A day out in Barcelona: The Gothic Quarter

Missed your hotel breakfast no worries, cup of tea and brunch at ‘La Esquina - Kitchen and Coffee’ is the perfect way to start your day. The staff were super friendly, the food super tasty and hats off to the barista for the great coffee. Located in the city centre, I learnt here that ‘Caballeros’ is Spanish for gentlemen and ‘Señoras’ for ladies, trust me it's useful when deciding which bathroom to walk into.

After you are all fuelled up and ready to go ‘Plaça de Catalunya’ is a ten second walk away. From here starts ‘La Ramblas’ the famous bustling tourist trap, lined with restaurants, hotels and ice cream shops. La Ramblas is a long street that goes all the way down to the sea and is certainly worth a visit, watch out for pick pockets in this area though. After walking down for a few hundred metres and soaking up the sights and sounds, take the second left (placa de la cucurulla). This takes you in the ‘Gothic quarter’ the heart of ancient Barcelona.

La Esquina Barcelona Instagram @laesquinabcn

You should end up in a large square, here it's easy to spot the cathedral and arty looking tourist information centre. At the info centre you can pick up tickets for ‘Sagrada la famiglia’, Gaudis incredible creation, don't miss that! You can also ask to see what events are happening, I discovered here that mueseums were all free over the Easter holiday, #winning.

Check out the interior of the cathedral, truly magnificent (but it's got nothing on Sagrada la famiglia). Next door is the gaudi mueseum and just opposite the info centre there is a private exhibition centre, when I was there it was a Salvador Dali exhibition.

If you are feeling peckish here for some quick tapas or a glass of wine, I recommend ‘Bilbao e Berria’ which is also located in the same square. You can choose as many as you want of the small dishes with cocktail sticks in, with each stick costing you €1.85. I drank here some fantastic Spanish Rioja red wine.

Bilbao e Berria, Rioja and tapas

Next head behind the cathedral down the thin medieval streets to end up in front of the city hall (Casa de la Ciutat), in Plaça sant Jaume. It's free entrance to the city hall (the entrance is located behind) and well worth a look inside. I was delighted to see a shimmering ‘refugees welcome’ banner above the door when I was there. Opposite is the ‘Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya’.

Barcelona city with Refugees welcome banner

A sharp left down Career de Jaume takes you to the wonderful arty district of Born. I had lunch on this road at an awesome Italian restaurant/takeaway called ‘Ro.Magna’. The piada burger I ordered was incredibly delicious and cooked right there infront of my eyes. The staff were very friendly and I loved the cosy interior (also such a sweet playlist in the background).

My brother and I at Ro.Magna, guess who is the photogenic brother.

Born has got to be my favourite area of Barcelona, the small dark winding streets are full of unique coffee shops and galleries and the main Street of Born (Passeig del Born) has some of the best tapas and bars in the city. In this area you can find the Picasso mueseum, ‘basilica de Santa Maria del mar’ and the ‘mercat de born’, All three worth a visit. The Picasso mueseum contains most of the great artists work while he lived and studied in Barcelona, it's amazing to follow his progression from naturalistic art, through his various periods (notably the blue period) to cubism. Some days of the week the museum offers reduced entrance fees so make sure you plan around them.

Mercat del Born now a blossoming cultural centre contains a full archaeological dig of the old city that you can walk around. There are various little historical exhibits about the various wars and how life must of been like back then. I only discovered this wonderful centre because I was seeking the toilet, located in the back corner, very subtle signposting.

Mercat Del Born cultural centre

If you are feeling peckish yet again in born (you hungry hungry folks) there is a brilliant tapas ristorant called ‘Taller de Tapas’. Again the food was absolutely delicious, eating here I started to really feel like I could enjoy the Spanish way of life, Barcelona transfer/Erasmus maybe? If the argentinian style isn't your fancy and you want Spanish tapas then there is another ‘Bilbao e Berria’ on the same street.

If you haven't seen it already or you still have lots of time after getting lost in Born and Gothic quarter then I highly recommend a visit to the ‘Sagrada la famiglia’ church. You really shouldn't leave Barcelona without witnessing inside the fantastic abstract church. Tickets are a nightmare and I believe now you can only book online, with the tickets only allowing entry at specific fifteen minute time slots, but seriously it's worth it! You can get to the famous church using the metro, it sits on the L2 line, best to buy a ten journey ticket for €9.85.

After all that, it's probably gotten quite dark and you feel like some fresh air after the narrow streets of the Gothic quarter, or maybe just an escape from the crowds of tourists at Sagrada la famiglia, head to the beach. With your fancy metro ticket you can get the beach easily by taking the metro to the stop ‘Ciutadella I Vila Olympica’ on the L4 line. Located here is the main clubs for example Pacha and Opium, if you are into that. Barcelona has two main beaches the smaller Barceloneta beach and the larger (and in my opinion better) Icària beach. Barceloneta beach is to the right after joining the sea and Icària beach is to the left after the harbour area.

Barceloneta beach 

Fancy a bite in this area then you have too visit restaurant ‘Bestial’ just below the massive golden fish statue (I guess it's meant to be a fish). Perhaps a little toward the pricey side, the prime beach location, sea view and most wonderful food I've ever eaten should persuade you. I ate the best pasta I have ever tasted  in my life there (sorry Italy, perhaps it's an Italian chef?). If you really want to cap off your day in Spanish style, order a classic Spanish Paella and Sangria drink, la vida és bonica :)

View from the restaurant Bestial, it's a hard life, take a break.