Barcelona, Spain - Nehal Tenany

Can’t exSpain how much I loved Barcelona!

A quirky and sophisticated city with near-limitless options for cultural immersion, Barcelona is easy to explore on foot or by the metro, with it’s most celebrated monuments being nearly walking distance from one another. Aside from Barcelona’s extraordinary art, culture and history, Barcelona is known for it’s riveting nightlife that takes place at the clubs lined alongside the main beach.

Places You Must See:

Gothic Quarter: As you walk through the streets and squares of gothic quarter, you’ll experience the past and present of the city—surrounded by live music, historic cafes and home of many beautiful cathedrals.

Sagrada Familia: It’s impossible to go to Barcelona and not talk about the infamous Sagrada Familia. This church is designed by the famous Antoni Gaudi and has been in construction since 1882…still yet to be completed.

Note: Major tourist hot spot, be careful of pickpocketers—quick story time, I put my purse down here for one second to take a photo of the church and got it stolen, thank god there was nothing in there except my android travel phone and passport copy. BUT LESSON LEARNED.

La Boqueria: One of the oldest markets in Europe, it’s a colorful emporium of different products and sensory overload. Very similar to your everyday farmer’s market.

*Note: Being a vegetarian, it was definitely harder to enjoy the restaurants and markets as the food options were very limited to meat or seafood.*

Las Ramblas: The city’s most famous and touristy street filled with little souvenir/flower tents, street artists and outdoor restaurant.

*Note: This is where the attack took place a few weeks ago. Our hearts go out to the victims, families and people of Barcelona.*

Park Guell: Another amazing park designed by Antoni Guadi filled with extraordianary stone structures and colorful ceramic tiles.

*Note: We only visited the outer layer—you must purchase tickets in advance to visit the monumental area.*

Places You Must Eat At:

Tapas 24: We checked this place out because it was highly recommended by our friends—and we couldn’t leave Spain without trying tapas.

*Note: Wasn’t a fan of the vegetarian option that they called patatas bravas—which was basically french fries with tomato sauce and aioli BUT I heard the non-vegetarian options are mouth-watering.*

Carpe Diem Lounge Club (CDLC): One of the beachfront party establishments located on the main beach that serves as a restaurant during the day and turns into a lounge club at night. We ate on day beds here (I almost fell asleep) and the food was universal (sushi, tacos, burgers etc.). Also…rumor has it, you can get massages while you eat too.

*Note: Carpe Diem means seize the day and give little thought to the future…basically YOLO. This resonated with me throughout the trip—hence many of my decisions.*

La Macchina: MAKE YOUR OWN PASTA BAR. No description needed.

Places You Must Party At:

Dow Jones Bar: Hands down the coolest bar I’ve ever been to. The décor is Wall Street themed and the concept is stock markets—think when you buy a drink, the price of the drink goes up. If no one is really buying drinks the price begins to fall and the stock market “crashes” (all the drinks are super cheap when this happens).

*Note: Just read the names of some of these drinks..*

Here’s a one of the shots we took off the list at Dow Jones when the market crashed.

Opium: By far my favorite club in Barcelona, think Vegas with an insane outdoor patio that is a beach. Loved the music here—ranges from EDM to Pop and Hip Hop. Excuse the low video quality below.

Pasha: Supposedly one of the best clubs in Barcelona but I personally was not a fan—the music was deep house the whole time…and I can see why all the European men head over here.

Overall:

Thanks to its favorable climate, fascinating history and amazing foodie and clubbing scene, travelers like myself never get tired of visiting a city like Barcelona. While my next couple blog posts will dive into Ibiza and Lisbon, Portugal—I can tell you right now that my favorite city on Nehal Tenany’s World Tour Part 1 was without question Barcelona.

Lastly, I’ll be putting all my outfit details in the Lifestyle section of my blog–click the button below to check it out.

Lifestyle blog