the best way to see barcelona

hola barcelona!

barcelona was the final city of our

madrid ----> porto ----> lisbon ----> barcelona trip.

we picked a good finale! from the very first hour in

barcelona i already loved it, and it only got better.

it is beautiful and whimsical and artsy and interesting

and has so much to offer. plus, i love the name.

tell me you don't love saying "barcelona..."

it rolls off the tongue! we are obsessed.

we lucked out in barcelona by finding vesping, the best vespa 

rental place we have ever come across! seriously. we had our

plans all mapped out of what we wanted to see in barcelona,

and when we got to the vespa place we realized there was no

point in that-- they sat down with us, went over an entire 

map of the city, explained everything, showed us all the 

local spots, then programmed our GPS on the vespa to go

exactly where we wanted. wow! after renting vespas in

all 4 cities this trip, we really appreciated having the GPS

right there on the scooter. since we didn't have wifi on

our phones when we were out, i would have the map out

while riding on the back of the vespa..haha. in barcelona,

we were able to find things so smoothly because we had

a little GPS showing us the whole way! we did the most

perfect route and loved our vespa tour around the city.

it took us through some local neighborhoods, up to

the famous parc guell, then all the way up winding

roads to mount tibidabo (in LOVE!) then back down

by the beach and through great areas on the way.

^^ a well-marked map

^^ first stop: gaudi's park güell. so pretty and so different i can't 

even begin to explain it. it's an enormous park up on the hill

with such great design and such great views. it was perfectly sunny!

after the park, we cruised up up up the hills of barcelona to

mount tibidabo. maybe my favorite place in barcelona

{other than the boqueria} and not just because it's famous

from joey on "friends" ... it is so amazing and reminds me

of the spain version of the sacré coeur in paris. a breathtaking

church up on a hill overlooking the entire city...except

this one is even more isolated and harder to get to, so it's

more amazing in some ways! we paid the 2€ to ride up

the elevator and then climb steps so we were at the tippy

top right under the gold christ statue. we were high up there!

chase may or may not have gotten some shaky legs from the height :)

^^ channeling his inner joey.."how you doin'?"

we cruised through the cutest neighborhoods on

the way down, then stopped for lunch!

best food stop. we were starving!

^^ down by the beach to see port olímpic. sucker for those sailboats,

they remind me of san francisco {and our proposal}.

^^ passing the incredible sagrada familia!

{an entire post on that to come}

^^ a quick stop at the biggest flea market, los encantes.

i wanted to take everything home, wish it would have fit!

^^ thank you, vesping!!

^^ one of the most traditional simple spanish foods -- 

tortilla espanola // spanish omelet. i lived with a friend in

london who had studied abroad in spain, and she used to make this 

from a recipe her host family gave her, i loved it so i had to have it 

again in spain! i will be making it soon and sharing a recipe!

^^ the best way to see barcelona is definitely on the back of a vespa.

thanks to my hubby for driving us all
around + vesping for making it possible!

more of barcelona to come. xoxoxoxo