We had the opportunity to take a mini Barcelona vacation, and we enjoyed it so much! In three days, we did so much that we returned feeling pretty exhausted… but in a good way. One of our favorite things about our life is the amount of travelling we get to do. We get to travel all over the world! But we spend most of it in the ballrooms and dance halls. When we do travel for fun, we appreciate it all the more.
For sure, we made the most of our three days. If you prefer to watch a video, you can do that right here! But for some other details of our Barcelona vacation, read on!
Day One of Our Barcelona Vacation
Coming down from the high-speed training schedule of National Championships and World Championships, we were ready to decompress. National Championships was tough for us, with the Embassy Ball and our Nationals back to back. You can watch our video about Nationals if you haven’t already. And our World Championships in Minsk disappointed us in the results, even if the city was pretty cool. You can read about our disappointment here, or watch the video so see how beautiful Minsk was.
But the moment we arrived in Barcelona, we knew this was a three day break from training and studio work, just for us to enjoy travelling and being together. I mean, we are always together. But we’re normally focused on our dancing or the studio. So the opportunity to let all of that go and just be a touristy married couple is really special.
I had planned a tour of the Sagrada Familia, Barcelona’s famous weird-looking cathedral, for our first day. We got up early, grabbed a coffee and a pastry, and skipped our merry ways to the tour office. But when we got there… we realized I made the reservation for the week before! What a disappointment! Luckily, the tour company was really helpful and rebooked us onto a tour for later in the week without charging us for the tour.
And in hindsight, it worked out perfectly. The skies were a cloudless blue, so we did something we had never done before. We got on a Hop-On-Hop-Off bus! It was so quintessentially touristy, and so much fun! After driving around the city for a couple of hours, we headed into the Gothic Quarter for a private walking tour we booked through Airbnb. We were the only ones, so it was really private. We enjoyed our tour guide so much, and she treated us to some amazing tapas and sangria at the end of the tour.
During our walk through the Gothic Quarter, I mapped out some tap-houses, gelato houses, and coffeeshops to return to. So naturally, we sought out the tap-house and gelato after our tapas dinner with our guide. The beer was so-so, but the gelato was amazing. They had a flavor called “Crema Catalana”. It tastes similar to crème brulee. But, the gelato had a crust of burnt sugar on the top! It has become my all-time favorite gelato flavor.
Day Two of Our Barcelona Vacation
For our second day, we wanted to get out of the city and see some nature. Again through AirBnB, we booked a hiking tour up a mountain called Montserrat. We met our group at 7am, got into a van with 5 other people, and commenced the hour-long drive to the mountain. Where we got out of the vans was at the visitor center of the mountain and monastery, almost to the top of the mountain. From there, we took a funicular (cable-car) that pulled us the rest of the way to the very top. I can’t exactly say peak, as Montserrat has about 500 individual peaks.
From there, we hiked up, over, and down one of the peaks, pausing to take in the beautiful Catalan landscape. Back at the monastery, we took advantage of the market to try a tradition Catalan dessert of clotted cheese and Montserrat honey. I also picked up a sample set of liqueurs that I discovered the monastery is famous for making.
The views were fantastic, our hiking guide was amazing, and the monastery was beautiful. The experience was great and I can’t recommend it enough. If you’re planning a trip to Barcelona, get out of the city and check out Montserrat.
For dinner that night, we heeded the recommendation of our guide from our walk of the Gothic Quarter and plunged into the Fisherman’s Village neighborhood of Barcelona for some fresh paella. We presented her card at the restaurant and a glass of cava and a beer magically materialized on our table! The paella was…. I’m not sure if I’m able to give an opinion. Simeon and I do not like paella. At first I thought it was because when we tried paella the first time, in Mallorca, it tasted old and fishy. Relatively, this one was much better. But we still didn’t like it. I think paella simply does not appeal to us.
The dinner finished up with the waiter bringing us some complimentary Catalan sweets and two different shots of Catalan digestifs. One was a coffee liqueur and the other was an aromatic herbs liqueur. I liked them both. Simeon cringed with both. Naturally, on our walk back to our apartment, we stopped for gelato. We can’t skip the gelato!
Day Three of Our Barcelona Vacation
We finally got our tour of the Sagrada Familia! The tour group was huge, about 20 of us, and the cathedral was packed shoulder to shoulder with tourists. But I have to admit that our tour guide did a great job managing the traffic flow, keeping us together, and giving us great information.
The cathedral is amazing! It’s weird, really weird. But as awe-inspiring as the outside of the cathedral is, wait until you go inside! Simeon and I both agreed that the inside of the cathedral holds the true essence of Gaudi’s vision. The cathedral is supposed to be finished in 2026. So, Simeon and I made a note to try to make it back to Barcelona in 2026 to see it in its completion.
For lunch, we headed to the old market in the Gothic Quarter to wind our ways through the stalls. The market is an admitted tourist trap, but we enjoyed it anyway. We love Iberico ham. It might be the only thing we eat while we’re in Spain. In the market, stalls selling freshly-shaved ham and different Spanish cheeses tempted us at every turn. We gave in to every temptation. The fruit stalls sold fresh fruit ready to be eaten. Figs? Yes please! Dragonfruit? Don’t mind if I do.
We also picked up some chocolate. Actually, more like €20 worth of chocolate! After all of that walking and eating, we were pooped. Luckily, the market thought of that too! So we sat down at a bar counter for a beer to enjoy with our freshly baked empanadas.
A Special Flamenco Treat
After the market, we strolled down busy streets past salsa bands playing tunes for street dancers to Plaça Catalunya, where we met our guide for the final experience. This experience excited us the most. We booked a Flamenco show and dance lesson with a former member of the cast for the very show we were going to watch! The guide, Laura, was amazing. She was so knowledgeable, explaining in depth for us the origins of Flamenco, the different rhythms and pulses, the styles, and so forth.
We got front row table seats, sitting so close to the stage that the dancers’ sweat reached us. During the show, she explained the lifespans of the dancers. She discussed how they learn and train, what the lifestyles are like for the world’s top flamenco dancers. After the performance, the percussionist of the show came out from the back to chit-chat. As we were exiting the venue, we ran into the female dancer’s father, who was waiting for her outside on a bench. It turned out that the female dancer was only 19 years old, and her father waits for her on the bench outside after every performance so she doesn’t have to walk home alone. We had a great conversation about the similarities and differences between ballroom and flamenco, especially since we draw from flamenco when we dance the Paso Doble.
Laura took us to her studio, where she made us a traditional Catalan dinner and treated us to a movie about flamenco and the style’s greatest dancers. After dinner, we had a lesson where we got to learn how flamenco dancers make those complicated beats with their hands and feet.
This was the most impressive experience of our week, check out this amazing experience here! But although we enjoyed this experience the most, I got the least amount of video footage. We had so much fun with Laura that we forgot to take videos! So in the VLOG diary, you don’t see much about it. But that’s why you’re reading the post!
The Experience of Our Barcelona Vacation
First of all, we have to say that we have been continually impressed with AirBnB Experiences. We have been using AirBnB for apartment rentals all over the world for a long time and have never had a bad experience. But their new Experiences feature is great and I would recommend it to anyone, even for your hometown if you’re looking for something interesting and new to do.
We enjoyed each experience that we booked and the tour guides were all fantastic. Because AirBnB tends to have smaller experiences with less people – oftentimes we’re the only ones! – you get a more intimate feel. Like taking a stroll through the Gothic Quarter with a friend you met at coffee the other day, or going to a flamenco show with your friend who just happens to be a flamenco dancer. The guides really make you feel like you’re part of the city, sometimes even family. Try it for yourself sometime. I think you’ll be impressed.
As far as Barcelona itself, the city certainly delivered. In the past year we have visited, mostly en route to and from various competitions, three Latin cities. Those include Barcelona, Mallorca, and Rome. A few years ago we also visit Milan. Although these cities are distinct, both in cultural heritage as well as city culture, they also have distinct similarities. So far, I prefer Eastern European cities over Latin European cities. Simeon really enjoys the Latin European cities. If you ask him, he likes Barcelona far more than Minsk. For me, I was taken away by Minsk far more than Barcelona. To each his own, I suppose. But regardless of which we prefer, we enjoyed discovering Barcelona. It is a city we plan to return to.
Have you ever taken a Barcelona Vacation?
I’d love to hear your thoughts on Barcelona. What did you think? What were your favorite parts? Leave me a comment below!
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