DAY 1
Over the weekend of February 7th dad came to visit me for four days! The visit was kind of short but we got to see a lot of the city that I haven't yet explored and it was so nice to have him in town.
Dad had me meet him at the bar at,
Hotel Majestic. Me and dad each had a whiskey and ginger and talked about the flight, etc. That night we went to dinner at Barcelona's famous Italian restaurant,
Da Greco. I was told that teammates of the FC Barcelona team frequent there so that was a major plus especially for my dad who is a devout soccer aficionado. We shared a bottle of white wine and we got the caprese salad, gorgonzola truffle oil gnocchi, and the risotto. The food was AMAZING! The atmosphere was very classic italian with the chandeliers and gold gilded molding. Everything about it was just perfect. It was a great first meal of many I shared with dad.
DAY 2
The next morning I went to meet dad for breakfast at his hotel, the
Grand Marina. The hotel was beautiful and right on the Mediterranean!
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| Rooftop pool at the hotel |
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| Beautiful spacious living quarters |
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| View of the Mediterranean and Barcelona from the rooftop patio |
The breakfast ended up being 25 euro a person so we decided to grab something else instead. We went back to Passeig Gracia to a place I had been before,
Qu Qu. The breakfast was the typical Spanish breakfast and we both got the spanish tortilla with a side of homemade bread and raspberry jam!
After that dad wanted to check out the gothic quarter and buy our tickets for the FC Barcelona game and pick up some Barca gear! We walked around the gothic neighborhood and I took him to see the beautiful Cathedral where we went inside and said a prayer and anointed ourselves with the Holy water. Afterwards I took dad to the famous
Bo de B where we split (usually I'll have a whole one to myself...oops!) of the vegetable sandwich. Dad raved about the restaurant the rest of the trip and of course he wanted to go back there again but I told him we had to branch out a little more.
Later in the afternoon I took dad to see my apartment, meet my roommates, and change into my running clothes so we could go for a run around Barcelona's marina and beaches. It has been so long since me and my dad went on a run together and it was such a huge part of my childhood going for runs in Atkinson and along the Charles in Boston. My dad used to laugh because I would chew his ear off non-stop talking the entire run and now I can't even bear to run without my headphones and my music blasting. We ran for a solid 40 minutes and stretched at the beach.
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| beach run with the W hotel in the background |
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Beautiful day for the beach
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That night for dinner we were both so exhausted from the long day and dad was feeling jet lagged so we went to a dessert shop that our hotel recommended called
We Pudding. The atmosphere was so charming and made you feel like you were in a fairy tale. We each got our own dessert dad got the peacan pie and I got a carrot cake with hot chocolate on the side. The dessert was one of the best I had in Barcelona and dad and I decided if we ever came back here we would have to bring our own ice cream to accompany our dessert because they didn't serve it at the restaurant.
DAY 3
I met dad at the hotel to pick up the Barcelona City Tour Bus which is the best deal in town! For 26 euros you can hop on and off the bus going in any which way direction. We got to see the Sagrada Familia, Camp Nou, Mountjuic, the Olympic Stadium, and much much more!
That night for dinner dad was craving Paella and we went to a restaurant right on the water called,
La Gavina. The paella was personal sized which is not typical usually they are family sized served in a huge vat. I got the lobster paella (craving lobster more than anything) and dad got the swordfish. We stayed at the restaurant until closing and I went back to the restaurant early to get ready for the big day at Camp Nou the following day.
DAY 4
I meet dad at the hotel early in the morning decked out head to toe in FC Barcelona garb. We grabbed croissants and coffee to go and took the subway to the Camp Nou stadium. The metro was packed with crazy fans who had no problem crushing Heinekens at 10 in the morning (because you can't drink in the stadium a lot of people drink beforehand). The streets were packed with scream FC fans and me and dad got some fan gear and headed into the stadium. Barca was playing Getafe and the stadium was completely packed when we got there. People started off chanting the Catalan national anthem and the game began! Barca ended up crushing Getafe but it was such a cool experience to be there with dad and show him one of the biggest stadiums in the world (houses 100,000 people).
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| Warm ups |
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| Warm ups |
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| MESSI |
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| fans cheering after the game |
The rest of the afternoon me and dad went to walk around Las Ramblas and he tried one of the infamous smoothies from the Boqueria.
That night for dinner dad took me and my roomie to Barcelona's best sushi bar,
Parco. The restaurant was great and the food was even better! We all got saki and ordered a ton of sushi where we split up amongst ourselves.
Overall it was a great trip! It's always so hard to say goodbye to a parent and it was a great treat to have dad in town even if it was just for the weekend. I am so grateful that he came to Barcelona and we got to explore it together! Thanks for a great trip dad xoxo
until next time
Tootles!
