Baecation in barcelona

Obviously, this is just the time of year that I like to go to Barcelona. I was there with the girls 2 years ago to the day and as you may have seen on my instagram, I've just got back from a long weekend there. What you also may have seen on my instagram is that it wasn't a trip with the girls this time, but with my bae, Ollie, who is only just making an appearance on the blog because we've been seeing eachother in secret for 4 months. In secret because we work together and didn't want anyone to know yet; not because one of us is married or something. And we had the most amazing weekend away! After an early start on Friday morning, we made our way through security (which was the quietest I've ever seen it) and then spent a couple of hours enjoying breakfast and free drinks in the lounge. It's never too early for prosecco right?

We had a bit of drama getting to our hotel (which the first taxi driver we asked did an absolutely shocking job of explaining). Loads of roads were closed all over the city which we initially thought might be to do with a football game or something (due to lots of people wearing flags) but it turned out to be all kinds of political protests and riots over the Catalonian independence fight - something that was also going on when I was in Barcelona last time! More about that later though. I always like that when I book to go away, I've forgotten what the hotel looks like by the time I get there so it's like a surprise from past-tense me. Hotel Cram was in a really ideal, central location and the rooms were absolutely beautiful. I'm a sucker for anything wrought iron so the balcony (and its view) were really up my street.

Given that every resident in Barcelona was on strike from work on the Friday, we figured it wasn't the best day to go out sightseeing. Instead, we rinsed the mini bar and got ready to go out at night! The weather was pretty nice but not like crazy heatwave so I wasn't sure what kind of clothes to pack but I ended up with some nice warm-weather-but-not-boiling vibes like this playsuit. Even though it's highly impractical (has no zips or buttons so you have to get the neck hole up your whole body and over your shoulders), I still love it because the print is so cute. After adding a belt and lace up sandals, we headed up to our rooftop bar and pool (another thing, along with wrought iron, that I'm big on) for a couple of drinks.

You can't go to Barcelona and not head straight for the nearest tapas bar so that's exactly what we did. There was a few of them in a row just near us (we were staying in the Eixample district which is pretty central), and we managed to pick a lovely one. I introduced Ollie to sangria (which thankfully he liked, although it wouldn't have been a problem if I had to drink the litre by myself) and we ordered loads of amazing food; although we got sucked in by 'fried fish' which turned out to be whitebait. Rookie mistake; always check with fish because if it comes with eyes on it, I'm not eating it.

We'd heard on the news (I say heard but we don't speak Spanish, so it was 'saw') about all the fires and riots going off and we were right in the thick of it all once we were out. Because it was a government protest, we figured it was pretty safe so went wandering around to spectate on the drama; it literally felt like the end of the Joker movie (which we saw a couple of weeks ago) come to life! After all the excitement, we'd certainly earned a few more drinks back on our rooftop, with the romantic backdrop of fires going up on every street corner, helicopters over head and the sound of sirens going in every direction below us.

Saturday was our only full day in the city so it was a jam-packed one. I wore rust midi skirt, black striped top and black espadrilles (which I continue to wear as my sightseeing shoe of choice, even though they always give me blisters). Last time I went to Barcelona, we didn't manage to see the ticketed part of Park Guell because it was sold out so this time I really wanted to see it. We started there, after a hike up the steepest hill in the world, and the views from the top were incredible. I love all the mosaic stuff and we had a lovely little breakfast in a sunny spot looking over the main square bit.

Next on the list was the Sagrada Familia (the famously unfinished Gaudi basilica). Given that we pretty much spent a whole day looking round it on my last trip, I wasn't too fussed about going inside again. Thankfully, Ollie agreed the view from the outside (with a drink in hand) was much better anyway.

Another thing I didn't see last time was Barcelona beach, which felt like the perfect spot for some lunch. I bet you'll never guess what we had? Obviously we went for tapas again (well, a few tapas and a pizza) and the patatas bravas were even better than the ones from the night before. We also had another couple of drinks and another litre of sangria (cava one this time) so we were pretty drunk by the time we got a rickshaw ride to our next destination!

It seems that pretty much every European city has an Arch de Triumph; Barcelona's is called Arco de Triunfo and the rickshaw guy hilariously showed us a selfie of him stood in front of it to confirm that's where we wanted to go. It may not have been quite as impressive as the ones in Milan or Paris but it was very pretty and right on the edge of a lovely park. It was also the perfect walking distance away from our hotel, hitting the placa catalunya and casa batllo on the way back.

Surprisingly, we weren't all tapas'd out yet so after getting ready for our last night, we headed out for food and fancy G&T's. Although after our feast from earlier in the day, we weren't actually hungry! We did manage to sample yet another patatas bravas though; they were my second place ones (falling short to the ones we had at lunch) but they earned Ollie's top spot.

Our flight on Sunday wasn't until half 1 so luckily we didn't have to be up early. We also luckily ignored the advice of Ryanair, who emailed about an airport security strike and recommended we get there 3 hours before our flight. We got there 1 hour 45 before our flight, basically walked through security and still had plenty of time to relax in the VIP lounge (and once again make the most of the free food and drink). Then after a 2 hour flight home (all of which I spent asleep), we finished the holiday with the big reveal on instagram for everyone at work. There's only like 20 people who work at our place so news spreads like wildfire; my photo was screenshotted in a record 4 seconds and they were apparently all on the phone to each other in minutes. There's already been plenty of jokes about what our joint name would be (suggestions include 'jolly' and 'jenolly') and how our office is worse than dancing on ice for relationships (Joe, your line has officially made its way into the blog) but after 4 months the secret is finally out! My main concern now is what holiday we're booking next...