Barcelona, te quiero

First time in Spain, and I adore the atmosphere.
Waking up at 9 o'clock (bit too early though), having breakfast, see the city and the culture, siesta, do some shopping and going to the beach. Followed by the swimming pool in the hotel, getting ready for the evening, eating tapas in the city and drinking Sangria (which is delicious!) or a Mojito and lounge around the city.
This was only one particular day, we did do the eating, drinking and culture part, but the beach was only one day.It's a shame, cause it's so relaxing and yes, I got a little brown on my belly ;)

My family and I go to a city every year, mostly in May and then we go to Greece or some other hot country in August. This year we had to change plans, because we were to late to book a hotel in May in Barcelona. Silly. But anyway, we went respectively to Paris, London, Rome, New York, Berlin and now Barcelona. The other cities we went were a lot more familiar than Barcelona. What did I know about Barca? The Sagrada Familia maybe (the original church, designed by Gaudi) and FC Barcelona and the stadium Camp Nou. That was it. This made Barcelona different, not a disappointment, but less impressive than the other cities.

What I loved most maybe were the facades from the apartments in the streets. They were so stylish, almost like Paris. And of course I like the Spanish style, the music, the language, the guys. I bought the Spanish Vogue (of course), though I don't understand a single word, the photos are beautiful.

We had the best hotel. The Astoria hotel, the rooms were 4 times bigger than our hotel in London, I guess. It had a very nice equipment, with old advertisements on the wall and golden stairs. We had a little swimming pool on the roof, with a view on entire Barcelona.

We saw a lot of wonderful views this week. We walked all the way to a very high point of the city and took a telpher line (kabelbaan) to slide over the city, we had an excellent view over the sea and the Sagrada Familia and the houses. It was lovely. On our way back we stopped to jump in the Olympic Swimming Pool. We had to pay, though :)

Since I didn't spend my entire bank account in London (the pound decreased when I was there, and I had to pay my dad afterwards, which was very profitable for me), I planned to go shopping in Barcelona as well. Unfortunately, we didn't have a lot of time, cause we had a very busy schedule and we had to walk a lot. Anyway, I had some time on Saturday, so I went to the Zara, H&M, Mango, Bershka, etc. The H&M was amazing, the sale was huge, so I bought a jumper, a dress, a ring and a bracelet. The Zara and the Mango were a bit disappointing. And then I also saw the Topshop but it was very expensive, as I already found out in London. I was doubting about a blouse (it was stunning), but finally, I didn't buy it.

My brother and I went to see the biggest football staduim in Europe, Camp Nou of FC Barcelona. It was amazing, funny how a football club can turn into a brand. They sold everything there. We had a tour through the museum (impressive cups and stories), the stadium and the dressing rooms. It's nice to see that Holland (and then I mean Dutch players as Johan Cruijf, Philip Cocu, Giovanni van Bronckhost, Mark van Bommel and Frank and Ronald de Boer, etc.

On Sunday we saw a lot of Gaudi's (a Spanish artist of the nineteenth century) work. It's very typical, but I love it. We went to Park Guell, and that's almost like a fairytale. Big weird houses and statues. Crazy yet awesome!

We enjoyed the Spanish food. We had a breakfast buffet at our hotel, with chocolate croissants, all kinds of bread, fruit, muffins, etc. Most of the time we had a hot lunch as pasta or pizza. We ate tapas two times. It's very fun! All those little plates on your table, with fish, salad, fries, etc. And the wine in Spain is definitely nice.

I was sad the vacation was over. My mom's always looking forward to go home, but I hate it. It's not that I don't like home, but I just like vacation better. Well, it might be the first day of an entire year I've got nothing I really need to do. So reading, watching tv and blogging will do, I think ;)

I'll keep you posted!