Spain and Portugal Day 1&2 - Arriving in Barcelona

On Wednesday, we set out on a trip to Spain and Portugal! I know, right - pretty exciting stuff. Although considering all the traveling we've done over the past few years, it's kinda weird to think that this is likely going to be our only international trip this year.

We decided to fly directly from Salt Lake City to Paris. Unfortunately, the flight was in the afternoon and neither Alison nor I could sleep much, so we were pretty tired when we landed in Paris early the following day. We had a 5-hour layover before our next flight to Barcelona, so we tried to catch some zzz's in a lounge before boarding. Thankfully, it was a short flight, only about 2 hours, and we slept the whole way there.

Once we got to Barcelona, we headed straight to our hotel, the Alexandra Barcelona Hotel. It's a fantastic, city center hotel within walking distance of most places we want to visit in Barcelona. As soon as we were able to freshen up, we decided to stretch our legs and take a walk up Montjuic Hill - it's about 2 miles from our hotel. We thought about getting a taxi but ultimately decided to walk since we'd been sitting for most of the past 16 hours.

The walk itself was quite pleasant, and we got to experience the liveliness of Las Ramblas Boulevards, which is the most famous street in Barcelona. Our plan at Montjuic Hill was to take the tram and visit the castle. However, we ended up getting a bit confused and took the wrong tram. Oops! We ended up walking up the hill instead.

Once we arrived at the top, we were starving and quickly found a tapas restaurant with a panoramic view of Barcelona. Let me tell you, most of our meals while in Barcelona were tapas, and boy did we love ordering a few shareable plates. We quickly came to love all things tapas. After dinner, we took a stroll around the hill and headed up to the castle when we stumbled upon the right tram. The tram ride was fantastic with amazing views of the city.

Rose-ringed parakeet

We did a bit of exploring at the castle, but since the tram was closing soon, we only stayed briefly. Instead, we took a quick lap and headed back to the tram. The tram took us to the bottom of the hill, and then we had a pleasant walk back to our hotel, taking a different route this time. We love walking through cities because it gives us such a great feel for the place. So far, we're really loving Barcelona. It's clean, and safe, has stunning architecture, and has an interesting balance of historical and modern spaces. We can't wait to see what else this city has to offer!