Kyler and I had a great time exploring Spain last month! We went for our 7th wedding anniversary and left on Monday, January 14 and got back Friday, January 25! (12 days) Shout out to the Goodman’s for watching our kids for us at home! I honestly thought that amount of time for an International trip was perfect. It gave us a couple of days to get used to the time difference (Spain was 8 hours ahead for our normal Provo time) but still left us time to hit all of the sights we wanted to see as well as have some “take it easy” days which was awesome! I loved the flow of this trip and felt like it really helped me feel renewed and rejuvenated and ready to come back to mom life. :)
I think the only hard part about our trip was the food (more on that later,) but we did find some restaurant gems here and there that we’ll mention in case you ever find yourself there and want a good place to eat!
Monday/Tuesday:
Our flight left at 11am on Monday so we left home at 8:30. I didn’t sleep much the night before so I was pretty tired but jazzed to be going! Our first flight was to NYC and was 4 1/2 hours long. We packed a bunch of snacks and then bought a sandwich to split for lunch on the plane. We had about an hour and a half layover in New York so we ate some delicious Shake Shack in the airport before we boarded our flight to Barcelona, which was 8 hours long. We flew Delta and they took amazing care of us! Our flight to Barcelona came with a free full dinner as well as a smaller, lighter meal and then the typical plane snacks of course. And I loved all of the fun shows and movies they provided too.
The world looked like it was on fire when we were landing in NY!
I’m unfortunately not the best sleeper on flights so I was up the entire time. After trying to sleep for 2 hours to no avail I decided to just give up and watch tv! When we landed it was Noon Barcelona time (but 4am Provo time) and I was SO TIRED since I’d been up for about 24 hours at this point. ha ha I could barely walk, I was so out of it.
We decided to rent a car because we thought it’d be easier to hit all of the places we wanted to see and so we wouldn’t have to lug our bags around. And thankfully our hotel said we could check in a couple hours early, huzzah! This girl needed a nap! I know all the rules about not napping when experiencing a time difference because it’ll throw you off, but I could barely keep my eyes open while walking so it was a very needed ha ha We grabbed a quick lunch by the hotel (pictured below) and then got a 4 hour nap! We missed our alarms and almost missed our ticket slot to see the famous Sagrada Familia cathedral, designed by Gaudi, but thankfully we were able to still make it! It was beautiful to see it during the sunset. Then we grabbed some dinner, got some gelato and went to bed.
Our quick lunch before a needed nap! Just a picture to show you of what was pretty typical for a lot of the shops and cafe’s to sell for lunch.
They just had two twin beds put together ha ha but oh well, it worked!
The Sagrada Familia- so beautiful! I wish my pictures (half from my phone, other half my camera) did it justice.
Wednesday:
The next morning we headed to Park Güell, also designed by Gaudi, and it was beautiful! There’s talk that they plan on making Gaudi a Saint because of his many beautiful and spiritual architectural designs. Park Güell was one of our favorite places I think. Before we got there we had a really yummy breakfast at a place called Terra Mia. (we definitely recommend them!) Park Güell was a beautiful and spacious park with gorgeous trees and beautiful Spanish buildings and fences. There were people playing Spanish music all throughout the park and it was just a really beautiful, calming scene.
Then we tried to find a beach after walking through Las Ramblas but we failed so we got some gelato and then headed to castle Montjuic! We were so dang tired still (we went to be early but then woke up after just 6 hours and couldn’t fall back asleep ha ha) so we took a little 20 minute nap, which turned into a 30 minute nap. Then we headed to the castle just as the sun was setting. We explored the inside a little and then had fun looking at the views outside on the top of the castle! Then we were able to walk through the Gothic Quarter a little at night fall and boy did it look spooky amazing!
These were little deep fried pieces of veggies, and although they weren’t healthy, they were delicious!
The guy in the background was KILLING it with his music
Can you spot the little parrot?
oh hi there’s a million of you now
Las Ramblas
More gelato- at our favorite place called Amorino! They had them in France too.
Thought this place we ate dinner at looked cute
Kyler’s dinner. ha ha ha he is braver than me!
Thursday:
On Wednesday we left Barcelona and drove to Valencia! Valencia is definitely one of my favorite places we visited for sure. It’s on the east coast of Spain. We drove through along the coast (tip- don’t do this ha ha we had to pay so much money in tolls! easily around $200) and it was really pretty to see all of these beach side cities and farm lands and plains. Plus, there are a few random castle fragments everywhere as you drive through out Spain, so that was pretty cool!
When we got to Valencia, we went to the beach and then ate at a restaurant called Casa Carmela, close to the beach. We had been having a hard time with the food thus far in Spain, so we thought we’d try to eat at one of their most expensive restaurants so we could really just see what Spanish food was like! Let’s just say.. it was an adventure there ha ha See the pictures below to find out why! No one can ever call me a picky eater after this!
After lunch, we went back to the beach and just had a blast taking pictures with my tripod. There was hardly anyone around, so we had the place to ourselves and we loved every minute. I’m lucky to have a husband who likes taking pictures almost more than I do! ha ha the pictures of me on Kyler’s shoulders were also taken with my tripod, and despite how some of them look- no one fell! I would stand up on this ledge thing, then Kyler would start the timer on the camera (my remote wouldn’t work as far as we needed it) and run over to me, I’d jump on his shoulders and then he’d run to the right spot so we’d fit in the pictures before the timer ended ha ha it was ridiculous but honestly so fun!
Then we drove around the city (they had adorable orange trees every where!), got some gelato and dinner and then headed to our Airbnb in Madrid! (PS- salad in Spain is not like salad in America! My dressing was literally just olive oil and Kyler’s salad dressing was just vinegar. ha ha ha spoiler alert- we didn’t finish eating them ha ha props to the spaniards who can handle those strong tastes and flavors like that! We are weak sauce in comparison for sure!) We drove a ton this day, but stopping in Valencia helped us split it up (and for real, we loved our time there) and we also really enjoyed listening to good music and talking with each other! Turns out drives aren’t stressful when you don’t have children with you ha ha
Our appetizer- baby shrimp
Next portion of the meal- baby fish.
Main course-Paella! Spain is famous for this meal. We had cheap paella in Barcelona that was gross, but this was actually really good! Those little sea creatures are shrimp and prawns.
In the rice there were pieces of shrimp, fish and apparently squid! ha ha it was delicious!
Glam shots by Kyler (please tell me you get this movie reference)
And then we got adventurous!
Thankfully no one was harmed in the taking of these pictures ha ha
