Day One in Barcelona

Q2 and I arrived at Barcelona’s airport around 8:30 a.m. after a luckily uneventful 8 hour plain ride from NYC. First stop was the baggage claim (although both of us only had a carry-on size bag, we thought it would be easier to check our bags rather than deal with the increased security and restrictions regarding liquids). Next stop was the ATM machine to withdraw money for the apartment that we are renting for the week.

We took an aerobus to Placa Espanya and from there got on the metro to the Arc de Triomf. The weather was cool and the surroundings simply beautiful, so we took our time walking to the apartment. It was around 9:45 and the streets were mostly deserted. With time to kill, we decided to stop in a little café for dos café solo and a croissant.

We were on time to meet Anna, the woman who Q2 has been dealing with to rent the apartment. She showed us the apartment and we chatted for awhile. Originally Dutch, she moved to Barcelona 6 years ago and is fluent in English, Dutch, and conversational in Spanish. Anna is representative of the wave of immigration from Europe and other parts of Spain into Barcelona. She is a lovely woman and explained how Barcelona is such an attractive place to live in Europe.

Based on the little I’ve seen, I agree entirely.
























The afternoon was low-key. Q2 and I both napped for a couple hours while the cleaning woman finished tidying up the apartment. Then we both showered up and went to grab lunch at a nearby café. We shared two emapandas (1 spinach, 1 manchego cheese with mushrooms), a spinach crepe, red wine, and flan dulce con leche. The entire feast came out to 20 euros and the food was quite good. The dessert was exquisite- the most creamy, flavorful, and rich flan I’ve ever eaten!!

After lunch, we did some window-shopping around the Born (Barcelona’s SoHo). A couple hours later we were both hit a wall and decided to stop at a wine shop and grocery store to pick up food to make dinner. The wonderful advantage of renting an apartment is having access to a fully stocked kitchen and really being able to relax and feel at home in a foreign city. This really is the best way to travel!

Luck has been on our side as we made it back to the apartment just as the rain storm hit. . now just need to rest up in case we decide to go bar hopping later in the evening.