“If Paris is the wife, then Barcelona is the mistress” 

This is how Barcelona was introduced to us by our tour guide.

Today being our first “official” day in Barcelona, we thought we would go on a free Sandermans NewBarcelona walking tour. It’s safe to say we are glad we did! Our wonderful tour guide told us tales about the incredibly rich history and culture of Barcelona as we wandered mainly around the Gothic Quarter of town. We were captivated by the “mistakes” (including turning down Christopher Columbus) that were made throughout Barcelona’s past making it the cosmopolitan, constantly changing city that it is today! 

We wandered past the Barcelona Cathedral, King Martin’s Watchtower, the El Born District, Santa María del Mar, the Roman Necropolis, Plaça Nova, the Roman ruins and the oldest (non-operational) Jewish synagogue – just to name a few! Along the way we learnt about Wilfred the Hairy – a heroic Catalan knight, Saint George and his dragon slaying ways, the 13 (church girl), Picasso in Barcelona (and his many ladies), George Orwell square,  The Council of One Hundred, Catalan national identity, The Olympic legacy, The Spanish Civil War and much much more! Perhaps not-so-surprisingly we discovered just how important the Barcelona football team is and gained a bit more knowledge into their slogan “More than just a club”. During the reign in Francisco Franco, football matches was one of the only times the people of Barcelona could freely rebel as Franco supporter Madrid. The Barcelona football team also helped to pay for the reconstruction on the stain glass windows in Stana Maria deal Mar, and as thanks, have their logo in one of the stain glass windows! Brings a whole new means to “football is religion”!

After the tour concluded our guide Filipa was lovely enough to take us and a few other members of our tour to Tapas Bar Pulperia for el menu del dia i.e. “menu of the day” – pretty much a menu from 12-3 where you get 2 main courses, a drink and a desert for ~10-25 euros (and it was delicious). It was nice to sit, chat, have banter with the waiters as we all tried to figure out exactly what some translations would be and enjoy some good food! After attempting (and failing due to the insane lines) to go to the Picasso museum, we tried to find where we had to go to ride the cable car which offered resplendent views of Barcelona and the harbor. Tried being the key word. Unfortunately when trying to ask for directions we were misunderstood and ended up at a apparently the second cable car in Barcelona. Luckily for us it just so happened to be at Parc de Montjuïc. We emerged for the metro (incredibly confused as to our location) to a beautiful view of the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya-MNAC. After running around and taking a million photos, re-orientating ourselves and finding some shade (man it can be hot!) we headed off through the park to do some exploring. We found lush greenery, cute little ponds, were senenaded with some jazz tunes and a guy dancing alone to …. I think only he knew what. When we did ACTUALLY find the cable car there was a super long wait (anyone sensing a pattern here about Barcelona and their lines???) so we sat for a while and enjoyed the beautiful view before making our decent down through the park for our next adventure – tapas and flamenco!

We jumped on board the suggestion of the Sandermans Tapas Experience – ¡¿Vamos de tapas?! With the charming Eric at our side, we walked to three bars in the Barceloneta and El Born districts, the heart of the city, and enjoyed a selection of the most popular tapas in the country: patatas bravas, chorizo criollo, pan amb tomaquet, pintxos and croquetas de jamón (nomnomnom). Not only that, we mastered the art of drinking as Catalans do using a porrón (a traditional wine pitcher)! After eating (and drinking) our fill we rushed in the rain (I mean really weather – pick one and stick to it) to our flamenco show. We attended “Tarantos – the oldest flamenco tabla on in Barcelona”. Now as none of us had seen a flamenco show before, we were not exactly sure what to expect. To summarise it in two words, I would say it’s is both beautiful and aggressive. They had incredible, lighting-fast footwork; the cante (singing) and toque (guitar playing) was sensual; and the jaleo (vocalizations), palmas (handclapping) and pitos (finger snapping) all added to the terrific atmosphere! I would recommend a show to anyone! If only I didn’t get a blood nose half way through the night would have been perfect! Until tomorrow Barcelona…