Our plan is to spend the weekend in Barcelona via Lufthansa. The flight journey from Kuwait to Barcelona is around 5 hours 30 min, it sounds crazy to spend only couple of days in Barcelona, not to mention the transit period which is around 2:30 min in Frankfurt Airport. Our intention is to figure out whether or not it worth it, and decided to give it a try! Our flight was scheduled 12:30 AM on the 4th of April Kuwait Timing, heading to Frankfurt Airport.
We’ve arrived early in the morning, for 2:30 min transit heading to our gate in terminal 1 in order to catch our next flight. There were enough time that we don’t need to rush. I wound’t miss all the yum yum pastries in Germany and though of having a croissant although I was not hungry, but I can’t resist their goodies. We sat next to the cafe in front of the windows enjoying the croissant & the Cappuccino, and watch the airplanes while they takeoff in front of us. We also used our backup chargers to charge our cellphones while we were sitting there. By the time we are done, it was almost boarding. The gate was too close to where we were sitting.
The flight from Frankfurt to Barcelona is around 2:15 min.
I am not a big fan of Tomato Juice, but decided to have one : ) I was convincing my friend to try it since she haven’t try it before. and then we she took a sip of my cup she couldn’t accept the taste. She thought as though it was a very cold tomato soup.
We’ve arrived to Barcelona Airport at 9:35 AM. We booked for the pickup from the hotel. We found the guy waiting for us, when I notice my name was written on a board which he was carrying.
The drive from the airport to our hotel in the center is 16 min. We booked at the Ohla Hotel which is located in Via Laietana in the middle of everywhere, close to most of the attractions, just within a walking distance.
When we arrived to the hotel the concierge at the ground floor took us one level up to the reception which was the button 0.5 at the elevator. At the reception they have informed us that our junior suite is ready for early check in, although the normal hotel policy for checkin is at 2:00 PM.
The room was quite cool and modern. The view to the street was awesome. I’ve booked strawberry dipped in chocolate at the time I’ve booked the suite. The bathroom is open there is no door for the entrance, the bathtub and the shower cabin is just in front of the sink and the seating area, which was not a big deal since me and my friend are both flexible.
15 minutes later we left the room heading outside to start our day with a list of places to visit, since we are only visiting for the weekend. I’ve searched & prepared a list of popular places, restaurants, and attractions earlier while I was in Kuwait, and specified the timing and walking distance via google maps for each place from our hotel to the next place, and from the that place to the others and so on.
Our plan was to start with Vodafone to get prepaid sim cards to use the internet and to located the places not to get lost.
The first thing that caught my attention is the statue on a man pointing coincidentally to the street that we have to start from, which is the monument to Francesc cambo at Via Laientana.
The walking distance between the hotel and Vodafone is 4 minutes only. We took a ticket number and waited for our turn for about 12 minutes until they were done with the customers. The prepaid card costs €15 with 500 MB data cap which was more than enough for 2 days.
After that we went to Barcelona Cathedral which was close to us as well. The cathedral was just close at the time of our arrival to that place. and supposed to open again later in the evening. We took some great shots for the cathedral and the surrounding area.
There were little antiques outdoor shops in the middle of the place. They have stuff from different places. and some from the state back in the 18 century.
The prices were too hight, thus we decided only to have a glimpse about what they sell and we took some shots as well. While we were walking searching for the shops at Gothic Quarter that supposed to be close to the places. We pass by an Ice Cream shop and we got some of their yummy ice-cream on a cone.
After the Ice Cream we walk about 3 minutes until we came across this street with little awesome shops. Surprisingly i found my all time favorite shop Sabon and I was like @@ OMG it is here just in front of me.
I was so excited to enter the shop. My last visit to this shop was in Dec 2012, during our 2013 new year eve trip to Paris. They have really good stuff. Shower jell, bath foam, soaps, body, fabric, and room mist, loofas, scented candle, and so on.
While I was in the shop trying to pay for my stuff with the visa the process was declined!! I was shocked and immediately checked my bank account via my iPhone app. I was confused when I find out that my visa statement was in minus! and immediately thought of the hotel and the possibilities that they might hold the money, although that at the time of our arrival we suggested that we gonna pay for our stay in cash and we did at the same time. I’ve transferred some money to my visa card and i’ve put extra money to make it above minus + the price that I’ve to pay for the shop. and went then to the hotel to put our stuff in the room, and ask them if they have something to do with the minus thingy!! The lady at the reception was kinda shocked and she tried to explain to me that they did not hold any amount from the visa. I asked her several time about it, and she assured me that they only take the card number for reservation issues. and since I payed in cash and took my receipt already, I’ve no to worry. We went to the room to keep our stuff there, and checked my bank account again. I did not find any transaction made to my credit card in this day, or even the day before. it just show the account in munis while there were some money in the account that disappeared from it!! I figured out then that Lufthansa has hold the entire amount for two tickets, plus there were two other transaction each with the amount of one ticket. Then I felt relieved and switched from Visa Card to my other Master Card, which i’ve issued previously for emergencies. We left the room heading back to to where we were. It started raining by the time we left the hotel. We were ready for the rains and our umbrellas were with us. While we were walking we came across a cute antique shops.
This shop located a few steps from our hotel. There were also Starbucks Coffee which was close to our hotel as well.
We entered Starbucks to check if they have VIA coffee & customized mugs for barcelona or Spain. Neither do they sell VIA in their store nor do they have customized mugs!
We felt hungry and decided to try a famous restaurant called Cuines Santa Caterina at Avinguda de Francesc. I used the maps app in my iPhone to locate the restaurant.
it was a high building with vegetable and fruit shops & some others selling food.
The guy at the restaurant told us that the restaurant is closed for a break and will open again at 8 PM. He also asked us if we might instead want to have Tapas at the bar. We asked for three recommended dishes (as a result of my search in the internet that I’ve stated it in the list that I’ve prepared previously).
We ordered the Patatas Bravas which was a delicious (potatoes and yummy sauce). Also we took the Vegetable Tempura with Pimentos sauce, and tried the Monkfish. All of those 3 dishes was fantastic. We have enjoyed each and every bite 🙂
A Traveler Foodie e-Spot.. Traveling like quantum! 