Barcelona: Honeymoon Part I
Where do I even begin? After an absolutely unforgettable weekend full of celebrating with family and friends from near and far, I am officially a Tamburo. Less than 24 hours later, and now my husband and I are off to explore Barcelona and Menorca Spain on our first ever Europe trip together.
Although I studied abroad in Italy during college, Spain was one of the countries I did not get to visit and given that Mike had not been to Europe before; we wanted to check out a brand new country together. My list of destinations around Spain has grown since our trip and unfortunately with limited time, we could only pick 2 destinations for our honeymoon … a very tough decision with all of the possibilities.
We ended up choosing Barcelona and the small island of Menorca. You can see more on this hidden treasure of an island here.
We spent four days exploring Barcelona, taking in all of the charming backroads, eating ‘tapas’ constantly throughout the day, drinking one too many glasses of sangria, and falling in love with the old and beautiful architecture around every turn.
Check out some of our favorites sights activities, foodie finds, and where we stayed below. 
Where to Stay in Barcelona:
- Hotel Avenida Palace: located on Gran Via; Convenient to many of Barcelona’s famous sites, walkable to Las Ramblas, La Boqueria, and other surrounding neighborhoods
- Hotel Villa Emilia: Trendy hotel near the Gothic Quarter
Where to Eat / Drink in Barcelona:
- Brunch & Cake: everything looked amazing but recommend the mac & cheese egg benedict, the acai bowl, and the pistachio chia pineapple pancakes
- Flax & Kale: healthy, delicious, brunch / lunch or dinner, vegan and gf options
- Quimet y Quimet: cozy and authentic tapas
- Chok: dessert .. and a lot of it; for the chocolate lover
- La Boqueria Market: off las ramblas; try one of the $1 fresh fruit juices
- La Salamanca: Sangria + seafood paella; so good & right near the beach
- Milk: breakfast or dinner; avocado toast
- Tickets Bar: unique, gastronomy, must make reservations months in advance … they do take some walk-ins but we had trouble with the reservation process
- Eclipse bar at The W Hotel on the beach
- Gourmet Tapas by Sensi
- Somorrosto
What to See in Barcelona:
- Park Guell: wander around the gardens and enjoy the wonders of Gaudi’s art work & architecture
- La Sagrada Familia: whether you do a paid tour or just general admission.. it is worth checking out the beauty indoors this massive, and ever-growing church; words don’t do it justice
- La Boqueria Market: even if you don’t eat here, it’s chaos, colors, smells, and sights are worth the visit and it is conveniently located off Las Ramblas
- Gothic Quarter: just beautiful. the architecture of the buildings is a sight in itself and enough to keep you entertained
- Las Ramblas: shopping, restaurants, people watching
- Barceloneta: walk along the beach road; check out the little restaurants, clubs, etc.
- El Born neighborhood– shopping at small boutiques, cafes, and a more local feel
What to Do:
- Check out Aire de Barcelona: treat yourself to a red wine bath spa experience; you spend ~40 minutes in a red wine stone tub while you enjoy a bottle of spanish red wine, grapes and almonds; while enjoying a head/scalp/face massage; followed by a full body warm oil massage; and if that isn’t all enough… you get to finish it off with time in the various cold, warm, hot and salt underground baths at your own leisurely time
- Do a Food Tour: Couldn’t recommend this enough; We did one with “Secrets Food Tours Barcelona”; Our consisted of multiple stops .. everything from breakfast treats and espresso shots, to local authentic tapas shops, and finished off with sangria and seafood paella; also got a taste of El Born neighborhood so the tour ended up being a nice mix of tasty food and an interesting history lesson
