Interesting Places in Barcelona

Aside ~ June 8, 2014June 9, 2014 ~ travellingactually ~ Leave a comment

Following the previous post on exploring Barcelona by Bus Turistic, I picked out some of my preferences of interesting places to see in Barcelona. These spots are covered in the route of Bus Turistic. So, just buy the ticket and hop on.

1. Sagrada Familia

Probably Sagrada Familia is on number one list of every tourist guide in Barcelona. This Catholic Church is special because it was constructed in 1882 by the architect Francisco de Paula del Villar, then Antoni Gaudi continued the works in 1883 until his death in 1926. Until now, the continues work of the Church is still in progress and it has been handling by different architect. It has been 132 years and the construction is not finished. When I visited Sagrada Familia, I noticed that the construction works is still ongoing.

Full disclosure, I didn’t get in the Church because, it was closed in the morning due to a worship ceremony and I hesitated to pay 19 Euro to enter the Church, because, I ran out of money. So, I only took the photo from the outside. You can also do the same.

2. Mercat d’hostafrancs

I forgot to mention that I am fond of markets, traditional one, not big modern supermarkets. I think one of some ways to experience a local culture is by visiting their traditional markets. Always interesting to see different types of vegetables, fruits, meat and many other food compared to markets back home. Hostafrancs Market is located at Career de la Creu Coberta and one of the oldest traditional markets in Barcelona. Hostafrancs is food market opened since 1888. The current structure is not the original one, but it was reconstructed used modern materials. The market is very clean so it is very comfortable to explore it slowly.

I think these are fish — I think those are fish

3. Poble Espanol

Among all tourist spot in Barcelona, I would probably consider this place as the best. If I had a chance visiting Barcelona again, I will definitely visit this place. Poble Espanol or Spanish Village is an outdoor/ open air museum. This place was established as a miniature of Spain. The area of approximately 50,000 square meters consists of buildings/structures represent characteristics of regions in Spain. The whole area is just beautiful, the craft shops and the alleys among the houses very much like a village. The handicrafts, food, olive oil, sweets, wine, and other unique things were very tempting. I should resist myself from temptation to buy, despite the money, I also had no much room in my luggage.

4. Barcelona Port Vell

Port Vell is a pier where we can enjoy walking on the wooden pedestrian bridge or just sitting on a bench by the sea. There is also a shopping mall complex Maremagnum. I would prefer sitting on a bench while enjoying the sun. Especially during winter.

5. Barri Gotic

Barri Gotic is and old city of Barcelona, which according to wikipedia, has been there since Roman occupation in Spain. Barri Gotic is a complex with many narrow and winding alleys. Along the alleys, there are many authentic cafes, restaurant, souvenir shops and also modern branded stores. Exploring Barri Gotic could make us lost. It’s just so many alleys and street and sometimes it is challenging to get back to where we came. However, getting “lost” in Barri Gotic is fun, as long as not in the middle of the night.

Bus Turistic, Best Way to Explore Barcelona

June 8, 2014 ~ travellingactually ~ Leave a comment

As a budget traveler, I would prefer the most efficient way in exploring the city. This mostly means efficient in term of cost. If distance between places are not too far, I would rather walk than taking public transportation. The definition of “far” could be different for each person though. When I strolled Paris from morning until evening, that would not be considered as short route. But I did it successfully. I arrived in Barcelona with not much preparations. I would expect that I could get a tourism map at the station or information center, and decided the places to go afterwards. Just like what I did in Paris.

I noticed that distance between attractions in Barcelona are too far for walking distance. After checked the tourism map I got from train station, there was an advertisement of hop on – hop off bus cruising every corners of Barcelona. I usually don’t take hop on – hop off bus as an option, since it is less “backpackers”. But considering the distance, alternative transport by metro and cost, I decided to take the hop on – hop off bus.

The name of the bus is Bus Turistic. There are three routes of Bus Turistic. Blue route cruises northern part of Barcelona, red route roams southern part of the city and green route explores south beach route. The Bus Turistic only operates the green route from March to November. We can buy the ticket directly on the bus at any bus stop. One day ticket for adult is 24.30 Euro and two days ticket cost cheaper which is 31.50 euro. Please remember that bus ticket is based on route. Bus Touristic operates from 9 am until 9 pm which is the last stop at Catalunya Plaza.

For all the three routes, Bus Turistic has 44 stops in total. After purchasing ticket, we will be given a headset, route map and small informational books on every destinations of the bus. We can listen the audio guide which is provided in 11 language. The audio guide not only explain about the attraction spots, but also any landmark or significant place along the road. Exploring Barcelona with this bus is very efficient and satisfying.

Experiencing World Class Football Stadium: Camp Nou Experience

April 27, 2014May 21, 2014 ~ travellingactually ~ Leave a comment

Probably, there is no sport that is so popular in this world other than football or soccer. In Indonesia, football is popular thoroughly within the society. When there is an important match such as Asean Cup where Indonesian team is playing or during world cup, we can see there are so many places hold football match watching from five star hotels, cafe, to small coffee stalls located at the alleys. People here also usually being supporters of certain football club, mostly Europeans. Ironically, Indonesian football is still in challenging state even to compete within ASEAN – but that would be a different story.

People who have a chance (or I can say luxury) to visit European countries, if they are a hard core fan of football, will make some efforts to visit their favorite football stadium or even watch a match. That also happened to me during my visit to Barcelona. Even though I’m not really a fan of Barca, I thought it would be an indispensable experience to visit the stadium and museum of one of the best and most popular football clubs in the world.

Reaching FC Barcelona stadium was easy. I took a hop on – hop off bus namely Barcelona Bus Turistic, through blue line, and got off at Football Club Barcelona or Camp Nou stop, and that was it. The entrance ticket for Camp Nou Experience is 23 Euro for adult. The fee is free for kids age 0-5, 17 Euro for kids/teenager age 6-13 and students and club supporters.

The Camp Nou Experience actually comprises of tour of the museum, club’s press conference room, players’ changing/locker room, shower room, the gate where the players come up to start the game, and press/ commentators’ room. The museum displays the history of Barcelona, trophy, even the Lionel Messi’s golden shoes. We can access the entire museum on the regular schedule (10 am to 18.30 pm) but opening hour of tour of the stadium will vary depend on the match schedule. If there is a match on the day, tour of the stadium will be closed three hours before kick off. Therefore, it is really important to check their website from time to time.

During the tour, we can take as many photos as we like. We can also take a photo with Champion League Trophy and with Barca’s player through photoshop edit. The photo session required additional charge. If we are hungry, there are some restaurant and cafe around Camp Nou area. Overall the museum and stadium tour was worthy and satisfying. So if you are a football fan especially Barcelona, this Camp Nou Experience is a must thing to do when you visit Barcelona.

I couldn’t meet Messi, so his poster was enough 🙂

Airbnb Experience in Barcelona

April 20, 2014May 21, 2014 ~ travellingactually ~ 1 Comment

After some years experiences of staying at backpacker hostels, I decided to try something new for my trip last December and January. First I tried to make some contacts to couchsurfing (CS) members, trying to find free accommodation but seems like a little bit challenging for first timer. Or probably I was not patient enough for the whole deal arrangement with CS. So, I booked accommodation through airbnb. My main purpose of choosing airbnb is because I wanted to experience living with locals, get to know their family and ground truthing how local people’s live their lives. Isn’t it interesting?

First I searched for accommodation options in Paris, Barcelona and Rome. My preference was a room in a house or an apartment where I can live with the host. As I mentioned on the previous post about tips choosing a backpacker hostel, some important considerations remain. I considered location, ratings (or review by previous travelers), host profile and price.

I actually reserved three accommodations during my trip in Europe which were in Paris, Barcelona and Rome. However, at the end I only managed to stay at one accommodations in Barcelona. I experienced a drama during my travel from Amsterdam to Paris. My train was delayed for two hours, while my host already had a plan to leave the city on the late afternoon. I should be arriving in Paris at 5 pm, but due to the delay I arrived at Gare du Nord at 7 pm. I contacted my host when I stranded at St Quentin (two hours from Paris) about my delay. Unfortunately my host said that they couldn’t wait for me. I was really upset and anxious, because the delay was not my fault, I already paid to airbnb for three days charge, I didn’t know at all about Paris and didn’t have any place to stay. On the other hand, I understood my host’s position that he had to leave. It was just I didn’t anticipate any delay at all. At the end, I managed to stay at a motel near Gare du Nord and contacted airbnb about my case. Luckily, airbnb refunded all the cost charged to my credit card.

I cancelled my reservation in Rome because I realized that the location was too far from Rome airport and main train station Termini. I think location becomes the most important factor for me before choosing an accommodation.

Out of all the drama, I was lucky to get a good accommodation in Barcelona. I reserved for a room in an Catalan style apartment at the center of Barcelona. Before finalizing my reservation, I made contact with the host, Aymen, about the room availability, access from Barcelona Sants train station, facility and rules. Aymen, my host was really helpful and answered my questions patiently. Later I knew that Aymen is a university student in Madrid, and it is her mother, Samira who lives in the apartment in Barcelona.

My conversation with Aymen before I made the reservation

The room is small, but it was enough for me. The apartment is in Catalan style which is unique. Samira is a modern career woman who is really friendly and helpful. They allowed me to use the kitchen to cook and gave me the privacy that I needed. One night, I had a chance to chat with Aymen and another night I had a chat with Samira’s friend who stayed at the place as well. It was really interesting to stay with Spanish family, met new people and knew a little bit about their daily living. I would definitely do the same thing again next time. Staying in a home stay with the local family.

Here are some photos of my accommodation in Barcelona.