La Dolce Vita: Barcelona Continued...

After meeting up with our friend Courtney on day 2, we decided it was time for a beach day. We navigated our way through the hot and busy city streets down to the harbour. When we arrived, it appeared that everyone else in Barcelona also decided to go to the beach that day. There were several luxurious yachts and sailboats in the harbour, which we passed while walking to the Barceloneta area. Our first swim in the Mediterranean was refreshing, however the beach was extremely crowded, and there were tons of vendors trying to sell us tattoos and premixed (and questionable) mojitos.

Barceloneta Beach...trying to catch up to Courtney's tan.

On day 3 of our trip, the three of us decided to get a relatively early start. We headed north to visit the Parc Guell, known as the "lungs of the city", which was dedicated to and designed by architect Antonio Gaudi. His influence from neo-gothic art and nature resulted in a distinct style that can be seen throughout the park. It was interesting to compare the park to the Segrada Familia, which despite being unfinished, is his most famous work.

The park had an amazing view of the city!

Entrance to the Parc Guell

Tonight we went for an amazing dinner of tapas, wine, and sangria. We received a recommendation from a new found Estonian friend(?) who told us we had to visit Cerveseria Catalana for dinner before we left Barcelona. As you can see, we ordered 19 delicious items from their menu, ranging from veal chops, to sauteed mushrooms, to red peppers stuffed with cod puree. Of course, these items paired very nicely with sangria and a bottle of sauvignon blanc. We highly recommend this spot, but it gets extremely busy after 8pm any night of the week, so try getting there before then to grab a seat outside on the patio for some great people watching!