March 31, 2025 • 46 mins
The tour we did (churros and chocolate) and the tour we almost did (dragon tour!): vi.me/bWWul
Barcelona captivated us with its stunning architecture, vibrant culture, and delicious cuisine while we strategically used Hyatt points and upgrade awards to minimize travel costs. We navigated rainy weather by pivoting our plans, discovering indoor treasures and developing a daily rhythm that balanced sightseeing with leisurely meals at the hotel's exceptional club lounge.
• Used points for Grand Hyatt Barcelona, strategically applying suite upgrade and club access awards
• Experienced an enormous junior suite with a bathroom "as big as our entire Paris hotel room"
• Enjoyed the hotel's exceptional breakfast buffet featuring churros, chocolate, and Nutella on tap
• Visited Barcelona Aquarium and Time Out Market food hall during unexpected rainy weather
• Explored Mercado de la Boqueria for an impromptu family food tour sampling local specialties
• Took a family-friendly walking tour through the Gothic Quarter with churros and chocolate
• Marveled at Park Güell's whimsical "gingerbread houses" while kids chased pigeons
• Toured the breathtaking Sagrada Familia with its stunning colored stained glass windows
• Savored daily churros con chocolate, seafood paella, and exceptional pastries
• Missed beach visits and Tibidabo amusement park due to weather but already planning our return
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
If you've been considering Barcelona for a
family trip and want to usepoints and miles, we're going to
tell you exactly how we managedit as a family of five, plus
all the activities we did intoday's episode.
Listen in.
Hi, I'm Raya.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
And I'm Dwayne.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
And we are your hosts of the Travel Party of Five
podcast, where we share how wetravel as a family of five
around the world.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
We will also share how we use points and miles to
travel as affordably as possibleand sometimes even completely
free.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
So if you're wanting to travel more with your family
but you're not sure how, we'dlove for you to listen in.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
So welcome to our podcast, where we hope you learn
a thing or two to get youcloser to your next trip.
Welcome back, hi friends,thanks for tuning in.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
We are excited to share all about our Barcelona
trip today.
We've been back home for abouta week now and I feel like are
finally adjusted back to thetime zone and all the routine
things.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Reality.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Yes, reality, school sports, you know, you name it.
And so Work, yeah, work.
We're missing Europe a littlebit.
I think it was just so relaxingand nice.
But we're going to share allthe details of our Barcelona
trip with you today, and let'sget into it.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Let's do it.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Okay, so let's start with how we got there.
We flew from Paris.
If you listen to our Parisepisode, we started in Paris and
then flew from Paris toBarcelona.
We paid cash for those flights.
We did book on Air France.
If you book early enough, youcan get them on points for like
(02:11):
five thousand dollar.
No, five thousand points aflight.
But we did not book earlyenough.
In fact, I think I booked theseflights maybe two or three
months before we left.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Why did you wait so long?
Speaker 1 (02:27):
I think it's just like.
Inter-european flights aregenerally pretty cheap and easy
to find and I just wasn'tconcerned about not being able
to find something Like.
Ryanair, for example, is likeone of the budget European
airlines.
They usually have fairly cheapflights, the Air France ones.
The timing just happened towork out the best and I think it
(02:53):
was maybe around six or $700total for all five of us to fly,
which is pretty cheap, prettygood.
So I don't think like even ifthey had had 5,000 point flights
, I don't think it would havebeen worth it because that would
have been 25,000 points.
The cents per point justdoesn't really make a lot of
sense for that.
So, anyways, we flew.
Our flight was actually delayed.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Um, we boarded it was delayed, but it wasn't like it
wasn't on purpose.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Like, yeah, we boarded on time and then we sat
on the plane for almost twohours before we took off.
We taxied to the, we headedtowards the runway, then we
headed back to the gate.
There was some kind of errorwith the cargo door saying it
was open, even though theairline was like it's not open,
but we have to get this likelight saying it's open off, and
(03:41):
so we had to go back to a gate.
They fixed it it and then wewere finally able to take off.
So we ended up landing abouttwo hours later than planned.
So all in all, we were on theplane for about four hours on a
two-hour flight.
Yeah, thankfully, our kids Idon't even know that they really
noticed because they wereplaying on their ipads.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Yeah, once they have their face on the iPad, they're
set.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Yeah, they were fine.
So they did ask me once welanded like, oh, why did that
take so long?
But it was not a big deal andthey handed out sandwiches that
were quite good.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Pretty good.
I'm upset that I didn't ask foranother one.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
It was ham and butter sandwiches is what they were,
and it's very French, but theywere good.
I'm upset that I didn't ask foranother one.
It was ham and buttersandwiches is what they were,
and it's very French, but theywere good, soft, delicious, yeah
.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
I would have said it had cheese in it, but you told
me it didn't.
It didn't, it was ham andbutter.
Matter of fact, the guy infront of me asked for another
one and the stewardess was likeno, we're done serving.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
So okay, so we land in barcelona and we take a taxi
to the hotel.
That was what we did everyplace we went.
It's just, you can take themetro, but with the kids and the
luggage, you know, and thetransferring, it's the stairs
totally worth it the taxis arejust the way to go, and we I
don't know if we talked aboutthis last episode, but we have a
(05:09):
ride safer vest for ourdaughter, who is five, and that
is what we used for her so thatwe could take taxis, my boys
instead of hauling around a carseat or a booster.
She's yeah and and like she'stoo little for even a booster.
So essentially it's afive-point harness, like, and
it's a vest that she wears, andthen you use the regular seat
(05:32):
belt and the seat belt fits intothe vest, so it just hooks up
to the vest.
It adjusts the seat belt to hersize, basically and to fit in
the right spots on her body,pretty nifty little contraption.
It was really nice to be able totake taxis when we needed to,
(05:53):
because that would have held usback otherwise.
She's too little for a booster.
That's not even an option forher.
She barely weighs 35 pounds.
So, yeah, it was raining.
We took a taxi to the hotel.
She barely weighs 35 pounds.
Yeah, it was raining.
We took a taxi to the hotel.
One of our kids was like okay,so what language do they speak
(06:13):
here?
I'm like here it's Spanish.
Now it's daddy's turn to talk,because Duane can speak a little
bit of Spanish.
Poquito, yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Hotel.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Yeah, let's talk about the hotel.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
We stayed at the Grand Hyatt Barcelona, which was
formerly the Sofia Yep.
Very nice hotel, yes.
What are your thoughts on it?
Speaker 1 (06:40):
I loved it.
It's a little like the decor isa little like kitschy, it's
like I don't know how todescribe it.
It's a little like the decor isa little like kitschy, it's
like I don't know how todescribe it.
It's unique.
It's not something I would everchoose for.
Like my house A lot of mirrorsand like a lot of green it was a
lot of gold, a lot of gold,yeah, but service was incredible
.
Like hotel is beautiful.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Yeah, front desk staff was great, the concierge
every.
Yeah, front desk staff wasgreat.
The concierge every day we werethere was great, very helpful
yep, we spoke english.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Yep, we um needed them a few times because we had
to pivot because of the weather.
So I this like might have beenmy favorite of the three hotels
we stayed in on this trip, um,so let me quickly tell you how
we booked it and how Icoordinated.
So again, first of all, I havea whole episode on how I booked
(07:32):
this entire trip so you can goback and listen to that.
But I'll just quickly recapthis piece because I think it's
important.
We used points for the rooms,one in my name, one in Dwayne's
name.
I booked originally one kingroom and one twin bedroom and I
(07:56):
had previously called to confirmoccupancy of five and was
verbally told yes.
But when I emailed to confirm,they told me no, no, no, the
rooms you have booked are only,like, you can only fit four
people.
So I emailed back and forth afew times and they basically
were like well, if you upgradeto this suite, you can fit five.
And I thought one and like,they meant a paid upgrade and I
thought, well, I'm not gonna payto upgrade, but I'll use a
(08:17):
suite upgrade award if that'swhat it takes.
So I confirmed that that wouldwork and they said it would, and
so I applied a suite upgradeaward to my the reservation in
my name and then they were ableto upgrade us to a junior suite
and then they connected us to apremium twin room.
(08:39):
I don't think this was in theother episode.
I did because I didn't know atthe time.
They told me that that suite sothe junior suite is the only
suite they have that can beconnected to any of their rooms.
So I think if you're a familyof five, this is what you're
going to get.
There's no other option.
It was phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
I mean put it like this Our suite, without the
adjoining room, was just as bigas both rooms in Paris.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Because the bathroom in this suite was as big as the
room In.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Paris, yeah.
Very very nice room.
We saw the kids' room first andwe were like, okay, yeah, two
twin beds, that's great.
And then we went into our room,which was the next door in the
hallway, and like my jaw droppedwhen I saw the bathroom.
Like I was like holy moly andevery single one of the kids too
(09:35):
.
Like when they came in, theywere like, whoa, I actually have
, I have, um, I have anInstagram highlight of our whole
Barcelona trip.
So if you want to take a lookat that, you can find us on
Instagram at TravelPartyof5.
Follow, say hello, but look atthe Barcelona highlight, because
you'll be able to see the room,you'll be able to see the
bathroom and I think I have thekids' reactions on there too.
I wish I had had my face onvideo when I saw it.
(09:58):
It was amazing.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
One of the nicest suites we've stayed in.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Yeah amazing, one of the nicest suites we've stayed
in.
Yeah, what else did you thinkabout the hotel?
Oh so, let me sorry, let mefinish.
So, in addition to the suiteupgrade award to my room, I
learned that this hotel has aclub, and so I also applied a
club access award to Dwayne'sreservation.
So I gifted it to him,basically, and then applied it
from there, and I think I didthat through the Hyatt chat, so
(10:25):
it was pretty easy and the sothat gave us all access to the
club and the breakfast.
The breakfast is actually notin the club.
Well, it is, but the breakfastis.
It's not a club breakfast, likeit's the same breakfast that
you would get if you were payingfor it, basically, which means
(10:46):
it's good.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Buffet.
Huge buffet, huge Fruits, alltypes of drinks, pastries,
pastries, meats, churros andchocolate on tap.
They had Nutella on tap.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Yeah, that was the kids' favorite part.
They had like made to ordereggs and omelets and Eggs
Benedict and all that.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Yeah, bacon, potatoes , waffles, pancakes were
alternating days.
Yeah everything was delicious,it was great.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Way better than the club in Paris.
I'd say Well, but thisbreakfast wasn't technically a
club, it was their hotelbreakfast that we got access to
as part of having club access.
But yes, it was better, it wasbetter, yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
I lost weight in Paris and then gained weight in
Barcelona.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
So okay.
So we also use the club quite abit in the evening.
So kind of the routine that wegot in while we were there was
having a leisurely breakfastaround maybe nine ish, so not
waking up super early, notrushing, spending maybe an hour
or so at breakfast and then kindof venturing out to do whatever
(12:03):
we were going to do that dayand then we would have a later
lunch out, like maybe two orthree o'clock, and then come
back to the hotel and do like alight dinner at the club most
nights and the club.
So the club again, thebreakfast is very extravagant.
(12:23):
The club at night it's in thesame area as the breakfast, kind
of.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
But less options.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Yes, there's less options, but they always have a
few hot food options like littleappetizer bites.
Almost they have all the jamonand the cured meats and the
cheese, wine, beer Dwayne didn'tdiscover the beer until the
last day.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
I didn't know they had beer on tap for free until
the last day.
I was pretty upset about that.
I was sad about that.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
They had little desserts and I mean the quality
was definitely not as good asthe breakfast, you know, and you
know they had a salad everynight and fruit, and so we would
just get little things and forthe most part that was plenty.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Yeah, that was, it was okay.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
There was one night where the kids were hungry, and
it was actually when Dwayne wasdoing laundry, so I told them we
could order a room service.
And so we did room service andso we did, and it was like, I
think on the menu one of theitems was noodle soup, so my
daughter wanted that, and thenthere was basically like chicken
fingers, and so we got twoorders of chicken fingers and an
(13:36):
order of noodle soup and ittook about an hour, like I had
actually sent my oldest down tothe lobby to ask where it was
because our phone was notworking.
And as soon as he like got inthe elevator, someone knocked on
the door bringing it, but itwas on a fancy cart like old
(13:59):
school room service with linenon it yes, a linen on it, like
you know, the know the salt andthe pepper and the bread and the
butter, and again for chickenfingers and French fries and
noodle soup.
And the kids were in seventhheaven.
It had the little tiny ketchupbottles and you know all like it
was fancy.
It was a big contrast to theHyatt Regency Paris where they
(14:23):
delivered the room service to mein a paper bag.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Literally paper bag.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Yes, literally.
So we did end up doing that onenight for dinner and the kids
thought that was really fun andso that made it fun for me.
So and Dwayne came back fromdoing laundry and was like what
is happening?
It was like pm everyone's upand eating.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
he's like what is happening speaking of I didn't
touch this on the paris episode,but I did do laundry there as
well.
Yes, and the laundry mats arenothing like the laundry mats in
the united states.
They're clean, all the machineswork, you know, um, yes, so it
(15:05):
was very convenient to be ableto do that and, with that being
said, we overpacked like a mofoyes, and we were in carry-on
only.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Yeah, we still overpacked.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Well, my, my carry-on was about to break.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
I had so much stuff in it well, how many pairs of
jordans did you bring?
Speaker 2 (15:22):
well, I had a separate bag for that how many
pairs did you bring?
Jordans or shoes all together,I brought four right four, was
it four?
Speaker 1 (15:33):
yes, it was four for contrast, I brought two pairs of
shoes.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
One was sneakers and one was boots.
I bought a bag especially forshoes he did, which was pretty,
pretty helpful actually, andit's a huge bag it is huge, like
it looks like he's carrying awhole suitcase on his back we
were at baggage claim one dayand the one guy was like that's
the biggest book bag or bag I'veever seen on someone's back
(16:01):
really I don't think you told methat it's got my shoes in it.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
I mean, the fact that you can fit four pairs of shoes
in that bag is prettyimpressive, because what?
Speaker 2 (16:10):
well, I had three and I was wearing one, oh okay, but
I mean if, if you have like asize eight or maybe a size nine,
you can fit four easily, but Ihave a size 11, it was I mean
duane's shoes are huge, likewhen I look at them I'm like
like one shoe is like the sizeof two of my shoes.
(16:30):
It's crazy that's why I neededanother bag and, just in case, I
bought a pair in europe.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Oh, god, I didn't.
He made us go into like fourshoe stores.
Okay, so wasn't there one thathad, like you thought it had the
soap in it already?
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Oh yes.
So the laundry man pair.
She had to provide your ownsoap, but the ones that were in
Spain came like was like builtinto the washer, so like you
just put your clothes in and thesoap was already in there.
Yes, and it was very convenientInstructions on the wall in
English.
In Paris it had it in English,I can't remember the one in
(17:14):
Spain.
I just knew what to do, I think.
Oh no, no, I take it back.
It was.
There's like a screen.
You got to choose your washer,choose your dryer, and it asks
you what language you want.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
But super simple, super convenient, both locations
or all three locations wereright next to the hotel.
Yeah, because he did laundry inevery city that we were in one
night, so I would just stay withthe kids and he would go and do
it.
Part of the reason we overpackpacked was because of the
(17:49):
weather, like we originallythere was going to be some
warmer days and that ended upchanging and so we had some like
shorts and stuff that really noone could wear.
So but I want to do an episodeabout like lessons learned after
two weeks in Europe with kids,probably after the Madrid
episode, and so because I havemore to say about that, about
(18:11):
the back, end.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Stay tuned for that.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Yeah, I have more to say about the carry-on only and
all that, okay.
The other thing we did at thehotel was we did eat at one of
the restaurants for dinner onour last night.
It was called Maymanta,maymanta, maymanta.
It was Peruvian-Japanese fusion, basically is how it was
(18:34):
described to us, and we weren'tsuper hungry so we didn't order
a ton of food, but most of whatwe ordered was very good.
Yes, our oldest got some steak.
I also got some steak with somechimichurri.
That was delicious.
Duane doesn't like chimichurri,so yeah, I'm not a fan.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
What did I get?
Speaker 1 (18:56):
I forget um, you didn't like yours, you got the
pork belly something.
Yeah, you didn't like it asmuch.
And then for the kids they hadlike a I don't know some kind
kind of noodle like.
Yeah, it had steak in it and itwas like sesame noodles.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
That was really good.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Theirs was very good too.
They also have in the hotel alittle coffee shop in the lobby
that's kind of off to the side.
It's super cute.
It has books like all along thewalls and it is totally like
there's an entrance from theoutside so you don't have to go
through the hotel to get to it.
And I did have a nice littledecaf cappuccino in there one
day after we had been out andabout and I got a good 15
(19:33):
minutes of quiet in which wasnice, yep, but it's super cute.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
They also have a steakhouse that we did not go to
because the guy at the frontdesk or the lady at the front
desk said it was pretty fancyand that we would need a
reservation.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
So we didn't want to get dressed up.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
No, and take the kids .
Speaker 1 (19:52):
So yeah, all in all, would absolutely recommend this
hotel.
I think the biggest con thatpeople talk about with this
hotel is they say that it's farfrom the touristy stuff and
that's not entirely true.
Yeah, I mean it's not wrong.
It's definitely not close, it'snot entirely true.
Yeah, I mean it's not wrong,it's definitely not close.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
It's not close.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
But we took the metro pretty much everywhere and the
metro is maybe like the entranceis maybe a five or six minute
walk from the hotel.
It's an easy walk and we I meanwe've had zero problems getting
anywhere.
We also there was like I'mgoing to call it a tram, I don't
(20:31):
know Like a train.
So instead of the metro, whichis underground, they also have
these like trains or trams thatare above ground, and we took
that back one day because it was, you know, the closest, fastest
option and that was likeliterally, maybe 90 seconds walk
.
Yeah, the stop was right thereyeah, so like we didn't feel
(20:55):
like we were missing anything bystaying where we stayed right
no, not at all, not at all, andso I think if that's a concern,
like if you want to be able towalk out the door and be in the
middle of like la rambla, likethat's not gonna Like, if you
want to be able to walk out thedoor and be in the middle of
like La Rambla, like that's notgoing to happen, but if you
don't mind taking the Metromaybe five or 10 minutes, then I
would highly recommend thishotel.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
For sure and I mean just like we stated earlier
staff was great, hotel was great.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Yeah, the service was phenomenal.
They even the second day.
So the first day we got there,someone called the room and the
phone wasn't working, Like youcouldn't hear the person.
It was really staticky.
And then the next day we gotthere, we got back to the room.
They had left us like, um, likea chocolates and a note.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
And we were apologizing for the
inconvenience and we didn't knowwhat they were talking about.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
So we had to go down to the front desk and be like we
got this, but we don't knowwhat it's for, and they were
like oh, it's because your phonedoesn't work.
We were like, oh, we're like,oh, it's fine, yeah, so, all in
all, would absolutely recommendthis hotel Again.
(22:10):
Go check my Instagram highlightif you want to see our room and
all that fun stuff.
Let's talk about things we didin Barcelona.
Because it rained, we had topivot a couple of times and
there was one thing that wedidn't get to do, which was
disappointing.
So the first day we weresupposed to do our first full
day, we were supposed to do atour and the tour guide had
texted me previously.
So I had her number and Itexted her to say, hey, like
(22:35):
this is the morning of.
I said hey, like how is theweather going to affect our tour
today?
Because it was scheduled torain all day and it was kind of
a whole dramatic thing that Iand basically that led into a
little bit of a saga about howshe could maybe postpone the
tour to the next day, but shewould have to find someone else
(22:58):
to do it because she was alsogoing to be like trying to do an
interview for this like weekendjob interview for this like
weekend job.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
So the weekend that we were there it was the
cannabis, like yeah, cup orwhatever, and they were calling
it spanibus, I think.
So yeah, so our tour guy wastrying to work that event
because I'm assuming she wouldhave made more money, which is
understandable.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
But she said, in order to do it, she had to be
able to work all three days.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Yeah, so she couldn't .
She was going to hand off ourtour to one of her colleagues,
but that fell through, so wewaited to the next day to do it.
Was it the next?
Speaker 1 (23:38):
day yeah, it was the next day, and then she ended up
being our tour guide, anywaysyes, so apparently they had like
tried to scam her or something.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
She like showed up to a job interview and no one was
there.
Yeah, Whatever?
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Yeah, I don't know.
We yes, we probably know waytoo many details about this
situation.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
She was very friendly and very open about her
situation.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Yeah, but she was really nice.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Super, super nice.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Like she gave our daughter a piggyback at one
point during the ride.
She, or during the ride she, orduring the ride, during the
tour, she, um, like, had like aprintout of, like some pictures
and we talked about the, thespanish words for you know all
these things, and that was kindof fun for the kids and I mean.
So the tour it was supposed tobe called, I think, churros,
(24:25):
chocolate and cheese orsomething.
Part of the tour is supposed towalk you through the market,
and we had actually done thatthe day before, when it was
raining, because we were aimingfor indoor things, and so we
told her like we could probablyskip the market because we
already did that, but I thinkthat's where the cheese was, so
(24:46):
we didn't get the cheese.
She walked us through like thegothic quarter of Barcelona.
We talked a little bit aboutthe history, we learned a little
bit more about Gaudi you didn'tknow anything about Gaudi
before this trip, right?
Nada.
She told us how he died, whichwas a little bit tragic, but it
was also.
The tour was meant to be gearedtowards kids, and I think the
(25:09):
kids did get something out of it, and so did we.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Yeah, it was great.
I think it was worth it.
She was a great tour guide.
She was yeah, she was very intoit.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Spoke great English.
She spoke like five differentlanguages actually.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Yes, and the churros and chocolate that we got were
very good, like some of the bestones that we had.
So yeah, I mean we had a lot ofgood churros, we did chocolate I
can put a link to the tour thatwe did in the show notes
because I I think I wouldrecommend it with kids.
There was another one that wewere deciding between and it was
(25:47):
like a dragon tour and like Iwould probably do that one next
time the dragon tour I can linkthat one too.
Um, just know that we didn't dothat tour, so I can't.
I don't have firsthandexperience, but it had good
reviews, so we were decidingbetween those two.
Um, so we did that.
Our second day in Barcelona.
The first day in Barcelona, wethis was one of the times we
(26:09):
used the concierge because wesaid what can we do with the
kids when it's raining?
Because it literally rained theentire day and he made a few
recommendations, one of whichwas the Barcelona Aquarium.
I would say we're not bigaquarium people Like generally
we would not go to a city andvisit an aquarium, true.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
True.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
But we were like what else are we going to do?
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Yeah, we weren't going to sit around and waste
the day, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Yeah, so we went to the aquarium.
It was good, it was cool.
I think the best part was theyhave a little play area and our
kids played there for like asolid 30 minutes, if not more,
at the end, yeah, after we hadwent through the aquarium, which
, you know, aquariums are allthe same to me.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
I mean me too.
Yeah, I mean it was good forwhat.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
The kids liked it.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
It was nice for them to be able to have an indoor
space where they could play andbe loud and we got to just sit
at a table and, like you know,have quiet time, yeah, so again,
the concierge recommended that.
He also said that there wasthis food like market not market
(27:29):
, but food court it's a foodcourt to us.
I don't think he called it that, but it is like in a mall right
next to the aquarium and it wascalled time out after a like
really popular magazine there,like a food magazine.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
I think I could be wrong about that, but it was a
magazine and yeah, all thesepretty good restaurants were in
this little food court area andit was pretty busy too yeah, he
said like imagine, like the bestrestaurants in barcelona all
got together and made like minirestaurants, like in this kind
(28:05):
of area, so it is set up like afood court.
But like we're not talkingabout Sbarro's pizza, right,
we're talking about like likethere are some Michelin star
restaurants there and I think ifyou go on certain days you can
like line up to to eat at someof those restaurants.
They have like a fixed pricetasting menu or something.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
Yeah, so there was like that day, but at least 12
different spots you can go toand like good food, so like we
ended up getting a burger aburger, a pizza a couple of
pizzas, yeah, and some calamariand croquettes.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Croquettes, yeah, because you know when in spain,
yes, the the burger came withfries that had this like truffle
sauce on them.
That was very good.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Muy bueno.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
The pizza was very good, everything was very good,
and so definitely not yourtypical American food court food
.
So we did that again as kind oflike a later lunch, early
dinner, after the aquarium it'sright next next door and then we
took the metro home to back tothe hotel.
Um, let's see, what else did wedo?
(29:14):
Um, oh, our first day.
We also forgot we went to themarket.
Uh, do you remember the name ofthe market?
Mercado de okay, it was the.
How do you say that?
Speaker 2 (29:30):
Mercat de la Boqueria .
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Yeah, that's what it was.
And so, first of all, thisplace is huge.
Second of all, we kind of justdid our own little food tour
with the kids.
So we went in, we walked allthe way around and then we got a
bunch of different things.
So we tried some of the jamonand the cheese we tried.
They had a bunch of differentthings, so we tried some of the
the jamon and the cheese wetried.
They had a bunch of fresh fruiteverywhere we went.
(29:52):
Tell about the fruit.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
I mean.
First of all, I don't think Imentioned this in the paris
episode, but the fruit in europelooks way better than the fruit
here, like the color.
It's just, yes, very colorful,very vibrant, looks fresh, but
it is expensive.
But I mean, every time wepassed a fruit stand I was like,
(30:15):
oh my God, look at this fruit.
I was taking pictures ofstrawberries at one point and
raspberries.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
That's when you've reached peak adulthood.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Even when we went on the tour in Paris, the tour
guide.
I was like the fruit here looksso good, and that's when she
was like it's pretty expensivethough.
So, yes, we got a few thingsfrom this market Fresh juice,
which was muy, muy bueno.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
What else?
Oh, they had pistachiocroissants, which I haven't been
able to find since I was initaly last year, and so I got
one of those and you got to tryit.
It was pretty good.
Huh, it's pretty good, yeah,super yummy, um.
And so, yeah, we just kind ofdid our own little mini market
food tour and let the kids tryall the things and we got a
(31:05):
sandwich, ham sandwich.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Um, oh yeah, it was good.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
It just was missing condiments, you know, for us
americans, our kids didn't lovethe ham sandwiches there.
I would say, um, because yeahit's, it's pretty plain, it's
literally ham and bread andcheese with a little mustard and
mayonnaise.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
it probably would have been some chips or maybe
some butter.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
From France.
The French butter is elite.
Okay, let me get back to mylist to make sure we don't miss
anything, because we didsomething else.
Oh yeah, let's go back to thetour that we did with the one we
booked the churros cheese andchocolate.
The one we booked the churroscheese and chocolate.
(31:50):
In addition to everything wementioned you also, we also got
to see some roman ruins, whichwas a big surprise to me.
I don't remember seeing thatthe last time I was in barcelona
and, like, literally justwalked into this building and
she was saying that theydiscovered these ruins when they
were building something and sothen, instead of building
whatever they were building nowit's like a, it's part of, like
(32:10):
the museum but you literally,just we just walked through a
door and it was there below usand then we just kept walking
out out another door and wecontinued our way on to the park
so I think she said that thisplace that was built on top of
these ruins was a market, andthen they realized that there
was, like this, ancientcivilization buried underneath
(32:32):
it and I thought, how could theynot find this when they would
like dug for the foundation ofthis building?
Speaker 2 (32:41):
But apparently I don't know what happened.
But I mean, you can go in therenow and there's no floor and
you can look down to see this,whatever, yeah, it's crazy, it's
really crazy.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
It kind of reminds me of like Pompeii, like if you've
been to Pompeii in Italy, likeit has that vibe, but it's in
Spain, so that's just so crazyto me.
We also got to see on that toura piece of the column from the
original wall that surroundedthe city of barcelona way, way,
(33:12):
way, way back, and so that wascool too.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
Yeah and the drawbridge that was there, which
is no longer used as adrawbridge, but yeah, yeah, um,
and then on our last day we wentto Park Guell in Sagrada
Familia.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
So Park Guell is the park that Gaudi designed, and I
don't really know how todescribe it.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
I don't either.
It's very fancy.
A lot of columns, yes, it'svery fancy.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
A lot of columns, yes , and like there's a part
towards the bottom where it justlooks like you're in a Disney
movie, like I have a fewpictures of the kids where
behind them it just doesn't evenlook like it's reality, it's
yeah, yeah, it's these twohouses that Gowdy built yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
The kids were calling it gingerbread houses.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
Yes, it did look like gingerbread houses.
Our kids also called this park.
I'm going to quote that place.
We ran around and chasedpigeons.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Because they chased pigeons for a good half an hour,
while we sat on a bench Weavingthrough probably thousands of
people that were there as welljust flapping their arms,
squawking like birds runningaround.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
It was pretty funny.
But again it's been rainy rightand they need to get their
energy out.
So by all means, go ahead, gocrazy, and from the park you can
see sagradaia kind of like offin the distance, and so we left.
So here's what I wouldrecommend, because I think this
is a good like.
These are two good things to doin the same day.
(34:55):
So we did park well in themorning.
It's best to take a taxi hereand not do the metro, because
the metro drops you off at thebottom of a hill and the taxi
can drive you much closer to thetop.
So I would this.
We did take a taxi One of theonly times we took a taxi
(35:16):
outside of the airports, so Iwould do that.
I would do Park Guell in themorning you can buy tickets
directly on the Park Guellwebsite and then plan on having
lunch around midday.
We walked to a place calledGwelly Sandwich Park and Dwayne
said it was a long walk.
It was like 12 minutes, so Ididn't feel like it was long.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
It was one of the longer walks we had and it was
like upstairs up some hills anescalator, which was pretty
crazy.
We found this escalator in themiddle of this hilly city and
these escalators it was oneescalator that could go either
up or down.
You just had to push a button.
Yeah, you could change thedirection of it.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
So that was cool.
So we had lunch there.
Again, we just got sandwiches.
Again, our kids we got hamsandwiches.
They didn't really enjoy themvery much, um, but then they had
ice cream, so we let them getice cream.
And they had churros.
So of course I got churros,because I'm on a mission to eat
churros every single day thatwe're in spain and shout out to
(36:21):
the owner of that place.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
He was super friendly I mean I'm assuming he's the
owner, but I think he was theowner too.
Yeah, he's super friendly guy.
Um funny as well.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
We chatted with him a bunch cause we sat right
outside and ate and it was.
He was really nice.
So would definitely recommendthat there was also a way that
you could walk up from where hisrestaurant was.
You could walk up and get intothe park, so you could also
start there and then go into thepark if you wanted to do to do
that and so then to leave.
(36:52):
We took the metro and again wewent down like maybe six
escalators from the top of thishill to the bottom to get to the
metro, wouldn't you say it was?
Speaker 2 (37:04):
like four.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
It was pretty steep, and we took the Metro over to
Sagrada Familia and so we hadbought tickets online for
Sagrada Familia.
There are a ton of tours listedon Viator and they call them
skip the line tickets.
Right, like, get your skip theline tickets here.
You can just buy the ticketsyourself directly on the Sagrada
(37:28):
Familia website.
If you Google it, like, you'llknow which one is legitimate.
I think it ends in like org orsomething like that, and so I
purchased tickets for the fiveof us along with the guided tour
, and so the plan was to doParkwell, grab lunch, then head
over to the church.
(37:49):
We ended up being a little bitearly, so we did grab another
snack at a little cafe rightoutside the church.
Like, like, literally, we saton the sidewalk and looked at
sagrada familia.
I'm sure it was a touristy cafe, but it wasn't.
We had like an hour to kill, soit wasn't bad it was.
Yeah, it was fine.
We had some chicken wings thatour son thought were delicious,
(38:11):
so, um, and then, yeah, we went.
We went to get in the line.
We didn't really wait at all,and so you know the the tickets
are for a certain time frame.
We went in a little bit beforeour tour started and then the
tour was around 45 minutes.
I would say, yeah, not gearedtowards kids, our kids.
(38:31):
You know they give you theheadsets and the little
microphone or not microphonesearbuds, yeah, and you put them
on and I think the kids werelistening for around 15, maybe
20 minutes before they started.
You know, losing To phase out,yeah, but we learned about the
(38:52):
history of the church.
That was the first time I'veever been inside of it.
I only looked at it from theoutside.
What did you think about it?
Speaker 2 (38:59):
I thought it was stunning.
Yeah, just the architecture,the, the sculpting.
If you, if you are in barcelona, it's, it's a must do, oh, yeah
, for sure, and like it's like,first of all, they started
building this thing in like 1867or something and it's still not
done yeah which is crazy to me.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
Yeah, at one point our tour guide was like do you
see this like column over here,and a few people were like yeah,
and she's like, well, that'sweird because it's not built yet
.
So, but like, inside there'sall this stained glass, and the
stained glass is differentcolors depending on which
direction the church faces.
So like, the more the the sideof the church that gets like the
(39:42):
morning sunrise is more yellowand orange and red, and then the
side of the church that getsthe sunset is a little bit more
like blue and green and purple,you know to symbolize like night
, and I mean it's beautiful whenyou go inside.
Yeah, I mean it's stunning.
So we definitely recommend.
And, yeah, our kids, yeah, wewere in there for a little over
(40:04):
an hour total and I think thekids were definitely losing
steam by the end.
But you know, we always tell,always tell them like this
vacation is for all of us andsometimes we have to do things
that we don't want to do becausesomeone else does.
So I think that's a good, um,like that's a good thing to do
all in one day.
The park, well, and the sagradafamilia, yeah, and I think last
(40:26):
was we just wanted to chatabout a few of the food dishes
that we had After the tour thechurros, chocolate and cheese
tour where we didn't get cheese.
We ended up going to arestaurant Right by Parque de la
Citadella.
I don't know if I'm pronouncingthat correctly, but we got
(40:50):
seafood paella and it was quitegood actually.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
It was pretty good.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
The last time I had paella it was super fishy and
like I don't like that.
Like it's seafood paella and Iget that there's seafood in it,
but I don't want the rice totaste like shrimp, you know.
And this rice was superflavorful but did not taste
fishy.
I just don't remember the nameof the restaurant, but it was
right on the corner and it wasin a hotel yeah, it was in a
(41:17):
hotel.
Speaker 2 (41:18):
It's like the bottom floor of a hotel but we sat
outside.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
That was the only option and it was freezing,
freezing like at one point ourdaughter was sitting inside
duane's jacket on his lapbecause it was so cold.
So it was sunny but freezing.
Speaker 2 (41:35):
Because it was super windy.
Speaker 1 (41:36):
Yeah, so again, the weather, we made the best of it.
And then I mean churros andchocolate we had literally every
single day, sometimes multipletimes a day.
And at the hotel they have thispastry.
I put it on instagram it is likea croissant covered in
granulated sugar, but it alsohas like cream inside, like
(41:59):
custard, yeah, like super goodlike the cream that you would
get inside, like a boston creamdonut, like that kind of cream,
and I am still thinking aboutthose pastries and wish that I
could eat another one.
Yeah, they were really good.
Okay, all in all, thoughts onBarcelona Cause.
Well, first of all, I'll addI'll the first time I visited
(42:22):
Barcelona was in 2012 and I camefrom Italy was when I was
backpacking Europe by myself andI almost missed my train,
almost skipped Barcelonaentirely, but ended up going,
and then, once I was there, Iextended my stay because I loved
it so much.
It was just really, I really,really enjoyed it.
(42:46):
So that was my first time and Iwas excited for you to
experience it.
So now you share your thoughts.
Speaker 2 (42:53):
I loved it, definitely one of my favorite
places I've ever been.
Would definitely go back.
People there are nice, food wasgreat, atmosphere great.
But one thing we didn't do wasgo to the beach, which is pretty
disappointing because of theweather, obviously, but
(43:15):
hopefully next time we can dothat yeah, I think it's.
Speaker 1 (43:17):
Yeah, in the summer the beach is great, um, and the
other thing we didn't get to doon that note was we wanted to go
to tibidabo, which is theamusement park.
You take, like the funicular upand it's like we saw it from
the city and there's like a cat,it looks like a castle,
basically, but it's an amusementpark that you can go to.
The opening day was actuallylike while we were there, but it
(43:43):
was raining and freezing, andso we opted to skip it.
Unfortunately, I just thoughtlike I don't think anyone's
going to have fun if everyone'sfreezing and wet, you know.
So we skipped it this time, butit has great views of Barcelona
.
If you're going in the summer,I would absolutely recommend it
(44:05):
and we'll definitely be sure toput it on the list next time.
The other thing we wanted to dowas a football game.
Speaker 2 (44:14):
Yes, definitely on my list to do, but first of all,
camp Nou is closed.
Speaker 1 (44:24):
Right now.
They're playing in Madrid.
But also there was no game andthere was a game while we were
there, but we were in Barcelonaand the game was in Madrid.
But also there was no game andthere was a game while we were
there, but we were in Barcelonaand the game was in Madrid yes,
yeah and it was like the daybefore we were supposed to go to
Madrid and it was really, itwas Barcelona versus Real Madrid
, which would have been the gameto go to yeah, so unfortunately
(44:47):
, we missed it.
However, the Grand High ofBarcelona is very close to Camp
Nou, so something to keep inmind if that's why you're going.
Yeah, okay, well, our nextepisode will be all about Madrid
.
We took a train.
Spoiler alert we'll talk moreabout that on the next episode
because we are taking up a lotof time today.
(45:09):
Um, but again, follow, check usout on instagram if you want to
see any of the stuff that wetalked about.
I have a barcelona highlightthat shows all of it.
Come say hello if this podcastis helpful to you.
A review would mean so, so, so,so, so much, because that is
how apple or spotify determineswhat podcast they're going to
show to people when they search.
(45:29):
The ones that have more reviewsget shown more, so any review
is greatly welcome.
Maybe we'll do a giveaway soon.
Speaker 2 (45:37):
Even if it's constructive criticism.
Speaker 1 (45:39):
Yes, we take constructive criticism.
We appreciate it very much andwe appreciate you all and we
will catch you on the nextepisode.
Speaker 2 (45:47):
Yes, thanks for tuning in.
Have a good one Bye.
Will catch you on the nextepisode.
Yes, thanks for tuning in.
Have a good one, bye.
If you've been considering Barcelona for a
family trip and want to usepoints and miles, we're going to
tell you exactly how we managedit as a family of five, plus
all the activities we did intoday's episode.
Listen in.
Hi, I'm Raya.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
And I'm Dwayne.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
And we are your hosts of the Travel Party of Five
podcast, where we share how wetravel as a family of five
around the world.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
We will also share how we use points and miles to
travel as affordably as possibleand sometimes even completely
free.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
So if you're wanting to travel more with your family
but you're not sure how, we'dlove for you to listen in.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
So welcome to our podcast, where we hope you learn
a thing or two to get youcloser to your next trip.
Welcome back, hi friends,thanks for tuning in.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
We are excited to share all about our Barcelona
trip today.
We've been back home for abouta week now and I feel like are
finally adjusted back to thetime zone and all the routine
things.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Reality.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Yes, reality, school sports, you know, you name it.
And so Work, yeah, work.
We're missing Europe a littlebit.
I think it was just so relaxingand nice.
But we're going to share allthe details of our Barcelona
trip with you today, and let'sget into it.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Let's do it.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Okay, so let's start with how we got there.
We flew from Paris.
If you listen to our Parisepisode, we started in Paris and
then flew from Paris toBarcelona.
We paid cash for those flights.
We did book on Air France.
If you book early enough, youcan get them on points for like
(02:11):
five thousand dollar.
No, five thousand points aflight.
But we did not book earlyenough.
In fact, I think I booked theseflights maybe two or three
months before we left.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Why did you wait so long?
Speaker 1 (02:27):
I think it's just like.
Inter-european flights aregenerally pretty cheap and easy
to find and I just wasn'tconcerned about not being able
to find something Like.
Ryanair, for example, is likeone of the budget European
airlines.
They usually have fairly cheapflights, the Air France ones.
The timing just happened towork out the best and I think it
(02:53):
was maybe around six or $700total for all five of us to fly,
which is pretty cheap, prettygood.
So I don't think like even ifthey had had 5,000 point flights
, I don't think it would havebeen worth it because that would
have been 25,000 points.
The cents per point justdoesn't really make a lot of
sense for that.
So, anyways, we flew.
Our flight was actually delayed.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Um, we boarded it was delayed, but it wasn't like it
wasn't on purpose.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Like, yeah, we boarded on time and then we sat
on the plane for almost twohours before we took off.
We taxied to the, we headedtowards the runway, then we
headed back to the gate.
There was some kind of errorwith the cargo door saying it
was open, even though theairline was like it's not open,
but we have to get this likelight saying it's open off, and
(03:41):
so we had to go back to a gate.
They fixed it it and then wewere finally able to take off.
So we ended up landing abouttwo hours later than planned.
So all in all, we were on theplane for about four hours on a
two-hour flight.
Yeah, thankfully, our kids Idon't even know that they really
noticed because they wereplaying on their ipads.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Yeah, once they have their face on the iPad, they're
set.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Yeah, they were fine.
So they did ask me once welanded like, oh, why did that
take so long?
But it was not a big deal andthey handed out sandwiches that
were quite good.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Pretty good.
I'm upset that I didn't ask foranother one.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
It was ham and butter sandwiches is what they were,
and it's very French, but theywere good.
I'm upset that I didn't ask foranother one.
It was ham and buttersandwiches is what they were,
and it's very French, but theywere good, soft, delicious, yeah
.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
I would have said it had cheese in it, but you told
me it didn't.
It didn't, it was ham andbutter.
Matter of fact, the guy infront of me asked for another
one and the stewardess was likeno, we're done serving.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
So okay, so we land in barcelona and we take a taxi
to the hotel.
That was what we did everyplace we went.
It's just, you can take themetro, but with the kids and the
luggage, you know, and thetransferring, it's the stairs
totally worth it the taxis arejust the way to go, and we I
don't know if we talked aboutthis last episode, but we have a
(05:09):
ride safer vest for ourdaughter, who is five, and that
is what we used for her so thatwe could take taxis, my boys
instead of hauling around a carseat or a booster.
She's yeah and and like she'stoo little for even a booster.
So essentially it's afive-point harness, like, and
it's a vest that she wears, andthen you use the regular seat
(05:32):
belt and the seat belt fits intothe vest, so it just hooks up
to the vest.
It adjusts the seat belt to hersize, basically and to fit in
the right spots on her body,pretty nifty little contraption.
It was really nice to be able totake taxis when we needed to,
(05:53):
because that would have held usback otherwise.
She's too little for a booster.
That's not even an option forher.
She barely weighs 35 pounds.
So, yeah, it was raining.
We took a taxi to the hotel.
She barely weighs 35 pounds.
Yeah, it was raining.
We took a taxi to the hotel.
One of our kids was like okay,so what language do they speak
(06:13):
here?
I'm like here it's Spanish.
Now it's daddy's turn to talk,because Duane can speak a little
bit of Spanish.
Poquito, yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Hotel.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Yeah, let's talk about the hotel.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
We stayed at the Grand Hyatt Barcelona, which was
formerly the Sofia Yep.
Very nice hotel, yes.
What are your thoughts on it?
Speaker 1 (06:40):
I loved it.
It's a little like the decor isa little like kitschy, it's
like I don't know how todescribe it.
It's a little like the decor isa little like kitschy, it's
like I don't know how todescribe it.
It's unique.
It's not something I would everchoose for.
Like my house A lot of mirrorsand like a lot of green it was a
lot of gold, a lot of gold,yeah, but service was incredible
.
Like hotel is beautiful.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Yeah, front desk staff was great, the concierge
every.
Yeah, front desk staff wasgreat.
The concierge every day we werethere was great, very helpful
yep, we spoke english.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Yep, we um needed them a few times because we had
to pivot because of the weather.
So I this like might have beenmy favorite of the three hotels
we stayed in on this trip, um,so let me quickly tell you how
we booked it and how Icoordinated.
So again, first of all, I havea whole episode on how I booked
(07:32):
this entire trip so you can goback and listen to that.
But I'll just quickly recapthis piece because I think it's
important.
We used points for the rooms,one in my name, one in Dwayne's
name.
I booked originally one kingroom and one twin bedroom and I
(07:56):
had previously called to confirmoccupancy of five and was
verbally told yes.
But when I emailed to confirm,they told me no, no, no, the
rooms you have booked are only,like, you can only fit four
people.
So I emailed back and forth afew times and they basically
were like well, if you upgradeto this suite, you can fit five.
And I thought one and like,they meant a paid upgrade and I
thought, well, I'm not gonna payto upgrade, but I'll use a
(08:17):
suite upgrade award if that'swhat it takes.
So I confirmed that that wouldwork and they said it would, and
so I applied a suite upgradeaward to my the reservation in
my name and then they were ableto upgrade us to a junior suite
and then they connected us to apremium twin room.
(08:39):
I don't think this was in theother episode.
I did because I didn't know atthe time.
They told me that that suite sothe junior suite is the only
suite they have that can beconnected to any of their rooms.
So I think if you're a familyof five, this is what you're
going to get.
There's no other option.
It was phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
I mean put it like this Our suite, without the
adjoining room, was just as bigas both rooms in Paris.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Because the bathroom in this suite was as big as the
room In.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Paris, yeah.
Very very nice room.
We saw the kids' room first andwe were like, okay, yeah, two
twin beds, that's great.
And then we went into our room,which was the next door in the
hallway, and like my jaw droppedwhen I saw the bathroom.
Like I was like holy moly andevery single one of the kids too
(09:35):
.
Like when they came in, theywere like, whoa, I actually have
, I have, um, I have anInstagram highlight of our whole
Barcelona trip.
So if you want to take a lookat that, you can find us on
Instagram at TravelPartyof5.
Follow, say hello, but look atthe Barcelona highlight, because
you'll be able to see the room,you'll be able to see the
bathroom and I think I have thekids' reactions on there too.
I wish I had had my face onvideo when I saw it.
(09:58):
It was amazing.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
One of the nicest suites we've stayed in.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Yeah amazing, one of the nicest suites we've stayed
in.
Yeah, what else did you thinkabout the hotel?
Oh so, let me sorry, let mefinish.
So, in addition to the suiteupgrade award to my room, I
learned that this hotel has aclub, and so I also applied a
club access award to Dwayne'sreservation.
So I gifted it to him,basically, and then applied it
from there, and I think I didthat through the Hyatt chat, so
(10:25):
it was pretty easy and the sothat gave us all access to the
club and the breakfast.
The breakfast is actually notin the club.
Well, it is, but the breakfastis.
It's not a club breakfast, likeit's the same breakfast that
you would get if you were payingfor it, basically, which means
(10:46):
it's good.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Buffet.
Huge buffet, huge Fruits, alltypes of drinks, pastries,
pastries, meats, churros andchocolate on tap.
They had Nutella on tap.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Yeah, that was the kids' favorite part.
They had like made to ordereggs and omelets and Eggs
Benedict and all that.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Yeah, bacon, potatoes , waffles, pancakes were
alternating days.
Yeah everything was delicious,it was great.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Way better than the club in Paris.
I'd say Well, but thisbreakfast wasn't technically a
club, it was their hotelbreakfast that we got access to
as part of having club access.
But yes, it was better, it wasbetter, yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
I lost weight in Paris and then gained weight in
Barcelona.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
So okay.
So we also use the club quite abit in the evening.
So kind of the routine that wegot in while we were there was
having a leisurely breakfastaround maybe nine ish, so not
waking up super early, notrushing, spending maybe an hour
or so at breakfast and then kindof venturing out to do whatever
(12:03):
we were going to do that dayand then we would have a later
lunch out, like maybe two orthree o'clock, and then come
back to the hotel and do like alight dinner at the club most
nights and the club.
So the club again, thebreakfast is very extravagant.
(12:23):
The club at night it's in thesame area as the breakfast, kind
of.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
But less options.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Yes, there's less options, but they always have a
few hot food options like littleappetizer bites.
Almost they have all the jamonand the cured meats and the
cheese, wine, beer Dwayne didn'tdiscover the beer until the
last day.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
I didn't know they had beer on tap for free until
the last day.
I was pretty upset about that.
I was sad about that.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
They had little desserts and I mean the quality
was definitely not as good asthe breakfast, you know, and you
know they had a salad everynight and fruit, and so we would
just get little things and forthe most part that was plenty.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Yeah, that was, it was okay.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
There was one night where the kids were hungry, and
it was actually when Dwayne wasdoing laundry, so I told them we
could order a room service.
And so we did room service andso we did, and it was like, I
think on the menu one of theitems was noodle soup, so my
daughter wanted that, and thenthere was basically like chicken
fingers, and so we got twoorders of chicken fingers and an
(13:36):
order of noodle soup and ittook about an hour, like I had
actually sent my oldest down tothe lobby to ask where it was
because our phone was notworking.
And as soon as he like got inthe elevator, someone knocked on
the door bringing it, but itwas on a fancy cart like old
(13:59):
school room service with linenon it yes, a linen on it, like
you know, the know the salt andthe pepper and the bread and the
butter, and again for chickenfingers and French fries and
noodle soup.
And the kids were in seventhheaven.
It had the little tiny ketchupbottles and you know all like it
was fancy.
It was a big contrast to theHyatt Regency Paris where they
(14:23):
delivered the room service to mein a paper bag.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Literally paper bag.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Yes, literally.
So we did end up doing that onenight for dinner and the kids
thought that was really fun andso that made it fun for me.
So and Dwayne came back fromdoing laundry and was like what
is happening?
It was like pm everyone's upand eating.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
he's like what is happening speaking of I didn't
touch this on the paris episode,but I did do laundry there as
well.
Yes, and the laundry mats arenothing like the laundry mats in
the united states.
They're clean, all the machineswork, you know, um, yes, so it
(15:05):
was very convenient to be ableto do that and, with that being
said, we overpacked like a mofoyes, and we were in carry-on
only.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Yeah, we still overpacked.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Well, my, my carry-on was about to break.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
I had so much stuff in it well, how many pairs of
jordans did you bring?
Speaker 2 (15:22):
well, I had a separate bag for that how many
pairs did you bring?
Jordans or shoes all together,I brought four right four, was
it four?
Speaker 1 (15:33):
yes, it was four for contrast, I brought two pairs of
shoes.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
One was sneakers and one was boots.
I bought a bag especially forshoes he did, which was pretty,
pretty helpful actually, andit's a huge bag it is huge, like
it looks like he's carrying awhole suitcase on his back we
were at baggage claim one dayand the one guy was like that's
the biggest book bag or bag I'veever seen on someone's back
(16:01):
really I don't think you told methat it's got my shoes in it.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
I mean, the fact that you can fit four pairs of shoes
in that bag is prettyimpressive, because what?
Speaker 2 (16:10):
well, I had three and I was wearing one, oh okay, but
I mean if, if you have like asize eight or maybe a size nine,
you can fit four easily, but Ihave a size 11, it was I mean
duane's shoes are huge, likewhen I look at them I'm like
like one shoe is like the sizeof two of my shoes.
(16:30):
It's crazy that's why I neededanother bag and, just in case, I
bought a pair in europe.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Oh, god, I didn't.
He made us go into like fourshoe stores.
Okay, so wasn't there one thathad, like you thought it had the
soap in it already?
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Oh yes.
So the laundry man pair.
She had to provide your ownsoap, but the ones that were in
Spain came like was like builtinto the washer, so like you
just put your clothes in and thesoap was already in there.
Yes, and it was very convenientInstructions on the wall in
English.
In Paris it had it in English,I can't remember the one in
(17:14):
Spain.
I just knew what to do, I think.
Oh no, no, I take it back.
It was.
There's like a screen.
You got to choose your washer,choose your dryer, and it asks
you what language you want.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
But super simple, super convenient, both locations
or all three locations wereright next to the hotel.
Yeah, because he did laundry inevery city that we were in one
night, so I would just stay withthe kids and he would go and do
it.
Part of the reason we overpackpacked was because of the
(17:49):
weather, like we originallythere was going to be some
warmer days and that ended upchanging and so we had some like
shorts and stuff that really noone could wear.
So but I want to do an episodeabout like lessons learned after
two weeks in Europe with kids,probably after the Madrid
episode, and so because I havemore to say about that, about
(18:11):
the back, end.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Stay tuned for that.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Yeah, I have more to say about the carry-on only and
all that, okay.
The other thing we did at thehotel was we did eat at one of
the restaurants for dinner onour last night.
It was called Maymanta,maymanta, maymanta.
It was Peruvian-Japanese fusion, basically is how it was
(18:34):
described to us, and we weren'tsuper hungry so we didn't order
a ton of food, but most of whatwe ordered was very good.
Yes, our oldest got some steak.
I also got some steak with somechimichurri.
That was delicious.
Duane doesn't like chimichurri,so yeah, I'm not a fan.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
What did I get?
Speaker 1 (18:56):
I forget um, you didn't like yours, you got the
pork belly something.
Yeah, you didn't like it asmuch.
And then for the kids they hadlike a I don't know some kind
kind of noodle like.
Yeah, it had steak in it and itwas like sesame noodles.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
That was really good.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Theirs was very good too.
They also have in the hotel alittle coffee shop in the lobby
that's kind of off to the side.
It's super cute.
It has books like all along thewalls and it is totally like
there's an entrance from theoutside so you don't have to go
through the hotel to get to it.
And I did have a nice littledecaf cappuccino in there one
day after we had been out andabout and I got a good 15
(19:33):
minutes of quiet in which wasnice, yep, but it's super cute.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
They also have a steakhouse that we did not go to
because the guy at the frontdesk or the lady at the front
desk said it was pretty fancyand that we would need a
reservation.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
So we didn't want to get dressed up.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
No, and take the kids .
Speaker 1 (19:52):
So yeah, all in all, would absolutely recommend this
hotel.
I think the biggest con thatpeople talk about with this
hotel is they say that it's farfrom the touristy stuff and
that's not entirely true.
Yeah, I mean it's not wrong.
It's definitely not close, it'snot entirely true.
Yeah, I mean it's not wrong,it's definitely not close.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
It's not close.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
But we took the metro pretty much everywhere and the
metro is maybe like the entranceis maybe a five or six minute
walk from the hotel.
It's an easy walk and we I meanwe've had zero problems getting
anywhere.
We also there was like I'mgoing to call it a tram, I don't
(20:31):
know Like a train.
So instead of the metro, whichis underground, they also have
these like trains or trams thatare above ground, and we took
that back one day because it was, you know, the closest, fastest
option and that was likeliterally, maybe 90 seconds walk
.
Yeah, the stop was right thereyeah, so like we didn't feel
(20:55):
like we were missing anything bystaying where we stayed right
no, not at all, not at all, andso I think if that's a concern,
like if you want to be able towalk out the door and be in the
middle of like la rambla, likethat's not gonna Like, if you
want to be able to walk out thedoor and be in the middle of
like La Rambla, like that's notgoing to happen, but if you
don't mind taking the Metromaybe five or 10 minutes, then I
would highly recommend thishotel.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
For sure and I mean just like we stated earlier
staff was great, hotel was great.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Yeah, the service was phenomenal.
They even the second day.
So the first day we got there,someone called the room and the
phone wasn't working, Like youcouldn't hear the person.
It was really staticky.
And then the next day we gotthere, we got back to the room.
They had left us like, um, likea chocolates and a note.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
And we were apologizing for the
inconvenience and we didn't knowwhat they were talking about.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
So we had to go down to the front desk and be like we
got this, but we don't knowwhat it's for, and they were
like oh, it's because your phonedoesn't work.
We were like, oh, we're like,oh, it's fine, yeah, so, all in
all, would absolutely recommendthis hotel Again.
(22:10):
Go check my Instagram highlightif you want to see our room and
all that fun stuff.
Let's talk about things we didin Barcelona.
Because it rained, we had topivot a couple of times and
there was one thing that wedidn't get to do, which was
disappointing.
So the first day we weresupposed to do our first full
day, we were supposed to do atour and the tour guide had
texted me previously.
So I had her number and Itexted her to say, hey, like
(22:35):
this is the morning of.
I said hey, like how is theweather going to affect our tour
today?
Because it was scheduled torain all day and it was kind of
a whole dramatic thing that Iand basically that led into a
little bit of a saga about howshe could maybe postpone the
tour to the next day, but shewould have to find someone else
(22:58):
to do it because she was alsogoing to be like trying to do an
interview for this like weekendjob interview for this like
weekend job.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
So the weekend that we were there it was the
cannabis, like yeah, cup orwhatever, and they were calling
it spanibus, I think.
So yeah, so our tour guy wastrying to work that event
because I'm assuming she wouldhave made more money, which is
understandable.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
But she said, in order to do it, she had to be
able to work all three days.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Yeah, so she couldn't .
She was going to hand off ourtour to one of her colleagues,
but that fell through, so wewaited to the next day to do it.
Was it the next?
Speaker 1 (23:38):
day yeah, it was the next day, and then she ended up
being our tour guide, anywaysyes, so apparently they had like
tried to scam her or something.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
She like showed up to a job interview and no one was
there.
Yeah, Whatever?
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Yeah, I don't know.
We yes, we probably know waytoo many details about this
situation.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
She was very friendly and very open about her
situation.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Yeah, but she was really nice.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Super, super nice.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Like she gave our daughter a piggyback at one
point during the ride.
She, or during the ride she, orduring the ride, during the
tour, she, um, like, had like aprintout of, like some pictures
and we talked about the, thespanish words for you know all
these things, and that was kindof fun for the kids and I mean.
So the tour it was supposed tobe called, I think, churros,
(24:25):
chocolate and cheese orsomething.
Part of the tour is supposed towalk you through the market,
and we had actually done thatthe day before, when it was
raining, because we were aimingfor indoor things, and so we
told her like we could probablyskip the market because we
already did that, but I thinkthat's where the cheese was, so
(24:46):
we didn't get the cheese.
She walked us through like thegothic quarter of Barcelona.
We talked a little bit aboutthe history, we learned a little
bit more about Gaudi you didn'tknow anything about Gaudi
before this trip, right?
Nada.
She told us how he died, whichwas a little bit tragic, but it
was also.
The tour was meant to be gearedtowards kids, and I think the
(25:09):
kids did get something out of it, and so did we.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Yeah, it was great.
I think it was worth it.
She was a great tour guide.
She was yeah, she was very intoit.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Spoke great English.
She spoke like five differentlanguages actually.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Yes, and the churros and chocolate that we got were
very good, like some of the bestones that we had.
So yeah, I mean we had a lot ofgood churros, we did chocolate I
can put a link to the tour thatwe did in the show notes
because I I think I wouldrecommend it with kids.
There was another one that wewere deciding between and it was
(25:47):
like a dragon tour and like Iwould probably do that one next
time the dragon tour I can linkthat one too.
Um, just know that we didn't dothat tour, so I can't.
I don't have firsthandexperience, but it had good
reviews, so we were decidingbetween those two.
Um, so we did that.
Our second day in Barcelona.
The first day in Barcelona, wethis was one of the times we
(26:09):
used the concierge because wesaid what can we do with the
kids when it's raining?
Because it literally rained theentire day and he made a few
recommendations, one of whichwas the Barcelona Aquarium.
I would say we're not bigaquarium people Like generally
we would not go to a city andvisit an aquarium, true.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
True.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
But we were like what else are we going to do?
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Yeah, we weren't going to sit around and waste
the day, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Yeah, so we went to the aquarium.
It was good, it was cool.
I think the best part was theyhave a little play area and our
kids played there for like asolid 30 minutes, if not more,
at the end, yeah, after we hadwent through the aquarium, which
, you know, aquariums are allthe same to me.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
I mean me too.
Yeah, I mean it was good forwhat.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
The kids liked it.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
It was nice for them to be able to have an indoor
space where they could play andbe loud and we got to just sit
at a table and, like you know,have quiet time, yeah, so again,
the concierge recommended that.
He also said that there wasthis food like market not market
(27:29):
, but food court it's a foodcourt to us.
I don't think he called it that, but it is like in a mall right
next to the aquarium and it wascalled time out after a like
really popular magazine there,like a food magazine.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
I think I could be wrong about that, but it was a
magazine and yeah, all thesepretty good restaurants were in
this little food court area andit was pretty busy too yeah, he
said like imagine, like the bestrestaurants in barcelona all
got together and made like minirestaurants, like in this kind
(28:05):
of area, so it is set up like afood court.
But like we're not talkingabout Sbarro's pizza, right,
we're talking about like likethere are some Michelin star
restaurants there and I think ifyou go on certain days you can
like line up to to eat at someof those restaurants.
They have like a fixed pricetasting menu or something.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
Yeah, so there was like that day, but at least 12
different spots you can go toand like good food, so like we
ended up getting a burger aburger, a pizza a couple of
pizzas, yeah, and some calamariand croquettes.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Croquettes, yeah, because you know when in spain,
yes, the the burger came withfries that had this like truffle
sauce on them.
That was very good.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Muy bueno.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
The pizza was very good, everything was very good,
and so definitely not yourtypical American food court food
.
So we did that again as kind oflike a later lunch, early
dinner, after the aquarium it'sright next next door and then we
took the metro home to back tothe hotel.
Um, let's see, what else did wedo?
(29:14):
Um, oh, our first day.
We also forgot we went to themarket.
Uh, do you remember the name ofthe market?
Mercado de okay, it was the.
How do you say that?
Speaker 2 (29:30):
Mercat de la Boqueria .
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Yeah, that's what it was.
And so, first of all, thisplace is huge.
Second of all, we kind of justdid our own little food tour
with the kids.
So we went in, we walked allthe way around and then we got a
bunch of different things.
So we tried some of the jamonand the cheese we tried.
They had a bunch of differentthings, so we tried some of the
the jamon and the cheese wetried.
They had a bunch of fresh fruiteverywhere we went.
(29:52):
Tell about the fruit.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
I mean.
First of all, I don't think Imentioned this in the paris
episode, but the fruit in europelooks way better than the fruit
here, like the color.
It's just, yes, very colorful,very vibrant, looks fresh, but
it is expensive.
But I mean, every time wepassed a fruit stand I was like,
(30:15):
oh my God, look at this fruit.
I was taking pictures ofstrawberries at one point and
raspberries.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
That's when you've reached peak adulthood.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Even when we went on the tour in Paris, the tour
guide.
I was like the fruit here looksso good, and that's when she
was like it's pretty expensivethough.
So, yes, we got a few thingsfrom this market Fresh juice,
which was muy, muy bueno.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
What else?
Oh, they had pistachiocroissants, which I haven't been
able to find since I was initaly last year, and so I got
one of those and you got to tryit.
It was pretty good.
Huh, it's pretty good, yeah,super yummy, um.
And so, yeah, we just kind ofdid our own little mini market
food tour and let the kids tryall the things and we got a
(31:05):
sandwich, ham sandwich.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Um, oh yeah, it was good.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
It just was missing condiments, you know, for us
americans, our kids didn't lovethe ham sandwiches there.
I would say, um, because yeahit's, it's pretty plain, it's
literally ham and bread andcheese with a little mustard and
mayonnaise.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
it probably would have been some chips or maybe
some butter.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
From France.
The French butter is elite.
Okay, let me get back to mylist to make sure we don't miss
anything, because we didsomething else.
Oh yeah, let's go back to thetour that we did with the one we
booked the churros cheese andchocolate.
The one we booked the churroscheese and chocolate.
(31:50):
In addition to everything wementioned you also, we also got
to see some roman ruins, whichwas a big surprise to me.
I don't remember seeing thatthe last time I was in barcelona
and, like, literally justwalked into this building and
she was saying that theydiscovered these ruins when they
were building something and sothen, instead of building
whatever they were building nowit's like a, it's part of, like
(32:10):
the museum but you literally,just we just walked through a
door and it was there below usand then we just kept walking
out out another door and wecontinued our way on to the park
so I think she said that thisplace that was built on top of
these ruins was a market, andthen they realized that there
was, like this, ancientcivilization buried underneath
(32:32):
it and I thought, how could theynot find this when they would
like dug for the foundation ofthis building?
Speaker 2 (32:41):
But apparently I don't know what happened.
But I mean, you can go in therenow and there's no floor and
you can look down to see this,whatever, yeah, it's crazy, it's
really crazy.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
It kind of reminds me of like Pompeii, like if you've
been to Pompeii in Italy, likeit has that vibe, but it's in
Spain, so that's just so crazyto me.
We also got to see on that toura piece of the column from the
original wall that surroundedthe city of barcelona way, way,
(33:12):
way, way back, and so that wascool too.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
Yeah and the drawbridge that was there, which
is no longer used as adrawbridge, but yeah, yeah, um,
and then on our last day we wentto Park Guell in Sagrada
Familia.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
So Park Guell is the park that Gaudi designed, and I
don't really know how todescribe it.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
I don't either.
It's very fancy.
A lot of columns, yes, it'svery fancy.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
A lot of columns, yes , and like there's a part
towards the bottom where it justlooks like you're in a Disney
movie, like I have a fewpictures of the kids where
behind them it just doesn't evenlook like it's reality, it's
yeah, yeah, it's these twohouses that Gowdy built yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
The kids were calling it gingerbread houses.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
Yes, it did look like gingerbread houses.
Our kids also called this park.
I'm going to quote that place.
We ran around and chasedpigeons.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Because they chased pigeons for a good half an hour,
while we sat on a bench Weavingthrough probably thousands of
people that were there as welljust flapping their arms,
squawking like birds runningaround.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
It was pretty funny.
But again it's been rainy rightand they need to get their
energy out.
So by all means, go ahead, gocrazy, and from the park you can
see sagradaia kind of like offin the distance, and so we left.
So here's what I wouldrecommend, because I think this
is a good like.
These are two good things to doin the same day.
(34:55):
So we did park well in themorning.
It's best to take a taxi hereand not do the metro, because
the metro drops you off at thebottom of a hill and the taxi
can drive you much closer to thetop.
So I would this.
We did take a taxi One of theonly times we took a taxi
(35:16):
outside of the airports, so Iwould do that.
I would do Park Guell in themorning you can buy tickets
directly on the Park Guellwebsite and then plan on having
lunch around midday.
We walked to a place calledGwelly Sandwich Park and Dwayne
said it was a long walk.
It was like 12 minutes, so Ididn't feel like it was long.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
It was one of the longer walks we had and it was
like upstairs up some hills anescalator, which was pretty
crazy.
We found this escalator in themiddle of this hilly city and
these escalators it was oneescalator that could go either
up or down.
You just had to push a button.
Yeah, you could change thedirection of it.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
So that was cool.
So we had lunch there.
Again, we just got sandwiches.
Again, our kids we got hamsandwiches.
They didn't really enjoy themvery much, um, but then they had
ice cream, so we let them getice cream.
And they had churros.
So of course I got churros,because I'm on a mission to eat
churros every single day thatwe're in spain and shout out to
(36:21):
the owner of that place.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
He was super friendly I mean I'm assuming he's the
owner, but I think he was theowner too.
Yeah, he's super friendly guy.
Um funny as well.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
We chatted with him a bunch cause we sat right
outside and ate and it was.
He was really nice.
So would definitely recommendthat there was also a way that
you could walk up from where hisrestaurant was.
You could walk up and get intothe park, so you could also
start there and then go into thepark if you wanted to do to do
that and so then to leave.
(36:52):
We took the metro and again wewent down like maybe six
escalators from the top of thishill to the bottom to get to the
metro, wouldn't you say it was?
Speaker 2 (37:04):
like four.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
It was pretty steep, and we took the Metro over to
Sagrada Familia and so we hadbought tickets online for
Sagrada Familia.
There are a ton of tours listedon Viator and they call them
skip the line tickets.
Right, like, get your skip theline tickets here.
You can just buy the ticketsyourself directly on the Sagrada
(37:28):
Familia website.
If you Google it, like, you'llknow which one is legitimate.
I think it ends in like org orsomething like that, and so I
purchased tickets for the fiveof us along with the guided tour
, and so the plan was to doParkwell, grab lunch, then head
over to the church.
(37:49):
We ended up being a little bitearly, so we did grab another
snack at a little cafe rightoutside the church.
Like, like, literally, we saton the sidewalk and looked at
sagrada familia.
I'm sure it was a touristy cafe, but it wasn't.
We had like an hour to kill, soit wasn't bad it was.
Yeah, it was fine.
We had some chicken wings thatour son thought were delicious,
(38:11):
so, um, and then, yeah, we went.
We went to get in the line.
We didn't really wait at all,and so you know the the tickets
are for a certain time frame.
We went in a little bit beforeour tour started and then the
tour was around 45 minutes.
I would say, yeah, not gearedtowards kids, our kids.
(38:31):
You know they give you theheadsets and the little
microphone or not microphonesearbuds, yeah, and you put them
on and I think the kids werelistening for around 15, maybe
20 minutes before they started.
You know, losing To phase out,yeah, but we learned about the
(38:52):
history of the church.
That was the first time I'veever been inside of it.
I only looked at it from theoutside.
What did you think about it?
Speaker 2 (38:59):
I thought it was stunning.
Yeah, just the architecture,the, the sculpting.
If you, if you are in barcelona, it's, it's a must do, oh, yeah
, for sure, and like it's like,first of all, they started
building this thing in like 1867or something and it's still not
done yeah which is crazy to me.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
Yeah, at one point our tour guide was like do you
see this like column over here,and a few people were like yeah,
and she's like, well, that'sweird because it's not built yet
.
So, but like, inside there'sall this stained glass, and the
stained glass is differentcolors depending on which
direction the church faces.
So like, the more the the sideof the church that gets like the
(39:42):
morning sunrise is more yellowand orange and red, and then the
side of the church that getsthe sunset is a little bit more
like blue and green and purple,you know to symbolize like night
, and I mean it's beautiful whenyou go inside.
Yeah, I mean it's stunning.
So we definitely recommend.
And, yeah, our kids, yeah, wewere in there for a little over
(40:04):
an hour total and I think thekids were definitely losing
steam by the end.
But you know, we always tell,always tell them like this
vacation is for all of us andsometimes we have to do things
that we don't want to do becausesomeone else does.
So I think that's a good, um,like that's a good thing to do
all in one day.
The park, well, and the sagradafamilia, yeah, and I think last
(40:26):
was we just wanted to chatabout a few of the food dishes
that we had After the tour thechurros, chocolate and cheese
tour where we didn't get cheese.
We ended up going to arestaurant Right by Parque de la
Citadella.
I don't know if I'm pronouncingthat correctly, but we got
(40:50):
seafood paella and it was quitegood actually.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
It was pretty good.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
The last time I had paella it was super fishy and
like I don't like that.
Like it's seafood paella and Iget that there's seafood in it,
but I don't want the rice totaste like shrimp, you know.
And this rice was superflavorful but did not taste
fishy.
I just don't remember the nameof the restaurant, but it was
right on the corner and it wasin a hotel yeah, it was in a
(41:17):
hotel.
Speaker 2 (41:18):
It's like the bottom floor of a hotel but we sat
outside.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
That was the only option and it was freezing,
freezing like at one point ourdaughter was sitting inside
duane's jacket on his lapbecause it was so cold.
So it was sunny but freezing.
Speaker 2 (41:35):
Because it was super windy.
Speaker 1 (41:36):
Yeah, so again, the weather, we made the best of it.
And then I mean churros andchocolate we had literally every
single day, sometimes multipletimes a day.
And at the hotel they have thispastry.
I put it on instagram it is likea croissant covered in
granulated sugar, but it alsohas like cream inside, like
(41:59):
custard, yeah, like super goodlike the cream that you would
get inside, like a boston creamdonut, like that kind of cream,
and I am still thinking aboutthose pastries and wish that I
could eat another one.
Yeah, they were really good.
Okay, all in all, thoughts onBarcelona Cause.
Well, first of all, I'll addI'll the first time I visited
(42:22):
Barcelona was in 2012 and I camefrom Italy was when I was
backpacking Europe by myself andI almost missed my train,
almost skipped Barcelonaentirely, but ended up going,
and then, once I was there, Iextended my stay because I loved
it so much.
It was just really, I really,really enjoyed it.
(42:46):
So that was my first time and Iwas excited for you to
experience it.
So now you share your thoughts.
Speaker 2 (42:53):
I loved it, definitely one of my favorite
places I've ever been.
Would definitely go back.
People there are nice, food wasgreat, atmosphere great.
But one thing we didn't do wasgo to the beach, which is pretty
disappointing because of theweather, obviously, but
(43:15):
hopefully next time we can dothat yeah, I think it's.
Speaker 1 (43:17):
Yeah, in the summer the beach is great, um, and the
other thing we didn't get to doon that note was we wanted to go
to tibidabo, which is theamusement park.
You take, like the funicular upand it's like we saw it from
the city and there's like a cat,it looks like a castle,
basically, but it's an amusementpark that you can go to.
The opening day was actuallylike while we were there, but it
(43:43):
was raining and freezing, andso we opted to skip it.
Unfortunately, I just thoughtlike I don't think anyone's
going to have fun if everyone'sfreezing and wet, you know.
So we skipped it this time, butit has great views of Barcelona
.
If you're going in the summer,I would absolutely recommend it
(44:05):
and we'll definitely be sure toput it on the list next time.
The other thing we wanted to dowas a football game.
Speaker 2 (44:14):
Yes, definitely on my list to do, but first of all,
camp Nou is closed.
Speaker 1 (44:24):
Right now.
They're playing in Madrid.
But also there was no game andthere was a game while we were
there, but we were in Barcelonaand the game was in Madrid.
But also there was no game andthere was a game while we were
there, but we were in Barcelonaand the game was in Madrid yes,
yeah and it was like the daybefore we were supposed to go to
Madrid and it was really, itwas Barcelona versus Real Madrid
, which would have been the gameto go to yeah, so unfortunately
(44:47):
, we missed it.
However, the Grand High ofBarcelona is very close to Camp
Nou, so something to keep inmind if that's why you're going.
Yeah, okay, well, our nextepisode will be all about Madrid
.
We took a train.
Spoiler alert we'll talk moreabout that on the next episode
because we are taking up a lotof time today.
(45:09):
Um, but again, follow, check usout on instagram if you want to
see any of the stuff that wetalked about.
I have a barcelona highlightthat shows all of it.
Come say hello if this podcastis helpful to you.
A review would mean so, so, so,so, so much, because that is
how apple or spotify determineswhat podcast they're going to
show to people when they search.
(45:29):
The ones that have more reviewsget shown more, so any review
is greatly welcome.
Maybe we'll do a giveaway soon.
Speaker 2 (45:37):
Even if it's constructive criticism.
Speaker 1 (45:39):
Yes, we take constructive criticism.
We appreciate it very much andwe appreciate you all and we
will catch you on the nextepisode.
Speaker 2 (45:47):
Yes, thanks for tuning in.
Have a good one Bye.
Will catch you on the nextepisode.
Yes, thanks for tuning in.
Have a good one, bye.
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