BARCELONA AND WHY IT'S OKAY TO PUT THE BOOK DOWN

I strongly associate holidays with a perfect tranquil time to cram in as much reading as possible. Based on this, I usually take books I can't crack with the distractions of daily life abroad with me in the hope that the peace will allow me to finish them, usually thoroughly boring myself in the process. For example, I took Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh and On The Road by Jack Kerouac to the Algarve last year, both of which I'd tried to read previously. I did finish them, with much anger and sadness.

I kind of did a similar thing this year on our trip to Barcelona. I took The End of the Affair in my tiny tiny hand luggage because it was thin. However, I didn't account for a 6 hour delay (I'd never flown RyanAir before, I won't make the same mistake twice) and I was scared to touch it in case I finished it before I'd even left Manchester. So I didn't. For the entire holiday.

Here I am in the airport proving how short it is 

AND THAT'S OKAY. I'm glad that I put my book to the side for once and experienced stuff instead. Often lost in books, it was fun to have a pretty flat out week exploring this incredible city and spending time with Jake's amazing family who live out there.

However, I prepared for my trip with the ever so intellectual Origin by Dan Brown. This constituted pretty much all of my research for the week. To be fair, it did give me the art historian take on the city I was searching for, just a bit of ground knowledge on the architecture and culture. Can't say it gave me much more but I did enjoy it. 2/5?

So since I did NO GOOD READING, I'll give a brief trip highlight reel.

La Pedrera

Insane architecture. I loved exploring and there was SO much to cover we barely scratched the surface. More or less every building is beautiful, especially Gaudi's work which litters the city with pure visual perfection. We didn't go into either La Pedrera  or Casa Batlló, but I definitely would on returning.

Park Güell

But we did go to Park Güell. We strategically planned this on the best day weather wise over our stay, and it was stunning. We spent a few hours walking the tracks that take you to the top of the park, giving insane views over the city to the sea.

Platja de la Mar Bella

I love a turquoise sea, and I really loved Platja de la Mar Bella close to Jake's family's apartment. Barceloneta, the most popular tourist beach, was of course lovely but wasn't as relaxed. After a day of discovering architecture, art, city life, food and coffee, winding down to the beach further proved that Barcelona covers all bases pretty well.

Nutella churro from Xurreria dels Banys Nous

This was my first trip to Spain ever, and I was intent on consuming the best churros I could find, because I'm passionate about culture. On our first day we were exhausted from the ridiculous hours spent in Terminal 3 so we went for a bit of a wander around the gothic quarter, and stumbled upon the best Churrería. I am biased, because once I'd had one of these comically fat Nutella filled deep fried delicious tubes, I didn't eat a churro anywhere else but went back twice for the same one.

I'm a bit overwhelmed by the beauty of that churro to continue, but other highlights included the inside of the Sagrada Família, Gaudi's architectural master cathedral that still isn't finished , the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya and it's phenomenal domes (as well as cool Catalonian art) and the Fundació Joan Miró.

And I did read The End of the Affair from cover to cover on my train home, and I'm so glad I didn't tarnish my holiday with it. Although a curious book about the nature of obsessive love that I both understood and appreciated, I'm glad I didn't read a romantic book comprising mainly of pain and hate on holiday with my boyfriend.