We really didn’t come prepared for our trip, so we’ve just been winging it day by day. Yesterday, we woke up and looked for a place to have brunch and were surprised to see many places closed. Sunday seems to be a day of rest, and siesta time is real out here–lots of shops close for a few hours every day. This is all so foreign to us overworked Americans, and we wondered how the economy functions out here. 

We went to the Plaza Espanyol, which is where you’ll find the national museum of Catalonian art. Unfortunately they had just closed by the time we got there, so we just roamed around the plaza. 

Yes, we were being annoying tourists and taking photos in the middle of the street. 

  
The museum itself is gorgeous, and you catch a great view of Barcelona from the top.  

  
Around the area, there are a ton of small restaurants. Again, there were a ton of people lounging around and drinking sangria in the middle of the day. Again, I don’t understand how the economy functions here. 

After stopping for sangria ourselves, we went home to siesta, and woke up to go clubbing. Opium (the club, not the drug) was highly recommended to us. The guest list is open until 2 AM, which is when clubs back home are closing down. We got there at 1:45 AM and saw a huge line wrapped around the block, but we just walked up to the front and walked right in. Always look like you know what you’re doing 😜

Opium was too insane for me. They don’t seem to believe in fire codes here, because I could barely move inside. By the end of the night, there was a ton of broken glass on the dance floor. Surprisingly, when we left at 5 AM (!!!) people were still going inside. It took us forever to find a cab who would agree to take us home, and for a minute we thought we were stranded until the metro opened. Luckily, a nice cab driver agreed to take us. 

Today, we pretty much spent the entire day eating. Since we woke up later, we started with lunch at Bar Som.Y, where we ordered so much food our waitress literally looked shocked: 

  
Starting your day with patatas bravas, mussels, gambas a la plancha, croquetas, and a bomba (that crazy ball in the last photo) is the only way to start your day, if you ask me. I love potatoes, and the patatas bravas out here are super crisp on the outside, but creamy and soft on the inside. The seafood is so fresh out here, and everything is affordable. 

We took the metro to the Casa de Gaudí. This building is a trip: 

There are tons of shops on this street, and after some retail therapy we stopped for tapas at Txapela. I know, it’s a bit touristy, but we were hungry and it was actually pretty good! 

  
We probably looked insane cutting these small bites into smaller pieces, but we didn’t  want to stuff ourselves too much. Also, get sangria with cava if you can! Cava is a type of champagne made out here, and sangria de cava is similar to mimosas… But with much more champagne than juice. 

I’ll stop here, because our next meal was so good it deserves its own post (and this one is getting long). Hasta luego!