Barcelona Diary

This year started really well by traveling to Spain for the first time. 
Barcelona to be exact. 
And here I gathered lots of memories and informations again so welcome to my Barcelona diary and enjoy reading 💜

Since this trip was a bit longer again I try to keep it as short but crisp as possible(well, I tried haha)

Tuesday 

On Tuesday we took the plane from Berlin Schönefeld. That now became my favorite airport to travel from as I know it very well and feel comfortable there plus has awesome directions to different countries. I also met a friend there I know from Kleiderkreisel as she funnily also had a spontaneous business trip Barcelona and we were on the same plane :D We landed about half past 7 pm and took a train to the center which took us about 15 minutes followed by another 15 minute walk to our Airbnb. If you’re interested I can mail you the exact place where we stayed at as I can highly recommend it. 

The area we stayed in is called La Nova Esquerra de l'Eixample and everything is super LGBTQ friendly, close to the most important spots and you have many bars and also vegan options around. On that evening we just checked out the close 24h markets(which you can literally find at EVERY corner) to buy drinks and breakfast then had dinner at Vegasana which was quite a lovely place. I'll talk about all vegan places we went to in another post after this here. By the way below is my travel outfit :) 

Wednesday 

On Wednesday we firstly had breakfast at our Airbnb with the best view you could ask for, sitting in the sun which illuminated our balcony. Then walked up to the Sagrada Familia as that is one spot we really wanted to check out. We didn’t go into the Basílica itself but the view from outside was really awesome already. It’s quite a tourist spot but wasn’t too overwhelming. I immediately noticed all the birds and parrots I spotted in Rome before. Then also palms and little parks. All these lovely spots where you can sit down on benches just watching the birds eating from the trees.

We had lunch at La Trocadero and then walked up north to Park Güell. On that way I also spotted my beloved lemon trees again!! The park was definitely my highlight as the view was insane. You have many different ways to climb up the hill. There was an old man playing on his lute whereto I just had to give him money as it made the situation just perfect. I highlighted my trip within my Instagram so feel free to check it out there too. We went there to the perfect time to catch the sunset. The pictures just speak for itself. Definitely go there if you visit Barcelona.  

We went back down again in the dark and had a quick stop at Chök where you can find a couple of lil shops in town. Had coffee and shared that generous filled vegan Nutella donut which was the bomb! If you’re interested in details and pics stay tuned for my Vegan Barcelona Guide post. 

It was quite late already but went a bit through El Raval exploring the streets in the dark, sat at the water for a while and grabbed a very late dinner at Maoz which is major tip of mine but more to that in the guide! 

Thursday

Was tattooist day as Chris of course had to get inked and went to Nutz at LTW Tattoo & Piercing, located on the Carrer dels Tallers street. While he got tattooed I took the chance for having a pink beetroot latte sitting alone in the sun and enjoying the fresh air before jumping into exploration mode. The street called Carrer dels Tallers has SO many cool vintage shops. They’re all a bit more expensive(for my thrift shop standards) but it’s nice to just look around and eventually coming across the one or other gem. I spotted a pair of chunky platform boots that I bought the day after as they’re just perfect and the platforms are so big! 

Eventually had another coffee at Costa to sit down working a bit and went to Tezenis after as I spotted a sale section where each pair of patterned tights was only 2,50€ so took a few home with me. Chris was finished at around 5 then went to our Airbnb having “leftovers” from Maoz the night before then again went back to Carrer dels Tallers for a drink at Nevermind. That bar is a skater bar and so cool to hang out and meet friends at. I honestly expected a bit more but it’s definitely a cool meeting spot for people at my age. 

Friday 

On Friday we first had cronuts for breakfast at Chök but on the Carrer del Carme street then went to LTW for another time. I got a spontaneous tattoo on my neck behind my ear which you’ll see once it is healed 😉 We picked up my shoes from the store right next to it which I obviously kept on right away to collect Barcelona vibes in them. For lunch we went to Roots and Rolls which was my second highlight as this place has completely enchanted me with everything from service to food and locality! Want to know what we had? Check out my vegan guide then :) Strengthened and happy walked up the Arc de Triomphe and the actual highlight was on the way there already. The street was full with anime/manga shops! There was even one store with vending machines in front of it where we got two figures each. Curious which ones? Have a look at my Instagram highlight here. 

It was pretty dark already so didn’t see much of the Arc de Triomphe anymore. We got a bit of stuff from Lidl(which is surprisingly pretty good when it comes to vegan products) walked through the Ciutadella Park but here again it was so dark we barely saw anything. But still spotted the orange balls hanging from a tree so Chris got me one in hope to bite in a juicy mandarine. Well no it wasn’t at all, just sour and bitter :D A few people on Instagram told me they aren’t edible so take care ^^ 

Saturday 

Our last day already we first got another pink beetroot latte for Chris and I chose the unicorn latte(which didn’t look like one at all) at vegan bowls and had breakfast at Santoni Cafe which I’ll also talk more about in my vegan guide, then walked through the streets of the Gothic Quarter again which is probably my favorite area. I had an insane emotional breakdown because of a really silly reason. So spent lots of time crying and sitting in the park in hope to get over it. But once I calmed down again walked to the Cathedral of Barcelona and had lunch at Teresa’s. Due that delay couldn’t make it to the beach in time to see the sunset but still walked along the sand and waves in the dark. We actually planned to grab vegan cinnamon rolls at Demasie which we spotted the day before but they were sold out already. Instead got the banana latte and also a vegan bubble waffle right next to it. The staff there is SO sweet and highly recommend both stores!! Pictures are in the vegan guide(food porn alert).

It was allover a lot of walking. Didn’t use the public transport a single time as you’d just miss all the cool stores and impressions you get by walking through the streets. The whole week we had awesome weather which I'm truly thankful for as there was rain again once we left.

On Sunday we woke up at 8 and headed back to the airport then go Berlin where we also spend some more time taking a train back to Leipzig in the evening. Used the Flixtrain for the first time which well was a really interesting experience :D Below which I always love to do together with my travel companion - 
Collecting things we noticed within the city: 

- Super practical bins 

- Tapas tapas tapas everywhere! 

- 24h shops all over the place. Sometimes you don’t even know in which one to go as there are so many 

- it’s not allowed to buy alcohol after 11 pm(well, theoretically 😉)

- It’s a veeery LGBTQ friendly city!! 🏳️‍🌈

- Vegan options everywhere. And when you enter a store asking about vegan options they surprisingly all know what you’re talking about! <3

- Many stores have these weird automatic cashpoints 

- Everyone is speaking English very well so no communication problems 

- Random but my phone carrier was called Movistar there so every time I looked onto my phone I got an catchy tune from that song from Harpo hahah(This will be my Barcelona song from now on)

- It’s a very safe place(even tho many said you have to be careful regarding pickpockets)

- Everyone is very attentive so if you drop something they'll pick it up and give it back to you!

- Not much police around  

- No bottle deposit like we already noticed in Rome etc. 

- The prices are similar to the ones in Germany  

- The green and blue parrots/parakeets 🦜 

- There are many similar streets so you need a good orientation system(mine is great so feel lucky)


Woohhh if you made it until here now while reading everything, thank you!! And I truly hope you have enjoyed reading it :) Barcelona is definitely one of my favorite cities as I felt really welcomed and safe there. It's a bit like a neighbor to me and comes close to my love for London even if you can't compare these cities. But could definitely see living there for a while. Let me know if you have any questions left. I'd love to hear about your own experiences 💜