Tour de España!

Travel.  It’s a part of my life.  It is one of the many things in this life that recharges my soul.  Keeps me healthy and my heart smiling.  While traveling the United States has its thrills, over a year ago, my boyfriend Jason and I, vowed to take 30 days from our lives every year and travel to another part of the world.  This year, our pick was Spain!  Loaded with some of the most unbelievable history, art, culture, food (and let’s not forget wine), we started planning almost two months ago, for what is to be one of the greatest adventures for us thus far.
From the cultural center of Barcelona, into the famous sparkling wine producing region of Cava, dipping down into the Garnacha capital, Priorat, up through the classic wine region of Rioja, sipping through the northern edges of Txacolina, exploring the delicious wine regions of Ribera del Duero, Toro and Rueda, up and around Galicia, passing into Portugal through the famous city of Oporto, and the Douro Valley, down through Lisbon, stopping in Farro, back into Spain through Jerez, Cádiz, Gibraltar, Malaga, Granada, Córdoba, Seville and finally out through Spain’s largest city, Madrid – we have our work cut out for us.
Without getting too far behind, and since we’re really only on day three of our adventures, I thought I’d catch you up to speed of the must do’s in Barcelona to begin!
First things first…get yourself to Barcelona!  The flights are really quite easy and to be honest, not to hard on the pocket book from most parts of the United States.  With just seven hours from New York, Barcelona is a quick skip for most U.S. travelers.
Once you land, find yourself a taxi and spend the $40 to get over to the L’Eixample District.  Right off of the tree lined street of La Rambla, it is one of the more popular areas of the city for tourism, art, Barcelona street culture and tapas.  Between Trip Advisor, Expedia, Booking.com and Hotels.com – you can find a pretty decent hotel between $100-$150 a night in the area.  We stayed at Hotel Regina, which ended up not looking anything like the pretty pictures it showed online.  The room was small and not that cozy.  If you plan on spending any time at all in your place, find a nicer nest for yourself.
La Rambla is loaded with lots of fun street entertainment and visual stimuli both day and night.  From the handfuls of Tapas Bars to the number of cocktails bars lined up and down the street, some of the best places we found were tucked just inside alleys of the side streets just off the main drag.  From plates of Iberian Jamón, to the many handfulls of sardines and olives – it’s not hard to find any number of restaurants serving the local fare.  One of the most hospitable and delicious Tapas Bars right off of La Rambla was Cerveceria Baviera.  Fun atmosphere, loads of great people and delicious tapas – especially their sardine plates!
Both days in Barcelona were an absolute treat.  Fabulous food, friendly people, and a pretty clean and comfortable city to walk any time of day.
By day, don’t miss some of Barcelona’s most famous sites, most of which include the works of Spain’s beloved architect, the late Antoni Gaudi.  If you’ve never been to the famous Sagrada Familia, it is an absolute must see!
With really either being able to cover the city by train, foot or taxi, I’d recommend staying ‘rental’ free in the way of cars until you’re ready to leave the city.
And at least, spend a minimum of three days in the city – there’s a ton to see and you don’t want to miss a bit of it, in case it takes you a couple of years to get back!

Stay tuned, there’s more to follow!  Tomorrow we load you up on our adventures in Catalonia and the delicious sparkling region of Cava.  Yum!  You don’t want to miss this.

For the more up to date pics, foods and recommendations of each area, follow me on Twitter and Instagram as we trek through each region!