"Barcelona is not the capital of Spain, that's Madrid!"

Barcelona on a budget: 210 euros for hotel and flights.

It was my first time to Spain and my cousin planned the whole trip. We stayed at Hotel Sant Agusti which is one of the oldest hotels in Barcelona. This hotel is situated just off Las Ramblas where the main shops are and a fantastic food market, La Boqueria. We found this first and had traditional paellas, although I couldn't eat the king prawn sitting on my plate- it's eyes were staring at me...
My cousin decided the best way to really see the city was to go on a (free) walking tour and we saw all the awe-inspiring sights: Royal Square, Placa Nova, Roman tombs, Placa del Peak, he Jewish quarter, Saint Felio Neri (where Vicky Christina Barcelona was filmed), the Government Square and El Born. We gave the tour guide a tip and went to get a snack which of course had to be churros mmm. After this we went back to actually check into our hotel and got ready for dinner. We had been told to go Cometacino restaurant which we did and we ate tapas whilst drinking a whole jug of sangria. Then for some evening entertainment my cousin suggested visiting the Harlem Jazz Club to get another drink and see some 'new age' jazz. It was so good but the stools were very uncomfortable!

We had a list of things that we wanted to do and see. So in order to do everything we woke up early and caught a taxi to La Sangranda Familia as it is famous for the long lines to get inside. We waited an hour to book a ticket for later in the day so we decided to be productive and visit park Guell. The walk was thigh burning up several steep hills but we made it and bought some water ASAP. There wasn't enough time to buy a ticket to go inside so we saw what we could from the surrounding areas which for me was enough. (We pretty much saw everything except Gaudi's house.) Took a taxi back to La Sangranda Familia as time was running out and it was definitely worth the queuing. Although not finished the architecture was just... wow.

Again we had tapas for lunch and then tried some Catalyan ice-cream. After eating we looked around the shops and bought some things in Sephora, I've been waiting for such a long time to visit. Back to the hotel again for a siesta... when in Barcelona(?) and then we got ready for dinner in the urban part. We went to a restaurant called La Reina del Raval which was outside in a square. Then, after eating we fancied a drink (of course) and my cousin suggested going to the oldest cocktail bar in Barcelona. Here they have served Hemingway to Miro and the waiters wore dickie- bows.

On this day we walked to what is left of the Jewish Quarter and found Sinagoga Major. They had all sorts of artefacts dating back to the 1200's. There was a visitors book so we wrote something nice, gave a donation and left (it was a very small museum). Running with a theme of museums we went to the Museum Piscaso next.  As we are both students we got in for free! I bought some postcards of  my favourite work, I really like the obscure paintings.
We then walked to the Port for some lunch and to see the Head of Barcelona statue.  After we walked back to the hotel to collect our things and check out.

We got to the airport and our flight was delayed by two and a half hours... Just our luck.
Sofiee