Saturday
So the Thorpe clan (minus Megan) arrive in Barcelona Saturday afternoon and after meeting them at the airport we head to the hotel. After a quick unpack/organize at the hotel, we take a stroll around the Gracia neighborhood (where I live) and head down Passieg de Gracia towards Placa Catalunya. After showing them the layout of Placa Catalunya we head down Las Ramblas towards the Boqueria- a huge open market with every fruit, vegetable, fish, meat, candy, etc. one could ever imagine. After we had endured as much fish-stench as we could handle, we continued down Las Ramblas and took in the sites of the human statues and art vendors that line the populated street. When new finally reached the water, we watched the street vendors on the port. Since they are illegal selling their goods, they flee as soon as the cops get near. They’ve come up with a system to quickly gather up their product in order to avoid arrest. It’s actually a pretty funny scene to watch. After strolling up and down the boardwalk to the mall, we headed back and decided to take a boat tour of the coast. The boat took us from the Maremagnum mall all the way up past the Olympic Village. After about an hour we headed back to the port and docked. It was definitely neat to see the coastline from a different angle than I had seen before and nice to give the fam a brief idea of how the city is laid out. Since they we pretty exhausted from the travel day (and Dad was sick) so we decided to grab some dinner. I took them to a restaurant called Qu Qu for some tapas. After dinner we called it a night and took the metro back to the hotel.
Sunday
Sunday morning I met them at the hotel to establish a game plan for the day. Dad really felt awful and unfortunately couldn’t make it out for the day. So Mom and Tommy and I headed out. Since it was Palm Sunday there was a big Mass and celebration down at the Cathedral so we made our way down to see what it was all about. On our walk down, we were surprised to see that there was a HUGE marathon being held in the El Born neighborhood. It was too bad that Dad couldn’t be there because he probably would’ve jumped in and joined them. Down at the Cathedral we saw hoards of people with the most elaborately woven palms. We watched a little bit of the Mass and went in to see the inside of the Cathedral. When we got back outside there was a procession down into the square for another Palm Sunday Mass. After watching a little bit of the parade, we decided to go check out Monjuic, the highest point in the city. I had gone to the Olympic Museum for my Sports & Society class and loved it, so I thought Tommy would enjoy it too. We checked out the Museum, but unfortunately the stadium had already closed for the day, so we headed back down to find some lunch. We cabbed down to Port Vell to grab some lunch down on the beach. After lunch we walked back over to the mall on the Port and did a little shopping. Though unsuccessful at the mall, it is still so cool to shop in an open air mall overlooking the ocean. We then headed back to the hotel to check on Dad. He was in the same position we had left him in that morning so we decided to continue on without him. I took them over to the Arc de Triumph area and we walked around the Park de Citudella. To wrap up the day we tried to grab dinner at a couple of my favorite spots but they were all closed because of the holiday! So we ended up at a little Lebanese restaurant/café/pizzeria across from my apartment. After dinner, Mom & Tommy headed back to the hotel and I went home, agreeing to meet them in the morning.
Monday
Luckily, Monday morning Dad felt better and we all boarded the metro to go to the Barcelona Soccer Stadium- Camp Nou. It is an awesome tour that not only takes people through the stadium but also through the museum of the history of the Barca futbol club. After the tour I took them to lunch at one of my frequently visited lunch spots- the Bagel Shop (the only one in Barcelona). We then went to the candy store Happy Pills to get some presents to bring home. The concept of Happy Pills is that the candy is the medicine. So people fill up prescription-like bottle with different types of gummies, chocolates, nuts, etc and then pick out a prescription sticker to put on the front of the bottle. I then took them to IES Barcelona center to show them where I go to school. Lucky for us, one of my favorite teachers, Dawn, was in the office making emergency phone calls trying to track down everyone from the program visiting Italy for Spring Break (because of the Earthquakes there). After chatting with Dawn for awhile, we decided to re-visit Monjuic, but a different way this time. From the metro stop at the bottom of Monjuic, we took a funicular cable car up and then got into a gondola up to the Castle on top. We took about a million pictures from the top and strolled down to check out the Olympic Stadium which was open. Since we were feeling inspired by all the Olympic information, I then took them down to the Olympic Village. This is where a lot of the big clubs are as well as a beautiful beach. We walked along the beach for a while before heading back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. Tess joined us for dinner at a restaurant called Attic overlooking Las Ramblas. After a delicious dinner we headed to a Flamenco show in Placa Reial.
Tuesday
Tuesday we drove. We rented a car from the Barcelona airport and drove and drove—in the rain. We drove up Costa Brava and stopped in Figueres to check out the Dali Museum. We grabbed a quick lunch and stood in line (still in the rain) waiting to buy tickets to the museum. Though we waited forever and ever, the Dali Museum ended up being really really cool. Let’s just say Dali must have ben quite the character. After a couple hours in the museum, we got back in the car and headed towards our hotel. Hotel Aguia Blava was right on a cliff overlooking the ocean. The rocks and water was absolutely breathtaking. And even though it wasn’t warm enough to swim or go in the water, I would definitely recommend this hotel to anyone looking for an absolutely gorgeous place to stay on Costa Brava.
Wednesday
Wednesday we loaded our stuff back in the car and drove and drove and drove some more. We literally drove for the entire day. LOTS of family time in the car. After a horrible lunch stop, Mom decided to take the wheel. Lets just say it was quite the interesting ride. We finally arrived in San Sebastian around 8pm and then finally found our hotel- Hotel Nize after circling the city for a half hour or so. We walked around the old city for a little bit and grabbed some dinner before heading back to the hotel.
Thursday
Since the funicular up to Montjuic had been so cool, we decided to take another one up to the highest point in San Sebastian. On the way I introduced Dad to café con leche which he continued to guzzle down the rest of the trip. We finally found the funicular and took it up to the top. Once we were up to the top we saw that an amusement park had been built up there, along with paths circling the top. We took lots and lots of pictures while taking in the sites and trying some homemade potato chips before we decided to head back down. The rest of the day we spent strolling along the beach/boardwalk and around the old town. We ended the afternoon by laying in the sun (and me getting nicely sunburnt).
For dinner we attempted to go to some Tapas bars but everyplace we found was a little too interesting for our tastes- lots of cheese and seafood combos, a no go for Tommy, Mom & I. Sorry Dad! We ended up eating at a little pizza/pasta joint in our hotel and called it a night.
Friday
We woke up to rain on Friday and decided to head back to Barcelona earlier than we had initially planned. So we drove and drove some more. Luckily the ride back to Barcelona was shorter than the drive from Costa Brava so we ended back in Barcelona in the late afternoon. We checked into our hotel on Las Ramblas to find out that we hadn’t booked 2 rooms of 2 but rather one room with four beds- our Madeleine bedroom we called it. We headed out to dinner to find another procession to the Cathedral- this one for Good Friday. Since we’d done some food experimenting that week we decided to cop out and go for some good old American grub at the Hard Rock Café in Placa Catalunya. Obviously we were stuffed after the full meal and we made our way to see the Magic Fountain at Montjuic. At night, Montjuic puts on a light show to music that is absolutely amazing. We finished off the night walking around Las Ramblas watching the street performers and looking for some KinderBueno gelato for Tommy (we were unsuccessful).
Saturday
For their last day in Barcelona we headed for all the sites. First we headed up to Park Guell- the Gaudi park that overlooks the city. After wandering around for an hour or so in the sun we headed back down to visit the Gaudi church- the Sagrada Familia. We opted against taking the tour and instead went to the Picasso museum in the Born neighborhood. It was an awesome museum that featured most of Gaudi’s work while he was living in various parts of Spain, including Barcelona. After the museum we grabbed some lunch at a great little bar/restaurant where I had celebrated my 21st birthday called Princesa 23. Then we headed to the Chocolate Museum to buys some presents for people back home. After stopping for a little bit at the hotel we headed over to my apartment to have dinner with my host family. It was a great dinner and funny to watch everyone try to communicate in a mixed Spanglish but overall it went really well. Dinner went pretty late and since they had an early flight to catch in the morning, we headed back to the hotel to get some sleep.
I sent them off to their airport early Sunday morning. It was great having the fam in town and show them around the city. Costa Brava and San Sebastian were both beautiful and would definitely recommend them to anyone looking for a gorgeous vacation spot in Spain.
more soon! molly
So the Thorpe clan (minus Megan) arrive in Barcelona Saturday afternoon and after meeting them at the airport we head to the hotel. After a quick unpack/organize at the hotel, we take a stroll around the Gracia neighborhood (where I live) and head down Passieg de Gracia towards Placa Catalunya. After showing them the layout of Placa Catalunya we head down Las Ramblas towards the Boqueria- a huge open market with every fruit, vegetable, fish, meat, candy, etc. one could ever imagine. After we had endured as much fish-stench as we could handle, we continued down Las Ramblas and took in the sites of the human statues and art vendors that line the populated street. When new finally reached the water, we watched the street vendors on the port. Since they are illegal selling their goods, they flee as soon as the cops get near. They’ve come up with a system to quickly gather up their product in order to avoid arrest. It’s actually a pretty funny scene to watch. After strolling up and down the boardwalk to the mall, we headed back and decided to take a boat tour of the coast. The boat took us from the Maremagnum mall all the way up past the Olympic Village. After about an hour we headed back to the port and docked. It was definitely neat to see the coastline from a different angle than I had seen before and nice to give the fam a brief idea of how the city is laid out. Since they we pretty exhausted from the travel day (and Dad was sick) so we decided to grab some dinner. I took them to a restaurant called Qu Qu for some tapas. After dinner we called it a night and took the metro back to the hotel.
Sunday
Sunday morning I met them at the hotel to establish a game plan for the day. Dad really felt awful and unfortunately couldn’t make it out for the day. So Mom and Tommy and I headed out. Since it was Palm Sunday there was a big Mass and celebration down at the Cathedral so we made our way down to see what it was all about. On our walk down, we were surprised to see that there was a HUGE marathon being held in the El Born neighborhood. It was too bad that Dad couldn’t be there because he probably would’ve jumped in and joined them. Down at the Cathedral we saw hoards of people with the most elaborately woven palms. We watched a little bit of the Mass and went in to see the inside of the Cathedral. When we got back outside there was a procession down into the square for another Palm Sunday Mass. After watching a little bit of the parade, we decided to go check out Monjuic, the highest point in the city. I had gone to the Olympic Museum for my Sports & Society class and loved it, so I thought Tommy would enjoy it too. We checked out the Museum, but unfortunately the stadium had already closed for the day, so we headed back down to find some lunch. We cabbed down to Port Vell to grab some lunch down on the beach. After lunch we walked back over to the mall on the Port and did a little shopping. Though unsuccessful at the mall, it is still so cool to shop in an open air mall overlooking the ocean. We then headed back to the hotel to check on Dad. He was in the same position we had left him in that morning so we decided to continue on without him. I took them over to the Arc de Triumph area and we walked around the Park de Citudella. To wrap up the day we tried to grab dinner at a couple of my favorite spots but they were all closed because of the holiday! So we ended up at a little Lebanese restaurant/café/pizzeria across from my apartment. After dinner, Mom & Tommy headed back to the hotel and I went home, agreeing to meet them in the morning.
Monday
Luckily, Monday morning Dad felt better and we all boarded the metro to go to the Barcelona Soccer Stadium- Camp Nou. It is an awesome tour that not only takes people through the stadium but also through the museum of the history of the Barca futbol club. After the tour I took them to lunch at one of my frequently visited lunch spots- the Bagel Shop (the only one in Barcelona). We then went to the candy store Happy Pills to get some presents to bring home. The concept of Happy Pills is that the candy is the medicine. So people fill up prescription-like bottle with different types of gummies, chocolates, nuts, etc and then pick out a prescription sticker to put on the front of the bottle. I then took them to IES Barcelona center to show them where I go to school. Lucky for us, one of my favorite teachers, Dawn, was in the office making emergency phone calls trying to track down everyone from the program visiting Italy for Spring Break (because of the Earthquakes there). After chatting with Dawn for awhile, we decided to re-visit Monjuic, but a different way this time. From the metro stop at the bottom of Monjuic, we took a funicular cable car up and then got into a gondola up to the Castle on top. We took about a million pictures from the top and strolled down to check out the Olympic Stadium which was open. Since we were feeling inspired by all the Olympic information, I then took them down to the Olympic Village. This is where a lot of the big clubs are as well as a beautiful beach. We walked along the beach for a while before heading back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. Tess joined us for dinner at a restaurant called Attic overlooking Las Ramblas. After a delicious dinner we headed to a Flamenco show in Placa Reial.
Tuesday
Tuesday we drove. We rented a car from the Barcelona airport and drove and drove—in the rain. We drove up Costa Brava and stopped in Figueres to check out the Dali Museum. We grabbed a quick lunch and stood in line (still in the rain) waiting to buy tickets to the museum. Though we waited forever and ever, the Dali Museum ended up being really really cool. Let’s just say Dali must have ben quite the character. After a couple hours in the museum, we got back in the car and headed towards our hotel. Hotel Aguia Blava was right on a cliff overlooking the ocean. The rocks and water was absolutely breathtaking. And even though it wasn’t warm enough to swim or go in the water, I would definitely recommend this hotel to anyone looking for an absolutely gorgeous place to stay on Costa Brava.
Wednesday
Wednesday we loaded our stuff back in the car and drove and drove and drove some more. We literally drove for the entire day. LOTS of family time in the car. After a horrible lunch stop, Mom decided to take the wheel. Lets just say it was quite the interesting ride. We finally arrived in San Sebastian around 8pm and then finally found our hotel- Hotel Nize after circling the city for a half hour or so. We walked around the old city for a little bit and grabbed some dinner before heading back to the hotel.
Thursday
Since the funicular up to Montjuic had been so cool, we decided to take another one up to the highest point in San Sebastian. On the way I introduced Dad to café con leche which he continued to guzzle down the rest of the trip. We finally found the funicular and took it up to the top. Once we were up to the top we saw that an amusement park had been built up there, along with paths circling the top. We took lots and lots of pictures while taking in the sites and trying some homemade potato chips before we decided to head back down. The rest of the day we spent strolling along the beach/boardwalk and around the old town. We ended the afternoon by laying in the sun (and me getting nicely sunburnt).
For dinner we attempted to go to some Tapas bars but everyplace we found was a little too interesting for our tastes- lots of cheese and seafood combos, a no go for Tommy, Mom & I. Sorry Dad! We ended up eating at a little pizza/pasta joint in our hotel and called it a night.
Friday
We woke up to rain on Friday and decided to head back to Barcelona earlier than we had initially planned. So we drove and drove some more. Luckily the ride back to Barcelona was shorter than the drive from Costa Brava so we ended back in Barcelona in the late afternoon. We checked into our hotel on Las Ramblas to find out that we hadn’t booked 2 rooms of 2 but rather one room with four beds- our Madeleine bedroom we called it. We headed out to dinner to find another procession to the Cathedral- this one for Good Friday. Since we’d done some food experimenting that week we decided to cop out and go for some good old American grub at the Hard Rock Café in Placa Catalunya. Obviously we were stuffed after the full meal and we made our way to see the Magic Fountain at Montjuic. At night, Montjuic puts on a light show to music that is absolutely amazing. We finished off the night walking around Las Ramblas watching the street performers and looking for some KinderBueno gelato for Tommy (we were unsuccessful).
Saturday
For their last day in Barcelona we headed for all the sites. First we headed up to Park Guell- the Gaudi park that overlooks the city. After wandering around for an hour or so in the sun we headed back down to visit the Gaudi church- the Sagrada Familia. We opted against taking the tour and instead went to the Picasso museum in the Born neighborhood. It was an awesome museum that featured most of Gaudi’s work while he was living in various parts of Spain, including Barcelona. After the museum we grabbed some lunch at a great little bar/restaurant where I had celebrated my 21st birthday called Princesa 23. Then we headed to the Chocolate Museum to buys some presents for people back home. After stopping for a little bit at the hotel we headed over to my apartment to have dinner with my host family. It was a great dinner and funny to watch everyone try to communicate in a mixed Spanglish but overall it went really well. Dinner went pretty late and since they had an early flight to catch in the morning, we headed back to the hotel to get some sleep.
I sent them off to their airport early Sunday morning. It was great having the fam in town and show them around the city. Costa Brava and San Sebastian were both beautiful and would definitely recommend them to anyone looking for a gorgeous vacation spot in Spain.
more soon! molly
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