​Barcelona: food snd sightseeing

​Travel and exploring new places has quickly become one of my favourite things to do. It doesn't matter whether it's a new city, new country or simply just a new shop opening up down the road, I LOVE exploring!

​Last weekend I travelled to Barcelona with my husband. It was the second time (UPDATE: I've now been 4 times!) for me as I had visited around 20 years ago when I went on a primary school trip there for a couple of days. Obviously it was a very different experience going now as opposed to 20 years ago- back then it was a very regimented and planned trip and we saw things like Camp Nou- the football stadium and a very small part of La Sagrada Familia due to it being barely built back then. This time it was completely down to us to discover this city that everyone had told me was so beautiful and incredible. We had a general idea of some places we wanted to visit but we didn't pin down specific times or days for them. 
​

​Take in the city skyline

One of the best ways to take in the beautiful city and it's incredible architecture is by overlooking the beautiful city skyline. There are a few places you can do this from but my top two must visit places are...

​1. Parc Guell
​Parc Guell is the place where you will find the stunning architecture by Gaudi. It's not the only place you will see it but here you can really get up close and personal with the beautiful mosaics and explore Gaudi's house. The park itself is free to enter but if you want to see the mosaics and an undisrupted view of the city skyline then you have to pay to enter that part of the park. The architecture, beauty and views are 100% completely worth it!
Like any part of any city that's so hugely famous and well known, it's a huge tourist hotspot and gets VERY busy. We bought tickets on the day at the park to enter the paid main area BUT we bought them at 12pm and had to wait until 7pm to enter the area itself. We ended up leaving the park and returning later on. I would highly recommend purchasing online as even when we returned at 7pm people were still queuing to buy tickets for the following day. 

​2. The Bell Tower of La Basilica Santa Maria del Pi.
This place was a seriously amazing find that if we hadn't seen the bell tower from out hotel roof bar we wouldn't have known about it. The church itself is on all the maps so you do know it's there, but like any other church, you just presume it's a church. But, you can get a guided tour and go up the bell tower in small groups.
​From the top of the tower you can take in a pretty breath-taking and amazing uninterrupted 360 view of the whole of Barcelona. You can literally see everything from here! The best part was having the guide there who told us all about the gothic area of Barcelona and it's history. 
​Let me warn you, the spiral staircase in the tower itself is not for the faint hearted! It's steep, some steps are hardly there and coming down is probably the scariest thing ever- but it's worth it I promise. The best part? The tour is limited to 5 or 6 people and the church itself isn't one of the biggest tourist attractions so it's lovely and quiet. You can really take in the views without fighting through a crowd of people for the best view point.

​Other places you can see the city skyline are-
​- The rooftop bar of Ohla Hotel (where we stayed)- It has a beautiful view of the top of Barcelona Cathedral.
- Rooftop bar of Hotel Catalonia Barcelona Plaza.
- Shopping centre at Plaza España. It has a 360 viewpoint around the top which costs 1 Euro to get up to.
- The rooftop bar of H10 Casanova Hotel.
​- The Barcelona Teleferico (cable cars)- they take you across the harbour to Montjuic Park, and back again.
- Montjuic Castle- Situated at the top of Montjuic Hill, it has the highest views in the city.
​

​traditional Spanish and Catalan food

One thing I truly love doing in different countries is eating the traditional foods. Growing up in Mallorca I ate these kind of foods (the ones li liked anyway) so coming back to somewhere that is Catalan, I had to find some traditional places. 

​1. Melic del Gotic
​If there's one thing about Catalan/Spanish food it's that they do simple- simple meals. If you order a steak make sure you order sides because you will literally get a steak and that's it. At Melic del Gotic it was certainly this kind of style which was exactly what we had in mind.
​Melic del Gotic is a very traditional looking restaurant- so traditional that half of the staff don't even speak English, so you better learn some Spanish if you want to understand what they say to you! It was a great opportunity to practice my Spanish and I am pretty proud that I held full on conversations with the staff! Anyway, the food...
​We had-

​-Pan con tomate (toasted bread rubbed in fresh garlic and tomato, drizzled with olive oil and seasoned with a pinch of salt) is a traditional Catalan dish so it was obviously a must.
-Allioli (a Spanish garlic mayonnaise) and my favourite thing in the whole world!
​- Sirloin Steak with mushrooms and potatoes.
​- Crema Catalana (crème brulle) and tiramisu.

​The whole meal was truly delicious. Really well cooked and seasoned and very quick service!

​2. La Passhola 
​For tapas this place is great. It was actually part of our hotel and usually I like to steer away from hotel restaurants as I like to explore the wider variety, but, on the day we arrived we were THAT hungry that somewhere in the hotel was exactly what we needed!
​The restaurant has a very calm and relaxed atmosphere and its pretty chic and trendy. It was pretty quiet when we arrived so it was a perfect 'welcome to Barcelona' kind of meal.
We had-
​
​- Patatas Bravas
​- Mussels
​-Mallorquin Cheeses
- Vegetable Rice
​- Tuna and Avocado Tostada
​- Ham Croquettes

​For traditional and really great tasting tapas you need to visit this restaurant.

​3. La Alcoba Azul
Probably up there in my top 3 places to eat in Barcelona is La Alcoba Azul. I really don't know what more to say than wow! A tiny, dark and old school restaurant with the most incredible food. Don't expect 5 star presentation but definitely expect 5 star flavour; it's THAT good. We opted for 'Tostas' (toast); one topped with brie and ham and the other with ham, feta and a sweet chilli jam. We also had a salad and toasted bread with aioli (my favourite). It was definitely a 10/10.
Be prepared for a wait to be seated if you go at dinner time, we had a 20 minute wait but I promise you its totally worth it. You can sit in the square across from the restaurant and have a drink while you wait.

​4. Sensi Tapas
Want to experience the BEST tapas in Barcelona? Then you can't miss Sensi Tapas. I don't even know how to begin describing the food here apart from it's only tapas, nothing else. Definitely my number 1 place to eat in Barcelona! Chilled vibes, excellent staff and 11/10 food. The flavours of each dish are ridiculous! We had so many different options but the ones that really stood out, if I HAVE to choose, were the mini seafood paella, croquettes and beef. 
I would highly recommend booking a table here as it's very popular.

​see the sights

As someone who isn't the biggest fan of being in a place completely surrounded by hundreds of people I still think if you are going to explore somewhere new then you have to just get involved in some of the touristy things. My top two must see sights are...

1. La Sagrada Familia
​Guys, words cannot describe the sheer amazingness of this building! This is certainly a huge must when in Barcelona!
​The architecture, size, detail... just...WOW!
​La Sagrada Familia is THE tourist attraction in Barcelona but I can completely understand why this attracts thousands of people. The outside is seriously outstanding but the inside is just incredibly breath-taking. The one thing that just blows my mind is that it isn't even anywhere near finished! 
​We took a guided tour as when we arrived mid-afternoon they had completely sold out of tickets for the day so the only way to get in was with a guide. It didn't cost much more than a standard ticket and it was actually very interesting. The whole architecture and history of the building was explained and also the ideas behind each section of the building. A guided tour is certainly something I would recommend if you want to learn about the history.
​I would also recommend pre-booking your tickets online as they sell out extremely quickly, especially Friday-Sunday!

2. Montjuic Hill, Gardens and Castle
​Montjuic is a large hill overlooking the Barcelona Port and coastline. To get to it you can either walk up it, drive up, go on the metro or get on the cable cars from the harbour up to the garden level​- that's what we did. The gardens are beautifully looked after and are a great place to have a nice walk. From there you can walk up the hill a bit more and head on some more cable cars that will take you all the way up to the top where the castle is. 
​The views across the city from the top of the castle are pretty awesome and just wandering around the huge castle itself is quite something too. 
​I would recommend setting aside quite a few hours to really discover Montjuic as its so big and there is quite a lot to see around it. The hill is home to the Olympic pool so if you are a keen swimmer then make sure you take your swimming costume with you to have a swim whilst you are there.

3. Font Màgica de Montjuic
This isn't to be missed! The Font Màgica de Montjuic is situated at the bottom of Montjuic Hill, just down the road from Plaza España. As you've probably guessed by the name, it's a magic fountain which means it puts on a show to music and lighting at night. Doesn't sound like much and describing it isnt going to do it any justice, just go watch it and I promise you'll love every second. Be warned, it gets stupidly busy so I would suggest standing across the road for the best views of the fountain. It really is spectacular.

​Other sightseeing recommendations are-
​- Barcelona Cathedral
- Parc de la Ciutadella
​- Museu d'Historia de Catalunya (history museum)
​- Basilica de Santa Maria (beautiful church)
​

​Brunch like a queen...or king :)

If you haven't already guessed I loooove to brunch!! So obviously finding brunch spots was high on my priority list!! We only brunched twice so here are the two we visited (prepare for food porn!)...

1. Flax and Kale
​Flax and Kale is a seriously cool and trendy place with a very extensive menu! It offers so much choice that it took me a good 10 minutes to study it and then another 10 minutes to actually decide what I wanted! There was one thing that was certain- I was getting the pancakes. Some people judge a place by the avocado toast, some judge a place by the quality of eggs- I judge a brunch spot by the quality of their pancakes!
​When we finally decided on food we went for-
​
- Avocado Toast
- Feta Scrambled Eggs
- Healthy Pancakes

​Omg guys...the avocado toast was literally a mountain of avocado on a wedge of toast! Not a slice... a wedge! The pancakes were incredibly good! They tasted like carrot cake which was just amazing!
​The thing that's also really great about Flax and Kale is that they do a serious spread of juices and smoothies! Not only can you have them with your meal but you can take them out too.

2. Brunch and Cake
​Looking for some serious #brunchgoals? Well, you must visit Brunch and Cake! Their dishes are literally a work of art.
​Like Flax & Kale it's a very cool and trendy place that attracts a lot of people! So if you want a seat without a long wait then get there early! We arrived at 9.30am and managed to get the last two empty seats.
We had-

​- Scrambled Eggs with Smoked Salmon and Avocado
​- Eggs Benedict with Charcoal Waffles
​- Blueberry Cheesecake Pancakes

​The food here is on another level. Some things do not taste like they look but still they taste incredible. For example my bread with my scrambled eggs was green! I thought it was some sort of pancake when it arrived in front of me but no, it was just very bright green bread! It's a seriously quirky place with cool ideas. Karl's eggs came on a shovel! The pancakes were so so delicious too!!
​One thing- the portions are huge so make sure you have a big appetite!

3. Eat My Trip
​Quirky, cool and serving some awesome brunch options is Eat My Trip. A bit like Brunch and Cake they have some pretty extravagant and show stopping dishes. I didn't opt for any of those this time as what really grabbed me on the menu was their smoothie bowls. In particular one called Pink Dragon. It was exactly what I needed and the flavours were delicious! They do eggs and avocado toast too for you avocado lovers and also pancakes ;).
Just a note as well that this place has the best coffee I've had in Barcelona. It was the perfect start to a hot day!

​​Other breakfast/brunch recommendations are-
​- Eixampeling (very extra and instagram heaven!)
-Roast Club Cafe (fab bagels!)
​

​Barcelona is a city full of culture, stunning architecture and so many things to see and do that I don't think we even scratched the surface! It's a city that you definitely need more than 2 days to cover the 'main attractions' but we definitely gave it a good go! Other places I've visited that I haven't mentioned above are-

​- The Jamon Experience- if you like Spanish ham then a visit to this place is pretty cool. You can book a tour and tasting where they take you through how they produce the ham and then you get to taste all of the different types of jamon.
​- Las Ramblas- we didn't really spend much time here so I can't comment on it in great detail. It gets a lot of great comments though but I feel it's a bit too touristy for me.
​- Chok chocolate factory- for all you chocolate lovers out there this is a must visit! The chocolates and treats in this place are out of this world! We tasted chocolate strawberry truffles, salted caramel truffles and tiramisu truffles- all out of this world! They have such a huge selection that you need to visit to understand the sheer deliciousness!
- Escriba- a truly indulgent yet truly delicious cake and pastry spot! They do some serious artsy choccies and cakes so even if you just go to drool over their gorgeous designs you need to go! Obviously I would recommend getting cake though :)
​- The marina- if you want a nice little walk near the sea but don't want to head down to the beach then a stroll around the marina is lovely. It's not too busy and it's pretty cool seeing all the huge yachts!
​

​I hope this guide has inspired you to visit Barcelona! It really is a truly beautiful place and somewhere that needs to be on your bucket list if it already isn't!
P.S. I've been 4 times and I still feel like I could cover so much more ground and discover so many more places so I would definitely plan accordingly if you're only there for a few days! 

​Amie xx
​

ABOUT ME

THE GIRL BEHIND FITNESS FORSTER​

My name is Amie and I am the face behind Fitness Forster.
I am a freelance recipe developer, content creator and qualified personal trainer. I developed this website to share my passion for healthy recipes, fitness and travel.

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