Barcelona September 2014

The one thing I knew I needed to do was go to Sagrada Familia. I booked my tickets online which I would recommend you do as it will save you a lot of time on the day. Tickets are €14/£11/$18 and I chose the 9am slot, it's quite easy to get to Sagrada using the metro. I mistakenly got on the train instead of the metro and proceeded to get very lost. So I ended up getting a taxi from Placa Catalunya to Sagrada which took 10 minutes. I got to Sagrada at 8:40 and there was already a queue of possibly 60 people. At 9am they opened the doors and it's very beautiful and breathtaking inside. The architecture is amazing and my favourite part was the stained glass windows. 
After Sagrada I got the metro to Jaume which is close to the Barcelona Cathedral. You can get a one journey metro ticket or a 10 journey ticket for €10/£7.80/$12.80. I headed to a cafe opposite the Cathedral for a croissant and a coffee and walked around the side streets close to the Cathedral. One thing I must say about the service in restaurants and cafes in Barcelona is that it's terrible. Everything takes about a year, a year to be seated, to get the waiters attention and get the bill. I felt like dining and dashing half the time. This could be because I'm not Spanish or that a lot of places are short staffed or a combination of both, who knows. 
I then made my way to Las Ramblas and stumbled across a food market, Mercat de la Boquiera. There's a combination of meat, vegetables and seafood and some restaurants also. I bought some iberico and a glass of sangria when I stopped for a little break. I then headed to the bottom of 
Las Ramblas to the port where there are several boats and restaurants. 
I got the metro back to Catalunya for some lunch and met Alison as we decided to go to Montjuic park. Once you get there you can walk through the park, its quite hilly or take a cable car to the top. The car costs €10/£7.80/$12.80 for a return. At the top you can walk around the park and there is also a Montjuic castle. Entry to the castle is €5/£3.90/$6.40 but we didn't go in. From such a high point you can see the port of Barcelona where the cruise ships and shipping containers are held. We walked around the castle then went back in the cable car to the bottom. 
Next we went for a drink by the port at a bar called Tapas Club, we didn't eat there but the food everyone else was eating looked good. After a Tapas Club we went to an argentine restaurant called Negro Carbon at Placa de Palau 16. It reminded me of Buenos Aires which was nice. I had an empanada, chorizo and ribs. Alison had a humongous schnitzel/escalope with cheese and ham which was about the same size as my iPad mini.  Unsurprisingly she couldn't finish it, I think I'd need to starve myself for a week to be able to have that meal. Overall good food and a nice vibe. There's also a cute bar specialising in cocktails.
Next, some of Alison's friends were going to Pacha nightclub that night so we went to her friends house to pre drink. There were about 20 of us from all over the world which I loved. It reminded me a lot of my time studying in Marseille which was one of the best few months of my life so far. That and my 6 month vacation last year. It was quite comical some people's reactions that we were still friends after first meeting 4 years ago, considering we are from different continents. After pre drinking for an hour or so and getting multiple high fives for drinking my wine out of a measuring jug as there were no free cups left in the apartment. And conversing with those from Hong Kong to Hungary and Dubai to Brazil we headed to Pacha. 
To my surprise Pacha was only €15/£11.80/$19 which included a free drink of your choice which included anything and not the watered down/unbranded vodka/rum/whiskey which is the usual choice. The music was really good and was busy but not 100% cramped. There was a huge outside smoking area by the beach with another dj and bar so if it gets a bit hot inside you can party outside too. We left the club at about 5 and headed home for some well needed rest. 

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