San Sebastian and Bilbao

We went to San Sebastian thinking it would be a beach town with lots of people at the beach, but it turned out the length of time we were there was cold, rainy, and windy. But we ended up having the best pinxos, and had a day trip to Bilbao.

Best pintxos we tried the first night. Zazpi, the waitress there explains everything to us and showed us the way. I had no idea Basque country is so different from the rest of Spain. This was an eye opener experience for me.

Windy and rainy... but we still managed to walk to the beach.

Brave souls

Old town cathedral.

Back to the ocean

One person at the beach

The city hall

We did a pinxos tour and had the most amazing experience with the locals and other tourist
Places we tried included Borda Berri, Sport, and back to Zazpi. This is where I was introduced to non sweet cider and love it!

The next day we took the bus to Bilbao. Bilbao is a bigger city than San Sebastian. It houses the famous Guggenheim Bilbao.

Richard Serra

Jeff Koons

Louise Bourgeois

Frank Gehry

Inside

Unfortunately the puppy was being redone during this time, we would have love to see it

Came back to San Sebastian

Peine Del Viento

Took the funicular up to Hotel Mercure for the view

Checked into Hotel Maria Cristina

Explore San Sebastian some more

More pintxos! Birthday dinner this time ) We tried La Cuchara and La Vina for their famous cheese cake. It was a great side trip in Spain!

Barcelona

Barcelona is the capital of the autonomous region of Catalonia, in the northeast of Spain.

Why visit Barcelona?

1) Visit Sagrada Familia

2) Stay at Casa Camper

3) In Gothic Quarter: plazas, churches

4) Park Guell

5) Pigeons

6) Stroll Las Ramblas

7) Visit Barcelona Beach

8) Visit La Boqueria Market

9) Take a paella cooking class

10) Casa Batllo

11) Casa Mila

12) Arc de Triomf

13) Visit Picasso museum

14) Take a day trip to Montserrat

Day 1 After arriving at Barcelona, checked into Casa Camper for 5 nights
Casa Camper is located centrally in Gothic Quarter, where the narrow streets kind of transported us into Medieval days.

Day 2 Breakfast at Casa Camper
Place de Catalunya- where the pigeons are

Visit Park Guell this morning.

Park Guell is located at the top of the hill, it's our first Gaudi site, there were beautiful fountains, dragon, and colorful benches and great view!

Caves

and there were quaker parrots in the park!

Arc del Triomf- The main gateway to the 1888 Universal Exhibition, which represents City of Barcelona welcomes foreign visitors.  It's made of pink brick facade.

Then we went back to hotel to rest, did I mention I love our hotel's free snacks and hammock

Hotel 1898- best rooftop bar

Paella Lesson in Gothic Quarter with Chef Oscar in his home
If all the doors in the world can look like this...

Chef Oscar was great! we learned how to make paella from scratch and sangria

Day 3
Breakfast at Hotel Casa Camper
Walked to La Bouqueria Market and La Rambla Ave

Quick stop at Barcelona Cathedral

Then we went to Design Walk which is about Moderism and Gaudi

Had croissant and coffee or tea at the end.

Then we took the train to the beach

We had our first tapas where people told us to belly up!
La Xampanyeria- cheap champagne bar, so good!

Then I went shoe shopping

For dinner, we went to La Flauta, where I had razor clams

Day 4 Barcelona
La Sagrada Familia
The most unique church in the whole world, there are 3 sides, one is nativity (birth of Christ), passion (Christ crucifixion), everything in the church has a purpose. The inside is so beautiful, words can not describe, everyone should go see it when have a chance. The light and the color that comes through made me speechless.

The we had udon for lunch, and headed to Picasso Museum, before coming to this museum, I only know his work in cubism. Now I learned about his work, what a talented painter he is.

For dinner, we had Bar Masia next to our hotel where I tried vermouth and liked it

Then we visited billiard table in our hotel

Day 5 Montserrat Tour
Sunrise at hotel

Meet everyone at Metro diagonal and took a car too Montserrat, which is beautiful mountains with monastery on top. We took funicular up to hike and cable car down.

Walk back and witness unveiling of Casa Batllo

Had dinner at Elisabets Rest

Day 6 Bike to Placa Reial, Palau Guell, Castle of 3 dragons, Ciutadella Park, Cathedral of Barcelona and Statue of Columbus.

Then we went to San Sebastian, when we came back to Barcelona, we had a full day, Paul wanted ramen, who knew there is a really good ramen restaurant in Barcelona that has 1 hour wait time....People eat very late here in Spain. Lunch doesn't open until 1:30pm. And dinner doesn't open until 8:30pm

Afterwards, we decided to go visit inside of Casa Mila
It's also known as "La Pedrera", At first, people in Barcelona doesn't like the architecture. Since it look like a huge rocky cliff in the middle of urban area. The top looks like guardian angels that guards the roof, it's said that George Lucas got his "storm troopers" idea from here.

Then we walked by Casa Batllo, we were lucky since the whole building was covered when we arrive, but by the time we are about the leave, it was completely uncovered. It was the perfect way to end our wonderful stay at Barcelona!