Day 13 - Valencia to Barcelona

Today was an early start, and I jumped out of bed to the sound of my alarm at 7:45am. Our time in Valencia had come to an end and today we were going to Barcelona!

Unfortunately Stelios and I both woke up sick and congested this morning – Stelios had a cough and I had a runny nose. Definitely not ideal, especially for a travel day. We stopped at the pharmacy to get some medicine and grabbed a quick breakfast near our Airbnb. By 10:30am we were in a taxi off to the train station and boarded our train around 11:30am. Navigating the train station in Valencia was fairly easy – we booked our tickets ahead of time on Renfe and printed our boarding passes when we got there. We arrived 45 minutes before our train not knowing what to expect, but you probably only need to arrive 20-30 minutes before your train to play it safe. We had a 3 hour train ride to Barcelona, which was the perfect amount of downtime to rest and also gave me an opportunity to catch up on the blog.

Some final thoughts as I reflected on our short time in Valencia:

3 days & 2 nights was definitely enough time to experience the city. No official regrets about extending in Ibiza and losing an extra day here. Overall I wasn’t WOWed by the city but we were WOWed by the paella at Casa Carmela which is what we came here for
Casa Carmela has the best Paella Valenciana but Lita (my favorite restaurant back home) has specialty paellas that honestly rival it. I’m very happy we have a place back home to continue to enjoy this delicious dish.
Valencia is a walkable city and very biker friendly. If we weren’t so tired from Ibiza we would have done an actual bike tour rather than just roaming around on our own
Having just come from a beach destination, we stayed in Ciutat Vella (center of Valencia) so we could easily explore the different neighborhoods of the city and chose to uber to the beach during the day. If you prefer to be by the beach/water I’d recommend staying in El Cabanyal
We encountered the most people/workers that only spoke Spanish here
It’s been the most affordable destination so far

By 3pm, we arrived to Grand Hotel Central, a 5 star hotel in the El Born neighborhood that also borders the Gothic Quarter. While most websites recommend first timers stay in the Gothic quarter, a lot of travel blogs also mention that area is very touristy and crowded, which is something Stelios and I prefer to avoid when selecting our hotel location. This hotel was the perfect compromise because we could still easily walk 10 minutes to the Gothic Quarter, while staying in the more authentic El Born neighborhood.

Upon check in we were given complimentary glasses of champagne (a very nice touch) and told we were upgraded to a deluxe room, but to be honest our room looked exactly the same as the one I had booked online so I’m not sure what exactly made it “deluxe”. The only downside to this hotel was that there was no outside terrace/balcony which I’d later be thankful for because the room had incredible soundproofing considering there was construction happening across the street every day.

After settling in we walked 10 minutes to Nudo, a health food bar in El Born with fresh fruit smoothies – we both needed an immune booster. After enjoying our smoothies we decided to walk around and start to explore the city. We stopped by the Barcelona Cathedral, where there was a band playing and local residents doing a cultural dance in a circle. After a few minutes of watching, we walked up Via Laietana, one of the main streets in Barcelona, and popped into El Nacional. It reminded me of Eataly in New York, a huge complex with different restaurants/bars in each section. We continued our walk through the Eixample neighborhood, which had all of the designer stores for shopping, and much newer architecture compared to El Born. We also stopped in front of Casa Battlo which I’d like to tour if we have time. Overall Barcelona is a MUCH busier city than Valencia. I think I will like the El Born barrio the best because it feels more authentic and walkable with all of the hidden alleys, but also less touristy than Eixample and the Gothic Quarter. The Eixample section feels too modern to me, in a city with so much history and culture, I prefer the older more authentic feel. It is also very busy and reminds me of New York City.

Stelios and I were both exhausted and not feeling great, but we had dinner reservations at Mont Bar, a Michelin star restaurant, that we couldn’t cancel or we’d get charged €200, so we started walking there around 9pm. Originally we signed up for the tasting menu and wine pairing but we knew there was no way we could do a full tasting menu or drink tonight. I explained to our waitress we were both tired after a travel day and she said she could tell and that it was not a problem for us to order off the a la carte menu.

I’m glad we still went because dinner was delicious and also so interesting. The dishes were Spanish fusion (Spanish inspired but mixed with elements from other cultures). We started with the complimentary amuse bouche Zuchini flower, then enjoyed the mochi with sobrasada, chicken skin and squid canapé, tuna belly emulsion, mushroom and chicken “soup”, sea cucumber carbonara, and the surf and turf to share. I thought it was funny that at a Michelin star restaurant in Barcelona, where you could hear multiple languages being spoken around the room, they were playing American hits like September, Jolene, Frank Sinatra, and Grease. At the end of our meal the waitress asked if we would like dessert, but we were both tired and too full. I’m glad we didn’t order dessert because apparently there was a complimentary surprise dessert at the end anyway! We thanked our waitress for being accommodating. I was also incredibly impressed that she spoke 4 languages – English, French, Italian, and Spanish and she said that tonight she had to use all 4 for different tables and it does get confusing at times. I always find it remarkable how Europeans are much more fluid than Americans when it comes to knowing different languages. I wish I was bilingual growing up but the Spanish that I know is mostly just from school, and I should have kept up with it after college. It’s hard when you’re not immersed in it every day but I have really been trying to order in Spanish and speak to the hotel workers and serves in Spanish throughout this trip.

Overall, I think we accomplished seeing a decent amount of Barcelona on our first night, especially considering we are both under the weather. I hope a good nights sleep helps us kick whatever bug we have and we both feel better in the morning.