Spain

Upon arrival we got settled into our villa and then took a walk around the neighborhood. We had tons of restaurants and shops nearby. We popped into a cute taverna and had our first Spanish meal. If you ever go to Spain, you’ll see Jamón Ibérico (Iberico ham) on just about every menu. It is a very popular staple in the Spanish diet. Many restaurants will have the entire leg displayed in their restaurant. We ate it a lot during our stay, curious to see how different places used and prepared it. My number one recommendation when it comes to eating it, only order it in raw preparations. It gets incredibly tough when cooked and isn’t nearly as tasty. To me, it tastes quite similar to the Prosciutto I ate when I lived in Italy. We noticed a big difference in food between Portugal and Spain right away. Where Portugal was all about the seafood, Spain was all about tapas, meat and potatoes. 

Make sure you buy your tickets ahead of time. They sell out pretty much every single day. We made sure to be the first timed entry. It gets more and more busy as the day goes on. The Hall of the Ambassadors was such an amazing spot. It served as the throne room and main hall. This room is absolutely stunning. The intricate details are beautiful. All the gardens and the outer walls and buildings were beautiful as well. The estate also has several peacocks that roam the grounds.

If you spend even a day in Spain, you will most likely come across croquettes on any menu you look at. These are present at every tapas joint you might find. I really enjoyed them. They were filled with all sorts of meats, veggies and cheeses. There were even a few places that had some dessert croquettes.  Whether you like it or not, there are a lot of fried foods on tapas menus. We tried to balance our meal so we had some sort of fish and veggies to go with whatever fried food we had (usually croquettes).

There is a small town down at the bottom of the rock. It’s super expensive and everything is priced in British Pound. I recommend you wait and eat once you head back to Spain. If not, try and find something off of the main street that runs through town. Something super unique about Gibraltar is the way you enter and leave on foot. To do either, you have to walk across an active runway. We went by foot when we left, so we could experience this. It’s quite a long walk back to the parking which is on the Spanish side. Everyone said it’s not worth the hassle of driving your car into Gibraltar. The roads are tiny and you aren’t allowed to drive on certain streets if you aren’t a local. All in all, a super interesting day with lots to see.

On our first morning there, we took a quick walk from our hotel and went on a tour of the Palau de la Música Catalana. Opened in 1908, it has become the most famous concert hall in all of Spain. Every musical act you can think of has performed here. It is so beautiful. The stained glass is mesmerizing. While on our tour, we found out that there was going to be a Flamenco performance that night. I was ecstatic, because that was something I wanted to experience while we were in Spain. We booked tickets and thoroughly enjoyed the performance. They didn’t allow photos or video during the performance, otherwise I would have shared that with you. Flamenco is an emotional, high energy and very passionate style of dance. The dancers have to have incredible stamina and I was so happy we got to see it, especially in such an amazing venue.

A tour guide here is an absolute must. My only regret is that we didn’t book a private tour. This is the busiest location in all of Barcelona. Tickets to enter sell out months in advance, so book your tickets well in advance. Having a private tour would have made it easier to maneuver inside. You will miss out on so much information if you don’t go on a guided tour. As you will learn, everything that Gaudi built had deep religious meaning and nature was his muse in many of his creations. He did things that no one else would consider doing, and he created techniques that are still used around the world today. The way he angled walls and ceilings to reflect the light from the windows is breathtaking. Make sure that you get a ticket that allows you to go up in one of the towers. This will forever be one of my favorite places in the entire world.

His biggest influence in the private residences he built, was nature. He especially loved water and all things that grow outside. He loved disguising things in sculptures. Below you can see how he turned chimney’s into different statues.

I loved this location from the moment we arrived. The outside had the most beautiful colors and such whimsy. I immediately thought of mermaids and a fantasy world under the sea. The roof looks like fish scales. Gaudi was inspired by dragons for his rooftop design. There are 27 chimneys hidden in the various sculptures. There were giant plates of glass throughout and when you looked through them, he wanted it to invoke a feeling of being underwater.

So, last but not least, let me talk a little bit about the food we enjoyed while in Barcelona. You can expect to see tapas on pretty much every menu you see. Barcelona also traditionally eats dinner very late at night. Some restaurants don’t open until 8pm. It was bizarre to be coming home from something at 11pm and all the restaurants were packed with people eating dinner. The first photo below is the best Jamón Ibérico we ate during our trip. It was sliced paper thin and wasn’t cooked. It melted in your mouth, so good.