Apologies for the complete lack of blog posts over the last two weeks. I've been on a couple of lovely trips away, first stop was one of my favourite cities Barcelona, hence this blog post! I have been many times to stay with a friend who lives just
south, but have never stayed in the city centre itself. This time however, we
had four nights staying with our friend by the beach and one night in a five-star hotel in the middle of the city to look forward
to!
Barcelona: the beach
We stayed with a friend in Castelldefels, a small town about 20km south of Barcelona city centre. I really love this place as it's right on the beach with loads of great restaurants, but you're still only 20 minutes on the bus into Barcelona. The promenade by the beach runs all the way into the town and is a great walk to do if you're feeling energetic (we did the walk a few times to burn off all the yummy food we ended up eating!), with lots of restaurants and bars lining the way. This time of year the beach is virtually empty, but come July/August it is rammed as many Catalans have their weekend/holiday homes here (including supposedly a certian Lionel Messi - see house below).
Barcelona: the city
We spent three days walking around the city and loved every minute
of it. As we’ve both been before and done the usual tourist bus tour, we
decided to just get lost in the city. So with no map we set off on foot.
I am not keen on La Rambla – it is worth going on
your first visit to the city, but it’s so touristy and very expensive to
eat
and drink. I do love the areas surrounding it though, from Plaça
Catalunya at
the top to the Barri Gotic (Gothic Quarter) and the Born District to the
East. Our
hotel was situated between the Barri Gotic and the Born District so
perfect for
getting lost in all the tiny streets and alleyways in these areas. This
is
where you will find all the cheap and bustling tapas bars and bodegas
where
most of the patrons are Spanish. THIS is my idea of Spain, not the
tourist bits
selling English breakfast. We stumbled upon so many beautiful apartment buildings, churches and music halls as well.
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The amazing Palau Música Catalana.
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This area also has lovely boutique clothes shops, as well as the usual names you may be familiar with (Zara, Mango and Massimo Dutti anyone?!). And the foodie shops are to die for...
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| Hams! |
Another great place to go (which is slightly touristy so apologies) is the Plaça Reial. Most of the bars and restaurants aren't
great, but we found a fantastic bar which did amazing tapas called
Ocaña. This place is relatively new and we knew we were in a good place
as it was filled with Spanish, and a few Brits (not the Fosters-swilling stag types). It was brilliant value
for money as well - for €35 we had five tapas, bread, 2 glasses of wine,
3 beers and 2 coffees.
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| Plaça Reial. |
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| Me and the lovely wine at Ocaña. |
Our hotel
We received a Mr & Mrs Smith hotel voucher from one of
our amazing friends as a wedding gift, and as I am always drooling at
the hotels on their website I was very excited to actually stay in one! As we
were already planning a trip to Barcelona for a few
days, we thought we’d use the voucher to splash out on a hotel in the city
centre for our last night. I scoured the Mr & Mrs Smith website for weeks,
procrastinating over which of the nine available hotels we should stay in. A
week before we were due to leave, this list had been reduced to three as rooms
began to sell out. So I finally decided on the Ohla Hotel on the Via Laietana, and I made the right choice...
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| Side of the hotel which had what I thought looked like eyes stuck to it. |
Now I rarely get to stay in five-star hotels (I think maybe
twice in my entire life), but I do know this type of service is standard when you’re
paying upwards of £200 for a room. However, the service at the Ohla Hotel was
immense. From the moment we arrived the concierge were delightful, first
greeting us in Spanish and then quickly realising when I spoke in pigeon
Spanish that they should probably speak to us in English. Our room was fab – I had
upgraded to a Design room, which I knew had a shower in the middle of the room,
but hadn't divulged this information to the other half (aren’t I mean?!).
I know this isn't to everyone's taste, but I think it's a great design concept as
it made the room seem really spacious and open-plan. I would definitely
recommend spending the extra £20 for a Design room as it was much bigger than
the standard with great views over the bustling street (but very quiet as the
floor to ceiling windows were double glazed). Thanks to Mr & Mrs Smith we
also had a complimentary bottle of Cava chilling on arrival...
For dinner we decided to eat in a restaurant local to the
hotel, as the rain was lashing down by the evening. We started in the Ohla
cocktail bar though, and treated ourselves to a cocktail each (12 euros so not
too extortionate if you’re used to London prices). I had a vodka martini, which
I thought would just be delivered to our table already poured. How wrong I was. With Steve
sniggering in the corner, the lovely bartender came over wearing a pair of white gloves with a bottle of
vodka, lemon, a martini glass and a perfume bottle. Everyone in the bar had turned round to look as the bartender began to explain
to me that the vodka was kept at -62 degrees (how did he know I don’t have my vodka any other
way?!) and that the vermouth was kept in the perfume bottle so he could spritz the
glass before adding the vodka. I must admit I was slightly embarrassed by this
point, but when I actually tasted the martini it was all worth it! It was
pretty special. Steve had a gin and tonic which came with lemongrass and
grapefruit and tasted delicious, but was slightly less theatrical than mine(!).
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| The hotel bar. |
We also went back to the bar after dinner as we
just wanted a brandy and coffee to finish off the evening (it was past
midnight by then as we were doing dinner Spanish-style at 10pm). The
bartender was brilliant yet again as the coffee machine had been turned
off, but he disappeared and returned 10 minutes later with two espressos
and massive glasses of the most delicious Spanish brandy.
Breakfast at the hotel was also
pretty special. It was a buffet as is usual in Spanish hotels; what isn’t usual
though is to have serve-yourself Cava on the buffet. Unfortunately I was
feeling slightly worse for wear after our night out so couldn’t really face
Cava at 10am! Your eggs are cooked to order at the buffet (I had an omelette
with potatoes and caramelised onion; Steve had omelette with crispy bacon), and
there is the usual to choose from: pastries, fruit, toast, cured meats,
manchego cheese, etc.
So even if you've been before, I'd recommend Barcelona again in a heartbeat. If you have been before, forget the map and tourist guide and just get lost in the city. I have been a number of times, but still always find something new to explore or do. And if you can afford to splash out for a night or two, you've got to check out the Ohla Hotel, even if it's just for the pretty amazing cocktails!
Details
Ohla Hotel, 49 Via Laietana, 08003 Barcelona. www.ohlahotel.com/en
Ocaña, 13-15 Plaça Reial, 08002 Barcelona. www.ocana.cat/en
Mr & Mrs Smith www.mrandmrssmith.com
