We found an outside cafe to sit at and ordered a couple mojitos and some tapas; stuffed green olives and Iberian Jamon. It was a really great way to pass the time and soak in the fact that we were finally here.
We sat for about an hour and a half and in that time, about 4 beggars approached us asking for money.
We weren’t in a particularly poor part of town or anything, and found later that Spain apparently just has a beggar problem. They were not too aggressive, so it wasn’t a big deal.
Our Air BNB is a 2 bedroom, 2 story apartment located in the El Poble-Sec area of town which appears to somewhat of a theatre district. It’s the perfect distance away from the busy La Ramblas street; walking distance but not so close that the noise, crime and drunk people are any kind of a problem. Our place also has a washer/dryer and a kitchen, which is why we prefer Airbnb over hotels (also cheaper).
Our first full day here we found a little place to get breakfast. This is when it became evident that we were in the theatre district. We found a place a few blocks away called El Rincón del Artista that appeared to be the kind of place where all the actors gathered after their shows for late night shenanigans. Judging by the clientele at 6:30am and the fact that they were even open at that hour (there was a bar tender on duty) we guessed that they probably never close. Pictures of the owner posing with unrecognizable (to us) stage actors adorned the walls.
The breakfast was simple, but cheap and tasty and we got a kick out of the fact that is was right next to what appeared to be some kind of middle eastern strip club.
Our goal for the day was to visit Camp Nou, Home to FC Barcelona and the third largest futbol stadium in the world.
Anyone who knows Helmut knows his love of soccer, and for him this is like visiting Mecca.
We navigated the subway with ease and were there within 20 minutes.
The Camp Nou complex was huge and the club has clearly capitalized on soccer fans desire to learn all about it. Tour tickets ranged from about 26-149 euro...this place must make BANK!
I must say, the tour was impressive. The club has been around for over 100 years and all the cup trophies player Jerseys and other awards were on display.
Helmut was like a kid in a candy store!
The stadium itself is massive...holding like 98,000 people. The entire population of Kauai could fit in it with room to spare!
We went down on the field and were in awe with the perfectly manicured grass. They had a virtual reality portion of the tour where you put on Occulus goggles to experience the stadium during a game. It was pretty cool even though I’m sure we looked super dorky.
We hopped back on the metro and got off at the Sagrada Familia exit. We were starving so we stopped for lunch at a little outside cafe and had sangria, jamon tapas, and black paella. I don’t know if you can get any more of a Spanish lunch than that! It was all delicious and we took our time enjoying the refreshing sangria as we watched the world go by.
We must have watched the world go by just a little too long because when we finally went over to see Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia, tickets were sold out. Bummer! We admired it from the outside though and figured we would get tickets for tomorrow.
On our walk back home, we took in the bustle of the city as it seemed to come alive after 6pm.
We accidentally stumbled on the most beautiful market I’ve ever seen! It was full of meats and candy and nuts and fresh fruit...so tempting!
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