Sometimes I feel like I'm in Barcelona..

Fresh fruit juices in la boqueria market - I had plantain + coconut milk... it was delicious.

First up, this post is lengthy one because: there are too many amazing places not to mention here and, a 3 day weekend turned into a 5 day holiday thanks to the French airstrikes.

The trip was made even more special by the fact that James surprised me and said we were going away to our fave spot in "Portugal", so I'd packed for the beach... it only dawned on me (thanks to doctored boarding passes and being so late I didn't have time to think about the departure gate), that we were flying to Barcelona as we were at the gate.

Naturally, as an organised control freak, I was panicking at this stage, thinking (read: accusing) James of looking at the wrong gate number. In fact I was marching up to the front desk to find out exactly where our gate was before James blurted out that we were in fact flying to BCN, and not only that... but he'd organised it with the other halves of some of my closest best friends from Uni, so we were all out there together!

FRIDAY

After an early alfresco continental breakfast of cappuccinos and croissants on a lovely boulevard, we had a quick walk around the neighbourhood before heading over to the apartment to meet everyone.

Our Air b'n'b host Alex recommended we try Vinitus for a lunch, a tapas restaurant on the same street as our apartment. It was fantastic. A decent bottle of red cost nine euros, and the tapas menu was extensive and very well priced.

Favourites included the cod with honey and aioli, crispy camembert, ham egg + rosti potato and the textured chocolate pudding.

Cod with honey + aioli, + crispy camembert @ Vinitus, Barcelona

Iberian ham & egg rosti

Because we hadn't seen in each other in a while (in fact we hadn't been together since the wedding in Thailand), it ended up being quite a drawn out affair with more wine, beer, and a seemingly endless supply of Tapas being summoned to the table to fuel our chatter.

We meandered back up to our apartment - I'm annoyed as the pictures just don't do this place justice! It was in a beautiful building with a large winding staircase leading you into the huge apartment space (four bedrooms, four bathrooms, 2 living rooms, a dining room and open plan kitchen) - we were all blown away. Seriously one of the nicest places I've ever stayed in. It was absolutely vast but in a homely, arty way. Having coffee each day on the balcony was the absolute dream, I'm telling you!

credit: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/10574270

There's more on air bnb here.

The owner, Alex, was great - really top bloke with a great sense of humour, full of brilliant recommendations and very accommodating. If there's 6 or more of you going, you should definitely check this place out. Carrer del Consell de Cent is about a five minute walk away from the placa de catalunya and an amazing location for bars / restaurants and tourist attractions.

We walked everywhere.

I love exploring on foot because you see so much of a city - I definitely appreciate a place more if I've walked around. We were walking around 20,000 -30,000 steps a day, so sensible footwear was a must.. As luck would have it, as well as flip flops for 'Portugal', I'd packed my newest pair of trainers - it was really fortunate actually; the team at Clarks had got in touch a few weeks before asking if I'd like to review a pair of their women's trainers - I'll be honest, at first I was a little skeptical as my memories of Clarks shoes conjures up the back to school days with my mum or dad pressing down on my big toe to see how much room for growing there was, and the chore of having my feet clamped in the measuring apparatus.

Anyway. These were no chore to wear. They were so comfy and haven't rubbed at all, despite me wearing them for five days straight for over eight hours at a time. I'm really impressed with the design - it's a collaboration between Clarks and fashion designer Christopher Raeburn. I love the heel loop tab and the texture of the nubuck (leather).

How nice are they?!

On Friday evening we happened to stumble across something called the VanVan market at the port. It was a gourmet food and drink festival celebrating old vehicles, and tours round in convoy.

Burgers, burritos, waffles, cheese, churros and more, the smells from each stall were amazing. We drank red wine, soaking up the atmosphere and listened to a live band before walking into the Gothic Quarter.

SATURDAY

Running in Barcelona was a great way to explore at pace (and burn off some of the excess tapas / sangria!). I did a 5 and a 6 mile run here over the five days and what I found so beautiful about running was the variety of the terrain. From our apartment I ran down the busy placa de catalunya, down the infamous las ramblas, along the port and up to the beach, mixing bustling boulevards with wide open spaces, pavements and sand.

Nichola + I blew away the cobwebs with a slightly chilly run and came back ready to attack brunch.

We'd heard about Cosmo through Alex. A cafe-cum-contemporary art space, it was brilliantly edgy and just hipster enough to feel like I was back in the northern quarter in Manchester.

Brunch was fab, too:

I opted for 'Munch': toasted bread with oil and salt with avocado, egg and salmon, a cappuccino and an orange, carrot, apple and ginger juice.

I'd definitely recommend this place for brunch or coffee. It was bustling with groups of friends and young families - we were only sorry we couldn't sit outside!

After fueling up on that it was time to get touristy, including a trip to the Sagrada Familia, ascending one of the towers and creeping slowly back down its narrow, winding staircase. Despite not being overtly religious you can't not feel a sense of sublime inside; it's without a doubt a must-do.

Beautiful La Pedrera

For dinner that night, we walked around for ages (maybe an hour?) to try and find somewhere we all wanted to eat, weaving in and out of side streets in the Gothic Quarter and reaching new levels of hangry.

Kate's friend had recommended Palosanto and it was pure chance that we stumbled across it in our time of need.

I'm so glad we did. I had the best patatas bravas I've ever experienced. The atmosphere was great; groups of friends sat at high, long tables and waiters rushing back and forth with hot plates and jugs of sangria.

We followed suit...

James + I shared; patatas bravas (so, so good - crispy potato skin, fluffy inside, with a hot sauce and a garlic aioli sauce)

Iberian ham, olives + tomato, salt and oil on bread (this bread was a common occurrence in BCN in all restaurants, and it was a winner with me!)

Chicken wings (sticky soy sauce was greeeattt).

Spicy peppers (these were ridiculously moreish and amazing when you got a large salt crystal with one)

Egg + potato (I've never eaten so many egg / potato / ham combinations as I did last week - this simple dish works brilliantly and was a firm favourite).

The fried aubergine with honey was insane and I urge you to get this if you ever go.

I can't decide between Vinitus and Palosanto as to which was my favourite tapas restaurant - Vinitus was great and we liked it so much we went twice (and also because it was so close to our flat), every time we walked past the place was so busy. Palosanto was definitely the right place to eat on a Saturday night.


SUNDAY

In my book Sunday's are made for chilling and that's just what we did; after a breakfast of waffles and fresh juices we ambled along avenue diagonal down to the beach to relax...

Barcelona has everything - a busy city feel, a palm tree lined port, a beach, bars, history, art, architecture, amazing food, I could go on... It's the ultimate destination for a getaway - city or beach break!

Fresh fruit at la boqueria

Places we couldn't go to but really wanted to:

• Brunch + Cake - we tried three times to eat here but the wait was too long, the queue was always out the door with groups of people waiting outside. The reviews sound great and the photos look incredible - if you ever get in, let me know how it is!

• Green + Berry - I spotted this little jaunt on a walk to Av. Diagonal, but unfortunately didn't have time to stop. Looks like an amazing place for juices, healthy lunches to go and vegan treats!

Barcelona really reminds me of Nice, I felt so at home after a few days. It was one of the best trips ever, a top weekend! Thank you James + the boiz for surprising us.

Sunset @ the Princess Negresco