I’ll be honest – Spain was never on my list per se. It wasn’t like I didn’t want to go there, but when I thought of destinations in the world I wanted us to visit it just wasn’t at top of mind. But then we went, and now I think everyone needs to visit Spain, and if given the opportunity to go back, both Jeremy and I would jump at it.

We started our Spanish adventure in Barcelona. Only having 24 hours in this huge city we knew we had to be strategic. After much research we decided to stay in the gothic quarter and stick to exploring mainly that area. Casa Luz was our home base and it was not only super convenient to everything we wanted to do, but a great boutique hotel experience. We hit the ground running, trying to not only combat jet lag but also to take in the city.

Our way of exploring a new city is primarily by just taking off which ALWAYS has us stumbling onto some of our favorite things. This was exactly that. We knew we were visiting Sagrada Familia that afternoon, which you MUST do and you MUST prebook your tickets, so we had that planned but the rest was up for discovery.

We explored the Jewish Quarter and were amazed being surrounded by all the medieval walls (always insane to me the history that exists in Europe!!) stumbled into Basilica of Our Lady of the Sea and made the climb to the rooftop (so. many. stairs. HA!) which was a gorgeous view of the city and the church itself was stunning.

This was also our first experience with the “caganer” which I could not WAIT for the kids to wake up back home so I could tell them all about these pooping Catalan figures that are thought to bring good luck by fertilizing the soil for your crops the following year. Naturally we needed one for our garden 😉 so Salvador Dali, a brilliant native Spaniard, will be single-handedly making sure our garden is lush and fertilized!

The jet lag was creeping in so we popped in for a cappuccino, a latte and an almond croissant and happily got a second wind. Then we stumbled upon the most amazing Concert hall, Palau de la Musica Catalana, a Unesco World Heritage Site. We were in absolute AWE. The COLOR, the mosaics, the absolute creativity that existed in these walls was just incredible! The stained glass on the ceiling, the busts that were coming out of the wall all along the back of the stage, the colored glass that was used, the Pegasus and roses on the ceiling, I mean, just wow! And then, we were there right in time for an organ concert. It was magical I must say! When we experience these incredible places I find myself just so amazed that, number one they exist, but HOW LONG they have existed, and what it must have been like to have watched artists in concert in a venue such as this. Truly incredible!

We were then en route to Sagrada Familia but went by way of Casa Batllo, which was our first exposure to Antoni Gaudi’s insanely creative mind. I mean, what a guy! A maximalist and lover of color, which is right up our alley! The day had been somewhat overcast but still beautiful, but then the sun decided to totally peek out right as we arrived at Sagrada.

I love when you are walking in any city and you see a beacon in the distance standing tall and fabulous – in Barcelona, that is Sagrada Familia! It is still under construction and is the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world. They started construction on it in 1882(!!!!!) and it is set to be completed by 2026. It is a MUST do while in Barcelona and I will send you all of the happy sun vibes so that when you walk in you experience what we did.

The COLOR that was bathing us from the incredible stained glass was just jaw-dropping! The details, the ceiling, the buttresses, all of it was just WOW! It is the kind of experience that gives you goosebumps in the very best way and an absolute treat!

By this point we were exhausted and starving, BUT, Spaniards are funny let me tell you! I am actually now obsessed with their timeline for their days, but on day 1 we were still adjusting. They really don’t get up early – at all. We were often some of the only people out and about in the mornings – they seemed to start the day around 10am which is about 4 hours later for our schedule lol, then they have a small breakfast and lunch is between 130-330 from what we experienced, THEN the glorious siesta that I am now obsessed with and perhaps shows my age until around 530, and then dinner – dinner is around 930pm.

If you want to get into a restaurant we were told – go at 730, no one will be wanting to eat that early (LOL)! Our normal day we have dinner by 6 at the latest (does that also show our age?!) so this was some adjustment!! So basically we were starving about 4 hours too early for dinner and exhausted about 2 hours too late for a siesta – oops!

We lucked out and found a fun bar around the corner from our hotel and were surrounded by college age kids having a great time. We started our sangria journey here and it was the perfect start to that! We ordered as many traditional tapas as we could and had just the most fun soaking up the day. I really think the only thing that we ever find ourselves wanting less of on any of these European vacations is the cigarette smoke, but oh how the Europeans LOVE their cigs…

That got us to a point in the evening when we decided we could call it a day to be prepared for the adventure we had ahead of us. While Barcelona still had so much more to offer us we really felt like we experienced the city and truly loved our time!

The following morning, our first full day, we started with breakfast upstairs at Casa Luz, which was lovely. Side note – if you love yogurt you must have European style yogurt – it is truly my obsession – actually to the point I am now making it at home – but that is a story for another day! We wrapped up breakfast, checked out of the hotel, caught our uber, and got into our rental car(!!!) for our Costa Brava adventure!!!

Next up: the dreamy coastal town of Tossa De Mar – where medieval walls meet turquoise waves, seagulls sound suspiciously like cats, and vermut is best served on the rocks.

I am late to my yogurt date 😉

Peace, Love and Fabulous!