This trip was taken on January 2023. I originally had planned this Spain trip back in 2019 with flights, hotels, and activities booked for March 2020. Ultimately the trip did not pan out… for some reason. (get it? pan as in pandemic). I started the trip in Frankfurt. And followed it with a couple days in Madrid before arriving in Barcelona.
The three hours train ride was nice. Had a whole town to myself. Hilton Barcelona was ok. Wouldn’t recommend it for first timers. It’s about 20mins from the city center and Sagrada Familia, but close to metro station and bus stops. Learned I had access to Exec Lounge which served the same food the whole time I was there. The ladies working there were really nice, but the other staff weren’t so helpful. I didn’t take any pictures of the hotel, because it was fairly basic.
On my first day at Barcelona, I went to the beach as a shoobie, ate some tasty tapas at Cervecería Catalana and convinced some Filipino Aunties that I was in Pinoy Big Brother season 2, then took shrooms during the Casa Mila tour.
To be honest, the main reason I took this trip was to get a tattoo by Kike Esteras. Remember how I said this trip was planned for March 2020? Yeah, I had booked a session back then too. I was going through old emails and saw our correspondences. Thought, let me ask if they remember me and asked if the deposit was still good. Sure enough, they said it was! I was lucky I was able to book flights and hotels at a fairly last minute planning. La Sagrada Familia was walking distance from Black Ship Tattoo, so I planned to get a little righteous before sinning on my body. I had booked a tour to climb up the roof, but it was deemed too windy and wet. Another reason to com back.
After about 3 hours getting stabbed, I was starving. I took bus 6 to Bo de B to for a delicious sandwich, it is cash only. There was a little wait to order the sandwich but it was pretty fast. I also recommend ordering their mint tea. Nearby the restaurant is Paradiso, named the #1 bar in the world by Forbes in 2022. I got there right as they opened so the wait wasn’t too long. The bartenders put on a show, at times it felt like that Eagleton bar scene in the Parks and Rec. Though the cloud drink was tasty. btw, I know you aren’t supposed to drink alcohol after getting a tattoo, but you don’t pass by the #1 bar in the world and not get a drink.
The next day I took a daytrip to the medieval town Girona. This was the location of a few Braavos scenes from Game of Thrones scenes. I spent a whole day here (because I was cheap and bought non-flexible ticket) but you could see all the sites in a few hours. It is a small town and it was winter, so many of the businesses were closed.
For breakfast I ate a has a local dish called xuxio, a deep-fried pastry with cream inside, from Casamoner. For lunch, I had the menu del dia, which is set menu of three courses, from 8de7.
After killing time playing pool with a local at Marzan Sport Bar, I took a train back get drinks at Sips and Two Schmucks. These two bars were listed in Forbes Top 50 bars as well. Getting into Sips was a bit frustrating. It seemed like they didn’t want to give up a seat or table to a single person so the host sat multiple parties before me. I waited another 10 or so minutes until this American couple got to the line and asked if I could join them since I kept getting skipped. Shout out to Nicole and Richard. They were really cool a and we found out that we were on the same Casa Mila tour a couple days before. (coincidentally, they are in the picture above). We shared our love for Anthony Bourdain and the highly recommended a place called Quimet y Quimet. After drinking with them I walked over to Two Schmucks. It had a completely different vibe that Paradiso and Sips, it had more of a dive bar feel with hip-hop playing and a more casual crowd.
I was exhausted on my last day and had to force myself to get out of the hotel. I had planned to visit Parc Guell and then Turó de la Rovira. But I regretfully didn’t. Instead I did some pasalubong shopping then ate the rest of the day. I ate at Mercado de La Boqueria, Pincho.J, and Quimet y Quimet. Here is a photo dump of what I ate on just the last day. It was full-filling day though I do wish that I had followed through with my initial plans. A trip to Barcelona doesn’t feel complete without Parc Guell. Well, I guess that’s another reason to come back.
Kicking Twigs 
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