Day 1 – Travelling to Spain

We took a morning flight out of Heathrow to Barcelona Airport and collected our hire car. We had booked an Airbnb in Santa Susanna – one hour up the coast from Barcelona so that we had easy access to the city but could also explore more of Spain. We checked into our property, then visited the local supermarket to stock up with supplies and spent the evening at our house. We had chosen a property with a pool and despite the weather being quite warm – the pool water was freezing. Although this did not stop Tom & Izzy from jumping in and playing on their inflatables!

Day 2 – Montserrat Monastery

For our first full day we decided to drive one and a half hours to Montserrat Monastery – a stunning Benedictine monastery set in the mountains. When we arrived we headed to the lookout point and there were the most amazing views over the valley.

^{Arrival at Montserrat}

We wandered around some of the rooms before heading back home for Tom & Izzy to play in the pool again.

Day 3 – Barcelona

We were not sure how easy it would be to drive around Barcelona so we took the train from Santa Susanna to the city. Our first stop was La Rambla where we visited the Mercat de la Boqueria – a famous indoor food market.

^{Some of the indoor market stalls}

We roamed around some of the little alley-ways before finding a tapas restaurant for lunch.

^{A selection of our tapas plates}

We ended our day at the marina watching the boats and the cable car.

^{Barcelona Port}

Day 4 – Beaches and Coast Line

We began the day by visiting Platja d’Aro where we played on the gym equipment at the beach.

We then worked our way down the coast to Llaret de Mar. We had watched a tv program about the town and how it was a ‘party’ town and did not have high expectations. However – we found a beautiful walk way which hugged the coastline to the north of the town and some rocks to play on to the south. We really enjoyed our time there.

^{Lloret de Mar}

Day 5 – Figueres and the Dali Museum

After a beach day we decided to head to Figueres and visit the Dali Museum. Figueres is a beautiful town with small alleys and cobbled streets and we really enjoyed the museum.

^{Exploring Figueres}

Inside the Dali Museum

Day 6 – Return to Barcelona

As it was Good Friday we thought we would drive into the city as we assumed the roads would be quiet. It was the right decision as we encountered no traffic and our first stop of the day was the Olympic Village. We explored the grounds and were impressed by the size and scope of it.

^{Olympic Village}

We then drove across town to Park Guell and spent the afternoon exploring the gardens.

^{Exploring Park Guell}

Day 7 – Tossa De Mar

Tossa de Mar was another lovely town where we explored a castle and the old streets.

^{The old streets in Tossa de Mar}

Day 8 – Sagrada Familia

For our final day we were returning to Barcelona as I had tickets to tour the Sagrada Familia. As it was Easter Sunday we drove to the city again as the roads were quiet.

We began by exploring some of the streets and finding a tapas restaurant for lunch before heading to our timed slot.

^{Easter morning in Barcelona}