Barcelona in our pocket
The Spanish voyage began from a relatively calm Girona, which became a springboard for preparations for a meeting with a bright representative of the Spanish kingdom. I didn’t want to meet like this - hungry, cold, with a crumpled face, but I definitely wanted to meet with a wide smile and a cheerful gleam in my eyes.
Since we did not have a lifetime to explore Barcelona, it was necessary to imagine where to run, why and in what order. Searches began on the Internet, interrogations with predilections, shoving with a broom through the back streets of a leaky memory in order to remember at least something from my evening visit to Barcelona a few years ago.
All the methods went into battle, thanks to which an acceptable tour set loomed. This time we prudently left the child at home, such loads can be unbearable for the child's body. During these 4 days in Barcelona was everything.
There were emotions, applause, criticism, joy and impressions. But there was one thing - rest, in the general sense of the word. If you open a brochure with discounts from Bus Turistic or Barcelona Card, you will understand that such a number of attractions simply cannot physically be seen. In addition, Barcelona is not a small city.
If you want to explore culture without stress, with siesta breaks and morning stretches in bed, don't count on more than 3 objects a day. Well, if you have come to punish and be surprised, then there is no place for pickling.
The age-old 3 questions of any trip: where to live, how to move and what to eat, were discussed without much heat. As a city of great opportunities, Barcelona offers options for all tastes.
Accommodation was chosen on Airbnb. com. On booking. com, there were no hotels cheaper than 80 euros, and even those, only thanks to promotions, that's why they used this site.
The only negative is that the landlords of the apartments prefer not to give the best school years to learning English. Therefore, this site is suitable only for those romantics who, in addition to the words "dinero" and "asta la vista", learned a couple more sentences. Although, if you search hard, you can run into a young, English-speaking generation.
The apartment was in a quiet area, because of which we had to get to the center every day. But it was cheap (25 euros per day), cozy and clean, offered internet and 2 metro stations within sight, plus a wonderful Cuban as a patron. We left the apartment by 9 am, having a reliable breakfast, and returned by 11 pm.
A Cuban who moved to Spain a dozen years ago publicly nostalgic about the Soviet times of her childhood in Cuba, eating Russian sour cream into her tears (fortunately, there are Russian outlets in Spain, too).
Upon arrival, at her request, we presented her with the perfume "Red Moscow", after which she, sobbing with happiness, ran to her room to irrigate this wonderful perfume.
Together with the Cuban lived 2 wonderful pugs. The pugs threatened to describe you at first sight with malevolent intentions. In principle, they always let a preliminary bark into the air, so there were no accidents.
The Cuban also had some roommate. She is no longer 30, and the habit of cohabiting among the Spaniards remains even after this age limit. The cohabitant did not shine often, I saw him a couple of times. And we met him on the 2nd day, when we, having slightly gone too far with excursions, returned home closer to midnight, and she fried him scrambled eggs for dinner.
There was another gray-haired mystical character. He lived in a separate room. He left "dark", at 7 am (for the Spaniards it's very early) and returned around 23.
For his estimated 60 years, he looked very perky, and spent the whole day in a nearby cafeteria, where he stood with a small bottle of beer and told another traveler some kind of bearded story. Apparently the owner of the bar was his friend, matchmaker or drinking companion, so he hung out with him all day long, and in the evening he also took out the garbage with bottles. We somehow at 23:20, returning from the metro, managed to say hello to him near the trash cans. We are with a backpack of emotions, and he is with a garbage bag. I hope there was nothing criminal in it.
No one bothered us to have breakfast and splash in the shower. Since the grandfather flew away "shit", and the honest Cuban did not bother herself with an early rise. The only early birds were pugs, but since I was nice to them, there were no morning fights.
Kubinka, in general, was a mistress from God. On the first morning she got me instead of coffee, a can of cocoa powder, a coffee maker and a bag of flour instead of sugar.
Like, all the conditions for morning coffee drinking. Scraping a couple of bags of coffee in my backpack, I rushed to the nearest bakery to make a rustle there and buy a couple of loaves. The bakery was the only place where middle-aged bakers started working from 6.2, whose mouths did not close for a minute, promptly rewarded me with a couple of croissants, and, wishing me a good appetite, continued their ongoing argument. For other breakfasts, I already filled up the refrigerator, which the Cuban very successfully placed in our room. Yes, there was also a computer with the Internet. So SMS messages were written from there.
The neighborhood was quiet, but with many similar streets, and then for the first time my compass began to falter. We tried to approach the chambers from several metro stations, since there were more than one of them, and 3 times wandered along the neighboring streets, since there were no distinguishing marks, in the spirit of a pond and a man with a monument.
To move around the city, we agreed on the option of 2 days by bus, the rest by metro. For the metro, they used the T-10 card. I tried to find on the Internet about what is better Barcelona card or Bus Turistic. As a result, it turned out that “as you wish” and “taste and color” ...but no details.
After the trip, I myself conducted a study, which is still better. It turns out that both the bus and the card end up giving you the same percentage benefits, if you take the backbone of the 18 most popular places to visit. In any case, if you stay in Barcelona for more than 2 days, I recommend that you still choose something, as the savings reach 20-25%, including travel. If for 2 days, then it’s probably better to take a bus, if less, then it’s better to walk or take the subway, as a last resort. In a day you will not see even 10 parts, and therefore you will not be able to save.
The card has free, not very popular museums in its trump cards (which are hardly worth going to, bypassing the popular ones), some discounts in restaurants (we haven’t been to any) and a 20% discount on flamenco shows versus 10% at the bus. Yes, and there is a 20% discount on attractions in PortAventura!
The bus has trump cards - a bus and discounts on fast food food and boat trips. And mind you, you can’t see Barcelona from the metro.
So, if you are aware of Barcelona and you are easy to travel - then a card, if you are in Barca for the 1st time and do not really like to jump from the metro to the bus - then the bus.
We chose the bus and did not regret it much. The only thing is that all the tour objects are interesting, but they are scattered around the city and it is unlikely that they will be able to “gallop across Europe”. I tried it and was immediately accused by my wife of inhumanity.
Many people are afraid of long queues for tourist buses. The key to success is getting up early and avoiding transfers and landings at Placa Catalynya.
Otherwise, you will be happy and at peace. Moreover, the red line is mostly loaded, so plan your route in advance and don't worry.
We bought tickets online on the website from Bus Turistic and saved 10%. After payment you will receive a barcode. Print and show on the bus when boarding.
Food, and do not throw wet swimming trunks, I would attribute to the weaknesses of Barcelona. In its generality, it is not cheap and does not always meet the needs, and the eating culture is a little shabby. True, we are a little spoiled by the cheapness of our restaurants.
During our stay we visited only 3 places, but several times. First of all, I was very pleased with the Mussol restaurant. It is located in several locations around the city. All restaurants are very attractive in design. I was very pleased with the service and prices of this restaurant on the grounds of the Arenas sports complex, on Placa de Espanya.
In such places, food should generally be sold at the price of vacuum cleaners, but surprisingly, the prices were very reasonable. For an excellent dinner with all the ingredients, we paid about 27 euros, which is just an excellent indicator for Barcelona.
When we weren't chic at Mussol (angrup. com), we ate at Fresco Co (fresco. com) and Lactuca (lactuca. com). These are buffet establishments where you can fill your belly in several sets for a fixed price of 10 euros. Lactuca has a bit of a canteen vibe, but not enough to be intimidating. But in principle, the choice depends on which institution will be closer to you at a certain time. The buffet is large, so everyone will find something to their liking.
Of course, you can have a bite to eat in some cafes with combined dishes (fish-meat, side dish, salad) for 7-8 euros or save the day with the ubiquitous fast food. But they do not differ in great variety, and eating wilted french fries disgusts my pedigree.
One evening we had a very soulful dinner with sandwiches and drinks on the beach. There was a kind of romantic experiment that we both enjoyed.
Attractions.
We had a very active program for 4 days, but we could not master even half of what was offered. And this is to the fact that the air temperature rarely rose above 20 degrees and we did not dare to attack the beach. Upon arrival, we visited the magic fountains, which are open only from Thursday to Sunday. The rest of the 3 days we ran like racing antelopes on the move, wiping the crumbs from dinner with our sleeves.
On the 1st day by bus we visited La Pedrera, Caixa Forum, El Poble Espanyol (MNAC was closed on Mondays), Montjuic by cable car and the port area.
In the 2nd - Sagrada Familia, Tibidabo, Cosmo Caixa, Parc Ciutadella and Arc de Triomf.
On the 3rd day I was already without a bus and went more relaxed - Park Guell with Gaudi's house, Casa Batllo, Museo Picasso and Cathedral with the Gothic quarter.
It turned out that it is best to buy souvenirs in shops located on narrow, not centrally located, streets on the outskirts of the Picasso Museum. You can risk buying magnets in Park Gü ell for 1 euro illegally from blacks, you can buy them in tourist shops for 3-4 euros. We got 1.7 for the accommodating Arabs. They always like to offer in batches, in the spirit of 5 by 10. I had to make them a counter offer.
You can look into El Corte Igles. There is a whole department with souvenirs with prices 2 times cheaper than in souvenir shops (but not among the Arabs! ).
About the sights in one line will not work, so I will post the descriptions separately.
Having bitten off a piece of such an immense pie as Barcelona, it was time to move on. Since we arrived in Barcelona by train to the Barcelona-Saints station, we still had to look for the bus station to leave it. Bus arteries lead in different directions from the Estacio del Nord station. The nearest metro station is Arc de Triomf. And it's 300 meters from there.
To buy tickets, you need to enter the bus station building from the side of the bus piers. But inside, attention, there are a lot of cash desks, each of which sells tickets of a certain company and for a certain direction, and not like we have all the tickets in one box office. Take a good look around or ask.
Of course, I didn't want to leave Barcelona. For all our days of conquering the heights of modernism and photographing the exhibits of the historical heritage of the city, there was no time to be alone and feel its taste on the lips. Barcelona gave a sip of a magical drink from a bottle of charm, and did not allow to quench their thirst and curiosity. For this city, 5 days is not enough. Our curiosity during this period was satisfied as well as a hungry lion with 3 smoked sausages. Barcelona is a city where you can return again and again, finding new facets and hidden corners in it.
