Vino por Todo! (The Barcelona Review)

We’ve gotten pretty handy at train travel with two toddlers in tow. So just to keep us on our toes, the hubs planned an April trip that required plane travel to one of my favorite cities, Barcelona. For those of you that don’t know, I spent my semester abroad in Barcelona, so this was a return for me, but a new destination for all 3 boys.

This trip was the first time we flew with the boys having their own seats. On both flights as a family of 4 they had us split 3 and 1, which is less than ideal, but not impossible. The flight was 1.5 hours (although if you had asked me on the plane I would have sworn it was 5–good move forgetting the iPad, Rachel), but both ends involved some train travel as well. Thankfully our boys LOVE trains, which makes it a little easier when the travel day is getting long.  Pro tip:  plan to take the train from the airport to the city center (it’s included in your metro card), BUT give yourself about an hour, maybe a little more if you fly into terminal 1.  If you have nuggets that might get hungry snag them a snack before you get on the shuttle bus.  It’s really easy, but if you fly into terminal 1 you have to take a bus to T2B, and then take an elevator up to the bridge, cross the bridge, elevator back down, and walk down the platform.  From the airport to the city center (Psg. de Gracia), it’s about 30 minutes.  We were able to walk from the Gracia stop to our hotel, but if you couldn’t walk, Psg de Gracia also connects to 3 city metro lines (L2, L3, L4) and there are plenty of cabs outside on the street.  Alternatively, you can also take a bus, or city trains to the city, but I think both of those are a little more complicated.  You can read about how to get into the city center here.  (The train also stops at Sants and Clot, which are also metro stations on opposite ends of the city.)

By the time we got checked into our hotel on Saturday night, it was time for the babies to play and parents to imbibe.  I ran to a closeby grocery before they closed to grab essentials, and the boys played.  We did a lot of walking in Barcelona, as we usually do, but Barcelona’s metro system is super easy to use.  It works very much like DC’s or New York’s; you can check out the map here.  You can also buy cards for the metro that work for 2, 3, 4, or 5 days.  These are likely to be your best bet for quickly and efficiently getting around the city; you can find more details about them here.

Hotel Review:  In Barcelona, we stayed at the Grandom Suites.  We booked through booking.com and got a pretty reasonable deal on a hotel apartment.  This is their official site, but you can compare rates on travel deal sites as well.  The location was great; pros and cons are below.

• We were a 5 minute walk from the Paseig de Gracia station, really easy to find, near lots of neighborhood bars, restaurants, and bakeries, market close-by, AND a playground right out front.
• Our room had 2 bedrooms, a bathroom with a tub (which only matters when you have babies to bathe), and a small kitchen and living room.  Family rooms also have a few toys in them, and the tv got Disney Jr. (which isn’t something our boys generally get, so they think it’s kind of cool when we do).
• They also do evening turn down and left little suckers for the boys each night.  Every single member of the staff we talked to was incredibly friendly and helpful.
• The ONLY bummer about our hotel is that the reception desk is only open from 10:00-19:00 (10a-7p), so after 19:00, you have to buzz the 24h reception.  We arrived around 7:40p and didn’t get to check in until after 8; we had several people tell us we would need to wait 5 minutes, but we waited much longer for someone to come check us in.  I didn’t have a stop watch going, but I would estimate we waited closer to 20 minutes.  Generally, that’s just an annoyance, but when you’re traveling with 2 hungry toddlers it’s a big deal.  
• I would definitely recommend this hotel to traveling families, BUT if you even *think* you might arrive after 7p I would recommend emailing them with an estimated arrival time, so you don’t have to wait like we did.  Per the check in wait, I can only give them 1.5 mama thumbs up.

SUNDAY
We got a late start on Sunday, which was fine with me.  I planned to check out the Montjuic area, as I knew it would have stuff for babes and parents alike.  We took the metro to the Espanya stop, which is the closest to the main entrance to Montjuic.

• **If you are traveling with children in a stroller, I would recommend avoiding the Espanya metro!  There are no elevators, and there are not escalators available in all directions, and some of the staircases are large.  If you can easily collapse your stroller and babywear OR if your nugget(s) are old enough to walk through metro crowds, it would be manageable, but trying to get through that metro with two toddlers in a stroller that’s still large and bulky (#twinproblems) even when collapsed was really obnoxious.** Had we known, we would have just planned to get off a stop early and walk down the block.

When we got off the metro, we both noticed a place that wasn’t on our agenda, but looked interesting:  Arenas de Barcelona.  From what I’ve read, it used to be a bullfighting ring, but has been turned into a commercial center.  The sign at the base says you pay 1€ per adult for the elevator, but it wasn’t crowded when we got there and the guy just waved us through.  You take a quick elevator up and there’s a walk way around the top that gives cool views of the neighborhood//city.  There are also several restaurants at the top, which was cool.  They smelled amazing, but it wasn’t meal time for us.  =)  We were able to get some nice pictures and the boys were able to run around the walk way.

It was a win for everyone.  I would estimate that we spent about 20 minutes here, and even if we had paid a euro it would have been worth it.  If you’re in the neighborhood I would recommend checking it out (although I wouldn’t necessarily go to the neighborhood just for this).
Our main stop on Sunday was Poble Espanyol, located on the side of Montjuic.  On its website they say it’s a museum, which I guess is accurate, but now how I would have described it if someone asked.

• History:  It was built for the 1929 International Exhibition as a microcosm of all of Spain.  You can see the different architectural styles, and customs; there are also restaurants with cuisine typical of different regions, and artisans/stores selling items unique to each region. There’s a main plaza where they hold different events throughout the year; you can find them on their websites under the activities section.  There are also several smaller museums that you can walk through while in Poble Espanyol.

We spent quite a bit of time here on Sunday, and it was nice, but if I was doing our trip over I don’t know that I would return.  Or maybe I would time our entrance better?  We ended up with 1 or both of the boys sleeping for a fair amount of our visit, and there are quite a few stairs in the museum. (I didn’t remember all the steps, because pre-baby things like that didn’t matter, and the information I had read said they were handicapped accessible.)  Had they both been awake it wouldn’t have been a big deal; they would have happily run around, or we could have Tula-ed them, had we known.  It wasn’t the end of the world; it just made it a little more difficult to see everything.  Per the steps, I’m only giving Poble Espanyol 1 thumb up.

For Poble Espanyol, like with lots of tourist attractions in Barcelona, you can get 10% off if you buy your tickets online.  However, we got 20% off because we bought the Barcelona card.

•  The Barcelona Card includes a metro pass, and comes with a physical card that gets you discounts to lots of tourist attractions–some museums are even free.  I’m not sure if we came out ahead with the card, because there are only so many museums that are toddler friendly.  BUT if you’re into museums, I would recommend at least looking into it.  We didn’t make it to  the Fundacio Joan Miro, (which is a GREAT museum, and if you’re into Miro at all I would highly recommend it), but entrance is free with the Barcelona card.  So you just need to weigh what you want to do while you’re there and see if it’s worth it or not.  To be honest, if we had kept a really chop, chop pace we would have totally come out way ahead on the car, but this was my birthday trip and I just wanted to relax and enjoy the city and our trip.

On Sunday, we ate dinner at El Nacional because it kept popping up when I was googling family friendly restaurants, and it wasn’t far from us.  If I were reviewing this place I would say that it’s just fine.

• The wine was good, as was the food–the crema catalana was really yummy–but nothing about this place dazzled me.
• They were able to seat us right away, and they had one highchair, but I just felt pretty okay about the overall meal.  I wouldn’t go as far as to suggest that people avoid it, but if you’re not in the area it’s not worth a specific trip.  I appreciated that we could just walk in and sit down, but we only had one high chair, so I had to wrangle T throughout our whole meal in a booth.  And while they’re good boys, the freedom of a booth means he’s almost unlimited in the things he can do during dinner.  Basically, it means I have to have one hand/arm on him at all times, so it just means I enjoy my meal much less.
• Like I said, nothing about this place was bad, but I didn’t think anything about it was impressive either.  Bottom line?  One mama thumb up; I can’t totally hose any place that can seat us immediately.

MONDAY
On Monday, I thought we were going to get an earlier start.  And we did, sort of.  There was never a day where we hit it early and aggressively, but that was really okay with me on this trip. We headed out early-ish (especially by Barcelona standards) and casually wandered towards the beach.  Our plan was to go up the Columbus Tour and do a wine tasting afterwards (another tip from the Barcelona card book!).  After our annoying morning train experience on Sunday, I suggested just taking a slow, early morning walk down La Rambla de Catalunya.  It’s a big, beautiful street, and during the peak of tourist season there are street performers EVERYWHERE.  We figured somewhere between our hotel and the Columbus tower we would find breakfast.

• As we were walking we checked out several cafes, and finally settled on a place called Creps Barcelona, and to be honest it was exactly what we needed.  It was a small restaurant, but when we went no one else was there, so we didn’t feel as concerned about T and M having a little extra energy.
• I got a serrano ham sandwich, Mike got a chorizo sandwich, and we got the boys a banana crepe.  Also, the adults had coffee (duh)–an americano for Mike, and cafe con leche for me.  This was, for me, the best cafe con leche of our entire trip, and I had a bunch.  Much like cappuccino is my standard order in Germany, in Barcelona it’s ALWAYS cafe con leche (unless it’s dinner time and I can get a carajillo de Baileys).  But always cafe con leche.  We had to be a little persistent to get our check, but that’s mostly cultural.  We ended up with the exact right amount of food, and it was a pretty quick in and out, and it wasn’t ridiculously expensive.  I‘d give them 1.5 mama thumbs up for the speed of service, and if I were in the area I would for sure go back again.

Then we slowly walked (is there any other way with toddlers?) down La Rambla towards the Columbus Tower.  It took us a while (30 minutes, maybe?), but the weather was beautiful and we had planned to just enjoy the walk.  Again, we did the wine tasting because we got a discount through the Barcelona card.  There are a few different possibilities for visiting the Mirador de Colom, but we went with the visit to the top and the wine tasting.  (To be fair, all the literature says wine tasting, but it’s really just a glass of wine after you come back down.)

• The top of the Mirador is INCREDIBLY tiny, so if you’re uncomfortable in small spaces I definitely wouldn’t recommend it.  If I had known how small it was at the top I might not have gone up myself, just because the boys were uncomfortable when we were up there.  I mean, it’s so tight it was hard to walk past other people.  The views are beautiful, but honestly, after 2 minutes you’re done.

I feel pretty neutral about the visit to the top, but I really enjoyed the wine tasting.

• They have a nice bar set up in the base of the tower, and the bartender who was working at the time we were there was super friendly.
• She gave us extra crackers, because the boys were super into them, and she gave good advice on selecting a wine.  We ended up both buying an additional glass, beyond what our ticket included and my first wine was so yum that we bought the bottle (wine is an essential part of parenting, right?).
• There was space for the boys to be their silly selves, and the other patrons very generously tolerated them–and graciously said they were not bothered by them when I asked.

Next on our agenda was a port tour, by boat, because (you guessed it) we got another discount with the Barcelona card.  We did our tour with Las Golodrinas, but there are a few choices available.  We bought our tickets for a 2:15p cruise so that we would have time to grab a bite somewhere and then come back.  Neither Mike nor I were super hungry, but it was baby lunch time, so we headed back up La Rambla to find something to eat.

WORD OF CAUTION:  I knew what we were getting into, and we were prepared, but if you want to eat on La Rambla, basically anywhere south of Placa de Catalunya, be prepared to pay an obscene premium.  We sat outside on La Rambla, and we ordered a pizza for the boys and Mike and I just had drinks (sangria.  duh).  Our bill was like 46€.  And it wasn’t just that place; it’s true anywhere on La Rambla.  Much like El Nacional, there was nothing terrible or amazing about this place.  It did exactly what we needed it to do–feed the babies and avoid hangry meltdowns.
After our pricey lunch, we headed back down to the port for our cruise.

• The boys were super into it, which always makes things worth it to me, but I kind of thought that the cruise would be narrated.  You know, like now we’re on the Montjuic side of Barcelona, if you look up that mountain you can see Montserrat, etc.  But it was a quiet cruise.  Actually, T and M fell asleep like 15 minutes in, which was fine.  They needed a bonus nap.
• This is definitely another thing that I wouldn’t have done if we didn’t have the Barcelona card (or kids, to be honest), but it was kind of cool.  The staff was really friendly and helpful in getting our stroller on and off the boat.
• If you do a port cruise, make sure to bring a jacket.  We all had to put ours on while we were out on the water, and we were behind the wheelhouse!
• I’d give this one mama thumb up; it was a cool experience, but it isn’t particularly little kid friendly.  If your kids are older, I’d say elementary age, it would probably be fine for them.

Now, this may be where our paths diverge, but we were on the beach, it was a beautiful sunny day, and we had two sleeping babies.  We had talked about going to another museum while the boys slept, but instead we decided to just relax and walk around until we found a spot to sit outside and have some sangria and maybe a snack.  We headed toward Barceloneta, and basically outdoor bar hopped, having sangria and tapas at a few different outdoor bars.  It’s not the afternoon that everyone would choose, but it was great for us.  We ended up at a bar in a central square kind of off the beaten path, which was great–the boys were able to run all over and the streets that paralleled the square weren’t busy at all, so it was super low risk. We packed it in around 6 and headed towards home; there was an empanada place near our hotel that Mike had been eyeing, so we stopped on our way back and grabbed a few empanadas–enough for the babies to eat dinner, and us to snack.  The empanadas were great; the boys loved them, they were fast, and friendly.  Everything I can hope for when we neglected dinner until almost too late.  =)  We also checked out Barcelona Beer Company.  I will tell you the beer scene in Barcelona is WAY BETTER than 13 years ago when I was studying abroad and I felt like the only beer available was Estrella Damm.

• We hit BBC late at night, but they were still super friendly.
• They do flights, which I love, and they also let us try their special holiday beer and didn’t charge us.  Plus, you can’t go wrong with decor like this.
• The beers were yummy; I wish we had gone a little earlier so we could have tried their food, but NBD.  If you’re in the neighborhood, it’s definitely worth a stop.  And if you’re into craft beer, it’s worth traveling to the neighborhood.  =)

TUESDAY
Okay, even if we didn’t make up the money on the Barcelona card I really enjoyed the travel book that came with it.  We definitely got several ideas on what to do while we were there, and it included the website and metro stop of everything listed.  Maybe you could also pick up the book at a tourism office?  I’m not sure, but it was major helpful.  Whenever we wanted to know something, both Mike and I were like “check the book!”  We knew going in that lots of museums are closed on Monday, and Mike really wanted to check out MUHBA Placa del Rei.

• I want to be honest, I was skeptical, but it was free with our Barcelona card, so I figured it wasn’t really a big deal.  The Barcelona City History Museum has several locations throughout the city, but we went to the one in Placa del Rei, because it has excavated ruins of the city.  Like I said, I was skeptical and wasn’t really sure what to expect, but this museum was awesome!  It was definitely Mike’s favorite thing, and is near the top of my list as well.
• You enter the museum and take an elevator down to the earliest remains of the city. Pro Tip:  do the audio tour.  It’s free, and gives tons of interesting details.  Plus,  not all signs are in English.
• Our boys slept for probably two thirds of our time here, and it was pretty easy to navigate our double stroller through the walkways.  There were a few staircases that were hard, but if we had a single stroller it would have been a piece of cake.
• I don’t think we would have enjoyed our experience as much if the boys had been awake the entire time.  While Mike and I were both into the ruins and hearing about what they had been 2,000 years ago, T and M certainly don’t care about that yet.  I would say the under 5 crowd would probably want to time this to nap time, or bring something for a kid under 5 who doesn’t nap anymore to do.  I know they have a kid’s audio tour, but I’m pretty sure it’s only in Spanish.
• Honestly, it’s hard to be upset with a museum you didn’t pay to get into, but I would have happily paid the entry fee here.  I’d for sure give this two mama thumbs up.  Our boys enjoyed it once they were awake, and it was relatively easy to get around with our double stroller.
• Pro Tip:  if you have a backpack, you’ll have to either put it in a locker, or wear it on your front, even if it’s a diaper bag.  I assume it’s to make it easier to get by people when it’s crowded, but it wasn’t very crowded when we were there.  However, there are docents throughout the museum who will ask you to wear it on your front if they see you not doing it.

After our leisurely stroll through MUHBA everyone was hungry.  We had noticed a brewery the other day that we didn’t stop at, but were interested in, so we looped back there for lunch today.

• Black Lab is in Barceloneta, but we were planning to be in that area again for the afternoon, so it wasn’t totally out of the way.  We sat outside so that the babies would have space to play and not feel confined to our table.
• Pro Tip:  it’s really common in Barcelona to have to pay an extra fee to sit outside, and we got hit with one here.  I thought since we were off La Rambla it wouldn’t be a problem, but we had to paid a 10% fee.  Mildly annoying, but not earth shattering.
• The menu was pretty American-ized; the beer selection was pretty good.  Mike and I both enjoyed our beers, and our food.  Having a variety of beer styles was really nice, after the limited diversity of beers in Germany.  T and M were able to play around after they ate guacamole and bravas (the lunch of champions), and we were able to enjoy our beers while also enjoying the lovely weather again. And apples for dessert, of course. 

After lunch we went to the aquarium.  It had popped up on lots of lists of family friendly activities, plus we got a discount with the Barcelona card.

• I will say Mike and I both agree that this was the most disappointing thing we did while in Barcelona, ALTHOUGH T and M totally had a ball, so it’s hard to count it as a total miss.  Even with our discount, it was still 32€ for tickets.
• If we had paid less OR if the aquarium was bigger I would probably feel less disappointed, but like I said, the boys definitely enjoyed it.  Not a value stop, but again, since our boys enjoyed it it wasn’t a total waste of time.  I’d give it one mama thumb up.

We had some crazy meltdowns leaving the aquarium that ended in a bonus naptime.  Mike and I used that time to just stroll through the Barri Gotic, and we stumbled upon this super cool shop.  Everything in it was 100% made in Barcelona.  I was obviously immediately interested and made Mike go in.  (To be fair, he actually encouraged me to find something cool to buy for my birthday.)  I didn’t plan to spend an hour here, but I found so much cool stuff it took a while to winnow and then decide.  It doesn’t look like 100% of their inventory is available online, but a decent amount is.
After our unplanned shopping stop, we needed to do some refueling and let the babies out of their stroller.  It was like 5ish, so we figured the best place to do this was a brewery.  Duh.  We checked out Garage Beer Company, and they were GREAT.

• The only thing NOT working in their favor was that they didn’t have flights, but you could get a taster size for less than a full pint.  We each had 2 or 3 beers here, and the boys played all over this brewery and everyone was INCREDIBLY nice and accommodating–patrons and employees.
• We also got the hummus while we here for the boys, and it was SUPER DELICIOUS.
• All their beers were good, their employees were friendly and helpful, and everyone was charmed by our crazy babies.  This brewery totally gets two mama thumbs up.
• They also let us tab, which isn’t super common here.  I love when I can pay for everything at once, instead of as I go.

I had been eyeing this restaurant basically since we checked into our hotel on Saturday.  It was right next store to our hotel, and just looked like a place I wanted to eat–light, welcoming, busy, but not overwhelming.  We checked it out on Tuesday night, and I’m so glad we did.  It was super yum!

• At, Teleferic you order hot tapas off the menu, but they also have premade ones on the bar that are 2.50€ and you just grab what you want.
• This is definitely worth a stop if you’re in the neighborhood; they also have 2 locations in the city.  We ate at the Placa del Dr Letamendi location, but I’m willing to bet they are both delicious and amazing.  I would for sure recommend this place to a friend.  Major yum.  If we’re being honest, I’m feeling a little nostalgic as I review this place.
• Pro Tip:  get the crab taco.  It’s on the bar, but you will not regret it.  =)

WEDNESDAY

This was our travel home day.  The only tourist attraction we did this day was Casa Battlo, because I would have been a bad wife if I took Mike to Barcelona and didn’t show him any Gaudi sites.

• You get timed tickets here, and your entrance includes an audio guide.
• I want to be honest, I’m glad we did this, but it was rough with toddlers.
• You can’t take a stroller (they do check it for you), but the boys didn’t want to be Tula-d the entire time, but it’s super crowded, so managing two toddlers in a ridiculous crowd while trying to listen to an audio tour is a bit much.
• Let me be clear:  this is absolutely worth the money, and a beautiful architectural site, BUT if you have really little nuggets I would just try to find a time of day where they’ll be content to be worn.
• You don’t have to pay for kids under 7, though.  I think once your kids are over 3 you’d be fine.  We got 20% off with the Barcelona card, but you come sometimes find a bundle price with other Gaudi sites (La Pedrera, Parc Guell, La Sagrada Familia) if you do some research.

I could honestly probably write as much more as I already have about Barcelona.  I love this place, and I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of the awesome things you can do while you’re here.  Here’s my top 5 list of things we DIDN’T do, but are still super cool:  Montserrat (give yourself at least half, if not a whole, day here), La Sagrada Familia, Parc de la Ciutadella, Basilica of Santa Maria del Pi, and La Boqueria.  One last tip–Barcelona maintains a FANTASTIC website called Visit Barcelona that has information on essentially every tourist site in the city.  It has suggested itineraries for 2, 3, and 4 day stays, ideas for day trips, online discounts, and more.  It’s a great resource to use when planning your trip.

And with that, adios.  (But if you’ve made it all the way down here you should probably get some type of medal or something.)