Catalonia and Andorra Recap

The one good thing about this quarantine is that we are finally able to catch up on our blog. It's nice reliving these moments since we don't know when we will be able to travel again. So here is a recap of our time in Spain.

We arrived to Barcelona around 10:00am. Luckily our hotel had a room ready for us, so we checked into Acta Mimic Hotel and were able to shower and freshen up before hitting the town.

Our first stop was the Sagrada Familia, the famous church that we were only able to visit from the outside last time. The inside was absolutely amazing. It is one of the few sites we have seen that left us both truly speechless. The way the light streams into the church through the stained glass windows and bathes everything in a rainbow of colors is absolutely breathtaking. It is quite different from many of the other cathedrals in Europe with their ornate interiors that still feel dark and cold. The Sagrada Familia is not ornately decorated because the structure itself is art.

We had also booked a tour up into one of the towers. Honestly, that part was a little underwhelming after the beauty inside. It did offer great views of Barcelona from up there though. Luckily they have an elevator to take you to the top, the narrow spiral staircase absolutely killed our legs on the descent though.

After the tour, we did the Spanish thing and grabbed some tapas and drinks before heading back to our hotel for a siesta.

After resting up, we went to a sports bar called Belushi's to watch the Kansas City Chiefs' playoff game. It was a very interesting environment with expats, locals, and tourists alike.

We were very excited after the Chiefs came back and won the game, but because it was late and the subways weren't running, we caught a car back to our hotel via "I'm free" (an Uber-like app for taxis).

The next morning we had a tour that included a visit to Montserrat and a stop for wine tasting. Montserrat is a famous holy site and monastery. The tour was great because it gave us some of our own time to explore on our own.

We went in the cathedral and got to look around at all the chandeliers that are donated by different groups from around the world, and got to see the famous boys choir perform.

One of the things that Montserrat is probably best known for is the "Black Madonna" statue. The line to go up and touch it was quite long, so we didn't do that and only saw it from afar.

After Montserrat we headed to a winery for some tapas and wine samples. They grow a very rare grape at that vineyard called Picapoll Negre. We also went up into the winery's tower for some great views including Montserrat from afar.

Once we got back to Barcelona, we walked through the Boqueria market. We had gotten just a little taste of the market on our last visit and knew that we wanted to see more. Unfortunately it was late in the day and not all the stalls were open, but we were able to try some various meats and nuts from the shops.

Then we headed to Carrer de Blai for some pinxos, lots of cava, and some creme de Catalan. Pinxos are similar to tapas. This neighborhood includes dozens of pinxo restaurants that you can walk into, grab a few items off of the counter and pay for what you eat based on the color of the skewer of the dish.

The next day we headed north on a Salvador Dali tour. The first stop was the town of Figueres where the Dail museum, his life's work, is located. The museum is a giant art piece in itself and houses many of his unique masterworks. The building, art, and every decorative choice has Dali's stamp on it. Visiting this museum was a big part of why we wanted to return to Spain. We've been fans of Dali since we visited the Dali museum in St Petersburg years ago. Enjoy the pics of some of our favorite parts of the museum below.

The next stop was the beachside town of Cadaques where Dali spent much of his time. We had lunch in the town and explored the seaside streets. It is a picturesque village that gave us Grecian vibes.

We visited the site of one of Dali's paintings in Cadaques.

We even played fetch on the beach with a very friendly dog.

The last stop on the tour was Dali's former home at Port Lligat. It is usually open as a museum but was closed so they could make some repairs in the off-season, so we only toured the outside.

Then we headed back to Barcelona and ate suckling pig for dinner (we'll spare you that picture). We bought a bottle of wine on our way home and went up to the the rooftop terrace of our hotel for some nighttime views. Did we mention that our hotel was mime themed?

The next morning we had a very early start because we had a lot of ground to cover...three countries in one day actually. We saw the sun rise over the mountains from our bus, the scenery was quite beautiful. The first stop was a medieval Catalonian village called Baga.

From there we headed to France to a spa town called Ax-les-Thermes. We had more time there to explore on our own including some time for a bite to eat. We were surprisingly disappointed with the french onion soup, but the wine was good.

Then we headed to the tiny country of Andorra. The views from the bus were great, but they also made several stops at the most scenic points for some great photos.

Then we headed into the city, Andorra La Vella and saw a few of the sites including the"melting clock" statue by Salvador Dali.

We opted for a bite to eat and decided on a tapas place. It was really great food, and we had some of the best service of the whole trip. After the long drive back to Barcelona, we decided to visit a restaurant that our tour guide had recommended. The food was quite good there as well. We of course at patatas bravas, which is a very common dish of fried potatoes and spicy aioli. One of our favorite dishes was eggplant sliced very thing and fried and topped with goat cheese.

For our last day in Barcelona, we tried to fit in all the last sites we hadn't yet seen. The first stop was Park Guell, designed by famous architect Gaudi who also designed Sagrada Familia. It is quite different than Sagrada Familia but still very interesting and beautiful and the weather was perfect for a stroll in the park.

After leaving Park Guell, we took a bit of a walk and decided to pop in a little cafe to warm up and have some churros and hot chocolate.

From there we headed to the beach and walked around a bit. We even took our shoes off and dipped our feet in the very cold Mediterranean sea. We found a restaurant on the water to have lunch. They had some of the best olives we've ever had along with some delicious calamari and paella.

We left the beach and headed to Casa Batllo, another architectural masterpiece from Antoni Gaudi. We weren't sure if it was going to be worth the steep entrance fee, but it totally was. It was beautiful in a very different way than Sagrada Familia. It had a more intimate feeling since it was designed as a private residence.

From there we walked through the Gothic Quarter with plans to head to the Picasso Museum. We were told they have free admission on Thursday evenings. What we didn't know was that you still need to get tickets in advance. By the time we got there, it was completely sold out for the night.

Instead, we decided to head back to the Sagrada Familia to take in the stunning exterior in the evening light. It definitely gave a different perspective.

When were were done, we were hungry and opted for a simple slice of pizza. Then we hit up a little cafe for some wine and dessert afterward. Then we headed back to our hotel to pack up to head to Morocco.