Barcelona Day Trips: Montserrat and Sitges

From our base camp in Barcelona, we took two easy day trips: one to Sitges, a nearby beach resort town, and the other to Montserrat, a multi-peaked mountain with hiking trails and a Benedictine Abbey. Here's a bit about each trip and logistics of getting there from Barcelona.

Sitges

Located southwest of Barcelona on the Mediterranean coast, Sitges is a pretty little tourist town located on truly gorgeous beaches. From the Passeig de Gracia station in Barcelona, we took the C2 train south and arrived in Sitges 40 minutes later. The train runs every 20 minutes and costs just €7.60 roundtrip. 

From the Sitges train station, a short stroll through the old town brings you to the beach! There are 17 beaches in Sitges. We chose one of the closest (and probably more crowded) central beaches, Platja de la Ribera. The beach was breathtaking with clear turquoise water butting right up against the adorable old town. It was also very small and very busy, so we forked over €20 to secure beachside lounge chairs for the day (and wristbands that allowed us to come and go as we wanted). For lunch, we wandered through the old town, eventually deciding on El Pescadito for reasonably priced tapas (patata bravas! gazpacho!) and sangria. 

While the Barcelona beaches were fantastic, Sitges was definitely worth the day trip. The relaxed beach-town atmosphere was a pleasant change from the hustle and bustle of a large city. Please excuse the lack of photos - we packed light, left my expensive camera in the hotel safe and brought only one cell phone (in a waterproof bag), beach towels, books and a little cash. Without valuables to watch, we were able enjoy the water and waves!

After a full day of sun, sand and a bit of a burn (ouch!), we made our way back with time to shower and change for dinner. All in all, the total cost of our day trip to Sitges, including train tickets, lunch and a splurge on beach chairs rang in around €70. 

Swiss Discoveries: Cut Your Own Flowers

A few weeks ago, while walking Henry past our local Gemeindehaus (town administrative offices), I noticed a field of flowers in full bloom. Rows were labeled by flower names, photos and a prices per "stiel," (stem). Small box cutters hung from nearby cash boxes along with a comprehensive price list. Putting two and two together, I determined it was a cut your own flower field.

Gladiolas and Sunflowers

Barcelona's Old City

Please accept my sincere apology for taking my sweet, sweet time filling in the details of our Barcelona trip. July has been a wet, dreary month in Zurich. But instead of writing blog posts, I've spent my rainy days binge watching United States of Tara. Bad blogger! I'm back and determined to tell you all about it before I forget most of what we did. Here goes...

Christopher Columbus

In this post, I'll focus on what we discovered while wandering Barcelona's  Ciutat Vella, or Old City, which is made up of three neighborhoods: Barri Gotic, El Raval and La Ribera/El Born. Ciutat Vella was conveniently located a block from our hotel, so were were able to spend entire afternoons as well as random hours between activities exploring. Let's begin with the most touristy spot in Barcelona.... Las Ramblas.

Las Ramblas (or La Rambla, whatever suits your fancy) is a tree-lined series of pedestrian streets in central Barcelona. It begins at Placa Catalunya in the north and ends at Port Vell, where a monument to Christopher Columbus, famously points in the wrong direction. Las Ramblas divides the neighborhoods of El Raval to the west and Barri Gotic to the east. Almost every travel blog, book and website I read warned of enormous crowds of tourists, rampant crime and pickpockets on La Rambla. So we tied down our belongings, took a deep breath and dove right in. The crowded part was absolutely right. There were fanny-packed, front backpack-wearing, camera-toting, slow-moving foreigners everywhere. But I never once felt unsafe and we survived with all our belongings in tact.

A look down La Rambla

That being said, La Rambla wasn't that great either. We stopped at a few chain clothing stores, had our fill of the American fast food we'd been missing*, elbowed our way through famous La Bouqueria and gawked at street performers. There were interesting shops, restaurants and street vendors, all of which could be found elsewhere in less crowded areas of Barcelona. La Bouqueria was very cool, with dozens of vendors selling anything your could want to eat, but markets like it exist throughout Barcelona and we preferred the quieter, local versions. Street performers were the highlight. For a euro or two and they'd interact with the audience, wrapping large wings around your body or allowing you to accompany them in playing a Beatles song. A stroll down Las Ramblas was an hour or two well-spent and, if your time is limited in Barcelona, it's an excellent way to see a lot in a relatively short walk. But I could recommend better ways to spend a couple hours in Barcelona.

Barcelona: Post 1 of Many

In June, Matt and I spent nine days in Barcelona. The city has been on our "must see" list for years and
research told us there's lots to do, so we devoted 2014's longest trip to the capital city of Catalonia! Nine days provided plenty of time to leisurely explore the city and take a couple day trips. Although we still couldn't possible do everything we wanted in our time there. Which means we'll be back!

Below is a quick rundown of the basic logistics of the trip and how we spent our time and money in Barcelona. Our budget was approximately $3,000, which we stayed within (keep in mind we were flying from within Europe). Everything was so inexpensive in Barcelona! I'll be devoting the next few blog posts to more specifics and reviews.

Adam and Kim's Visit Part 2: Neuschwanstein Castle

With Switzerland and France covered, Adam and Kim decided to add at least one more country to their European vacation. They wanted something reachable within a day from Zurich and, after some research,  decided to rent a car and head to Germany to see Neuschwanstein Castle. Neuschwanstein is the Bavarian palace that inspired Disney's Sleeping Beauty Castle. Matt had to work, but I was happy to send Henry off to daycare and join them on the three hour road trip through Austria to Bavaria.

Top: Kim and her car
Bottom: Kim enjoying the German Autobahn at 145km/hr

From this backseat driver's perspective, it was an easy, scenic drive to Hohenschwangau. GPS led the way along the southern coast of Lake Constance, through long mountain tunnels and little Austrian towns past entire fields of solar panels (truly bizarre)... and McDonalds advertising 1€ cheeseburgers. So cheap! We definitely weren't in Switzerland anymore. 

Adam and Kim Visit Part 1: Zurich

In April, we had visitors from home!!!! Adam and Kim, two of our favorite Columbusites, sandwiched a few days at in Paris, between stays at Sleachmour B&B. We had a blast playing tour guide. Here's how we spent their first two days in Zurich.

Arriving bright and early Saturday morning, Adam and Kim were total champs, ready to start exploring after a few cups of coffee. We started our tour at the Hauptbahnhoff, Zurich's main train station, strolled down the Bahnhoffstrasse and through the Old Town on both side of the Limmat River, heading towards the lake. This is our usual route with visitors. It passes most of the highlights of the Old Town: Fraumunster, Grossmunster and many beautiful, decades old buildings. We ending our walk with a traditional Swiss lunch of sausage and rosti at Sternan Grill.

The Durfberts and Sleachmours at Limmatplatz
Photo Credit:  Adam

Old Town Walk
Photo Credit:  Adam

Our First Eurovision

A few weeks ago, Matt was flipping TV channels over dinner and, quite by accident, stumbled on Eurovision, an annual European music competition. Participating countries each submit a song and performer(s) to compete in a live, televised, three day event. Rounds 1 and 2 introduce each country's song and audience voting results are combined with scores from a panel of judges determine which countries move on to perform in the finale, during which, top acts perform once again, and live voting and judges scores name an annual winner.

We were immediate sucked in by Eurovision's truly bizarre mix of music, from polished pop ballads to strange "modern" takes on traditional folk music. I have no idea how countries select their performers or the talent level of their pool of contestants, but some of their submissions were... ill advised, to say the least... making for very amusing television.