Autmn Break in Barcelona
Barcelona.
The first time I visited I hated it. It was peak of the summer madness, dirty, busy and totally unmanageable with 3 children under 6. Struck dumb with stupidity from the burning sun we made the calamitous decision to climb the Segrada Famiglia. Not even half way up we realised our mistake but were so blocked in by tourists by then we had no choice but to continue up, each taking turns to carry, cajole, yell and soothe our pour children who just wanted to sit in the shade with a lolly.
The second visit was far more enjoyable, accompanying TPH (the photographer husband) on a work trip.
When a friend suggested a girls weekend away in Barcelona I jumped at the chance to meander about Las Ramblas, spend a few hours on the beach, eat tapas & drink cocktails before heading to a salsa club to put into practise the moves we'd been learning on the quiet at Imber Court. In reality the Spanish dancers were so scarily good we backed out of the club and headed to bed (well it was after midnight and the club had just thrown it's doors open!)
But the time I truly fell in love with it was last Autumn. TPH and I had been having 'difficulties' (he worked too much, I was forever busy with 4 increasingly demanding children) and resorted to a few sessions at Relate tucked away behind Esher High Street. We decided to go away and see whether we wanted to continue (I really didn't) or seperate as friends before we started to hate each other. The obvious choice was Barcelona. It's a mere two hours away, has great weather, great food, fabulous architecture more culture then you can manage in a few months let alone a weekend as well as great shopping & a beach. As I said, it has everything. The children went back to school and off we flew, TPH and I. We stayed at the Grand Marina Hotel in a fabulously enormous room with panoramic windows overlooking the marina. Everything about the long weekend exceeded expectation, from the food we ordered to the cocktails we chose, from the streets we decided to wander down, to the weather. We spent hours in La Bocqueria (Cuitat Vella district) while TPH took photos and I ate my way around the stalls sampling smoothies, nuts, olives, figs, chocolate, seafood, and slivers of serrano ham. We took the fenicluar railway up to Montjuic Castle, for the best views of the city from the Serra de Collserola to the sea. It didn't matter what part of the city we had been walking around but by lunch we seemed to find ourselves close to Placa Reial so ate at what has become 'our' restaurant - Aldos Mundos. for fabulous tapas and chilled sangria.
Whilst wandering around the atmospheric El Born, Barri Gotic and El Ravel neibourghoods we were handed a flyer for a guitar concert that night. Why not we thought and arrived at the beautiful Gothic Church of Santa Maria del Pi. Inside the small church was candlelit and the wooden pews crammed with people. We edged our way onto the end of a pew and had such a surprisingly wonderful (who knew classical guitar could be moving, funny, sombre and joyful) evening I couldn't imagine being married to anyone else or my family being anything other than it is. - weird, wonderful, exhausting & MINE. Barcelona thank you. x
Plaza de catalunya
Fruit at La Bocqueria
El Ravel
Serrano ham at La Bocqueria
Lunch at Aldos Mundos, Placa Reial
View from our room at Grand Marina Hotel