Travel Diaries in Spain

June 24, 2018

Travel Diaries in Spain

We recently got back from a trip to Spain for Ethans birthday, we stayed in Salou and also Barcelona.

When we first arrived in Salou after getting the bus from Barcelona airport, I was slightly disappointed since the weather was not the best and the hotel room pictures did not really look how they did online. We went out for tea to a local italian restaurant which was just a few minutes walk from the hotel. I looked through the menu and chose a pasta dish which I thought would be good without the parmesan on, ordered this with a waiter. A few minutes later, our original waitress came over to inform me that the parmesan was actually within the sauce - after explaining the situation she helped me to chose a pasta which had pine nuts, spinach and olive oil nothing exciting but nice.

The next day, we woke up and went downstairs to have breakfast in the hotel. The breakfast was a buffet with a large selection, a variety of breads, cheeses, hams and jams. next to this counter was a hot area where there were cooked meats such as sausages and bacon, as well as this there were roasted tomatoes, beans and churros. There were chefs making pancakes and omeletes with your choice of toppings. Along with all of this there was a counter which had fresh fruits, dried fruits such as raisins and dates, a large assortment of cereals topped off with an option for soy milk.

After breakfast we decided to go and explore the area.

We stumbled across this little area by accident, in the last picture you can see the houses nestled in along the coastline. Even though this was our first proper day of the holiday I managed to somehow get burnt.

The next day, we went to Portaventura Theme Park. It cost us 48 euros each, it was definetley worth it! There were lots of different rides and easily something to suit each person, family or group. There are huge rollercoasters such as the 'Shambala' all the way down to rides like the log flume and the teacups. The park is split up in to regions such as; 'China', 'Far West' and 'Mexico' where the area and rides are themed on this. There is also an area in the park that is themed on 'Sesame Street' called 'Sesamo Adventura' this is a childrens park with plenty of rides. it is definitely vegan friendly, I found it really easy to eat here, I had a vegetable burrito with wedges and then even got sorbet.

The following day we decided that we would travel to Barcelona and spend the night. We booked all of our travel and accommodation the previous day while we were having lunch at portaventura. The train tickets cost us around £30 return from Salou which was really good considering that was the total for the both of us. The journey was really straight forward, just a bus to Salou train station and then the train to Barcelona. Everything was signed posted and stated clearly which train was going to Barcelona. The train took around an hour and a half, we got arrived at 'Passeig De Gracia' train station at lunch time. We came out of the underground straight into the centre of Barcelona and right on the doorstep of 'Casa Batllo'.

We walked from the train station to our hotel in the gothic quarter. Once we arrived we had a little rest, charged our phones, freshened up and figured out what to do next. We had lunch in a cafe which we could see from our balcony. We decided to go to the Sagrada Familia, on the way there we decided to walk to a vegan ice cream parlour which I had been recommended by a girl on instagram, after walking for a while we stumbled across it.. all for it to be closed. We also happened to come across the 'Arc de Triomph' by complete accident. Moving on from the ice cream parlour we walked for around another 20 minutes to the Sagrada Familia, this was beyond beautiful. Completely breathtaking.

On our way back we did a little bit of shopping, just a few shops that we do not really have in the UK; Uniqlo, Bershka and a few others. Below is a picture from the top floor of Uniqlo and the view form our hotel room.

We went out for dinner in an american diner where we had a few cocktails, after here we went to a quaint cocktail bar called 'Dux' the staff in here were really friendly and the drinks were very imaginative. We had to check out at 10am and try to find somewhere for breakfast, we stumbled across 'La Rambla' and walked the length of this, at the bottom if you cross over the roundabout after the memorial you will come to a marina with boats and steps by the water where you can sit. We had breakfast in 'Rambla Cafe'. Both of us were so hungry, we ordered a sharers portion of hummus with pita chips and then two toasties each and some freshly squeezed orange juice. This cafe was a godsend, it felt like we had been on a wild goose trying to find somewhere to have breakfast. Our waitress was amazing and the food was so good! It really set us up for the rest of the day.

Right around the corner from our hotel was the Barcelona cathedral.

We had some spare time before having to find our way to the train station as we were departing from 'Barcelona Sants' train station. This is the original train station that we were meant to get off at but we got off at the stop after this because it saved us a 45 minute walk, I was more than willing to pay the extra if we were asked but we just glided out of the exit with no issues - if you did plan on doing this then just be prepared to pay a bit extra.

With us having free time before the train we stopped off at Sephora. I spent so much time in here, since we do not have a Sephora in England its a necessity in visit one whenever in Europe or America. The store has a slide to get in, it was quite steep and if I wasnt wearing a skirt I would have flew down it. They had an interactive area as soon as you enter the store where you can smell and see different ingrediants such as; charcoal, honey and aloe vera. There was also another interactive section for the Nina Ricci Perfume where you could take a picture and it was shown on a big screen. After Sephora we went for a walk in search of ice cream but when looking on google maps I saw a cafe pop up that I had wanted to go to, so we went there instead and got some smoothies and I got a cookie aswell. We also went back to the 'Casa Batllo Gaudi' which is a landmark in Barcelona that is very recognisable, defiantly a must see!