barcelona (even though the photos aren’t the best – my camera and skills have greatly improved since!). It’s probably not somewhere I would visit again, but mostly because there are so many countries out there I want to visit. If I had a long layover there on my way to another city in Spain, I wouldn’t mind stepping out and visiting the city again for a few hours. I definitely loved all of the architecture and wonderful views from the park and Castle. Be sure to visit these spots if you make a trip there!

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