Food Lovers Tour - Barcelona

On Valentine's evening me and Dima did something pretty special. No, not what your thinking - we went on a food tour of Barcelona! This was easily my favourite night and such good fun. We found this tour on tripadvisor and it was so highly rated we booked it straight away. 

First of all we met our guide Eduardo outside a Gaudi house, where he told us a little about it. We met the other people in our tour - there were three people from Yorkshire, three from America and two from Sweden. Ages ranged from 30-80 so we were a bit intimidated to be doing such an 'adult' thing but it was so much fun!  After introductions it was on to the first restaurant for wine and seafood tapas - please excuse the picture quality, the more wine I had the worse they get!

La Bodegueta had brilliant seafood - I especially loved the octopus (above). Me and Dima got to know some brilliant people from the UK - they had such interesting and varied stories to tell about their lives. 

Here we had some home made alcohol (!) which tasted a lot like JD and coke. Along with some of the best food ever - I fell head over heels for the artichokes (as I did everywhere, as a major fan) and the meats and cheeses were brilliant. 

Then it was on to Bardot, for the main bit of the tour. We were all stuffed already, and extremely merry! By this point we had all properly mingled and we had some really amazing conversations with people from all over the world. Also, by now we had consumed a lot of alcohol - it just kept coming, like a magical refilling Harry Potter cup, along with the food!

Chocolate Omelette!

The tour was meant to finish at 11, but we all were out in another really cool bar, Bloody Mary, until 2! It was such an amazing evening and one of the most memorable I've had. It reinforced a special lesson I'd learned whilst in Barcelona - spanish food is awesome. Seriously, every single thing I ate whether it was from a bakery, market stall or restaurant was of such incredible quality! 

I fell completely in love with Barcelona on this trip and am so determined to go back and live there for a while in September!

xx

Valentines in Barcelona

This year I had the bestest Valentines Day ever. Not only was I lucky enough to be in beautiful Barcelona with my wonderful boyfriend Dima, we also decided to hire a vespa for the day to zip around the city! 

It was definitely one of the most romantic things I have ever done - there was no feeling like relaxing on the back of the vespa, with the wind in your hair, just taking in the beauty and sights of Barcelona. Dima did all of the hard work of navigating round, and I spotted places that looked cool to stop in! 

First stop was Park Guell - another Gaudi masterpiece - which I absolutely loved. 

A very instagram-worthy place! Then we hopped back onto our vespa and scooted up the tibidabo mountain which had breathtaking views. When you're in the city, you can usually see the mountains with beautiful princess castles far in the distance, very disney-esque! 

We spent the rest of the day zipping around the different places on our GPS guide, just taking in the beauty around us. I made the best discovery of the trip though. Something about this place was calling me to stop the bike and go explore.. 

So off we got, and picked up some food in the Sarri district, until we came across it. The thing I often dream about and spend a large chunk of my life searching for, the perfect hot chocolate. 

This hot chocolate epitomises hot chocolate. It was like a soup-bowl of hot, creamy nutella which you literally had to scoop out with a spoon it was that thick. It was in L'obrador - if you go to Barcelona make sure you go there. Best thing I have ever had. 

Here are a few more pics from our exploring.. 

What is Valentines without roses?

It was such a beautiful, amazing day with such an incredible boy. It is our fifth Valentine's day together - time flies so fast! 

xx

Barcelona!

This Valentine's Day, I decided to be spontaneous and randomly book a trip to Barcelona for me and Dima. I don't think I have ever fallen in love with a city so much - I am so determined to go back there later in the year to stay for a while and work! It has the best bits of London and Cyprus, good food, sunshine, beaches and the city.

First up was La Sagrada Familia - the most insanely incredible place I have ever visited. The architecture just makes your jaw drop and leaves you staring up into the ceiling at every tiny detail. Dima loved it too.

 

This is quite literally the city of Gaudi and well deserved, his work is breathtaking!

We went up the Nativity Tower to see the views of Barcelona, which is absolutely massive!

We booked our tickets online (about 20 euros) and this saved us a long queue. The queue was at least an hour long on a random Friday in February, so I would dread to imagine it in high season. Definitely book ahead, and definitely go inside - it is way too stunning not to!

Next up was the market, which I'd heard a lot about. It didn't disappoint - it was huge and had every kind of food imaginable. The food in Barcelona was surprisingly awesome - I knew it was good but didn't expect every single thing we ate to be of such incredible quality. 

There was so much fresh sea food on offer - most of it still crawling about! 

But most featured, were the hundreds of fresh fruit cups and smoothies dotted around being sold for 1 euro. We didn't expect much for this price but the quality was AMAZING! 

We also grabbed some out-of-this-world oysters from one of the tapas bars inside the market, which all are serving up the fresh food around them. Most of the food places around the main tourist attractions are to be avoided, but these ones are great. 

I love this picture, the woman in the wheelchair was peeling peas for her daughter in the sunshine and looked really happy. 

Speaking of sunshine, I had missed the beach terribly from my past living in Cyprus and was so excited to go discover La Barceloneta beach! The sun was out and our jackets were off, and the beach was beautifully empty. 

Rejuvenating me to come back to this beach-less city!

I can only imagine how good it is in Summer, the water was so clear!

We ate a squid ink paella lunch overlooking the beautiful sea.

And what is a seaside trip without ice cream?!

 

Vioko did some pretty amazing gelato, and hot chocolate!

After a siesta, we went to Cientoocho restaurant for some of the best food I have ever had the pleasure of eating. With gigantic starters (as above), Dima obviously ordered three and we were stuffed by the main course. 

I am a massive fan of artichokes, and these were definitely the best I have ever ever ever had. Out came four  for a starter, each one bathed in olive oil and big chunks of pepper. Probably the best thing I ate in Barcelona. 

A steak of octopus starter! 

Dima went for a meaty main ,I went for fish. Both were excellent, despite how full we were!

Dima managed to fit a final dessert down, whilst I settled for a 'fruit mosaic'. 

A beautiful meal, they are definitely worth checking out! 

Quite a lot for our first day, more next time! 

xxx