Walking Tour, Tapas, & La Sagrada Familla

This morning the crew slept in for a bit while my brother and I went to Mass in La Sagrada Familia.  On the way home, my brother and I stopped at a place called Nata that sold the most delicious Portuguese egg tarts.  They are like the Chinese egg tarts but BETTER and have cinnamon sprinkled on top!!  yum!

When we got back, everyone got ready and then we headed over to Las Ramblas again to join a free walking tour that I found online.  It was free except for a tip for the Finnish tour guide at the end and it was a really great experience.  It was a little long (about 3 hours) considering it didn't cover that much ground-it was just a tour of the Gothic Quarter.  Our guide had lots of cool facts and information though so it was neat to learn so much about Barcelona in just a small area that I would have never otherwise known.  It was also interesting to hear all about the history of the Catalan people and how different Catalonia is from much of the rest of Spain.  It made me realize how many meaningful connections I must miss all the time in new cities (and old!).

After the tour, we went to the Boqueria which is the famous food market on Las Ramblas.  I was really excited to eat lunch there because my favorite tapas restaurant in DC is called Boqueria!  We ate at a place called El Quim which I had read reviews about online.  Needless to say, it was my favorite meal of our trip.  The seafood was so fresh and delicious.  The only bummer was that it was so crowded, we all had to seat standing up crowding around an area of the bar that covered 2 seats.

From here, Will & I split from the group.  They all headed to see Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia and I went with Will to check out a few of his sneakers shops he wanted to hit up.  After his shops, we then headed on our own to see La Sagrada Familia too.  The line was pretty long but it was definitely worth it.  It was beautiful.  It's been in construction for forever and still isn't complete!  It was really neat though because Gaudi's style is so iconic and unique and so it made for a beautiful design for a Church but also very different and unique.

We didn't stay at the church for too long because we had to meet up with my cousins at the Travel Bar for a paella making class.  Unfortunately, they overbooked the class so they didn't have room for us which was a bummer!  I thought the class would have been really fun.  Instead, we headed to a nice restaurant my brother and I had passed this morning.  It was DELICIOUS.  The sangria was good, the tapas were great, and it was a great way to end our time in Barcelona.  When we got home, it was time to pack up because we were leaving early the next day.