BCN 2013: The Barcelona Way

Good morning! We are down to our last few days in Barcelona, and still -- my body clock hasn't adjusted well yet with the timezone I'm in. And probably by the time that I am already used to it, I'll be back home -- hugging my sweet little precious daughter :)

Yesterday was a laid-back day. Twas raining a bit in the morning which lasted a little after 9AM. We spent more time snoozing, we turned off the heater and enjoyed the natural coldness coming in from our window.

We started our activity late, which unbelievably was still "early" as told by the beautiful mestiza lady at the hotel's reception -- and that was 11AM already!! :) We helped ourselves in walking to visit Barrio Gotico de Barcelona which was a 15-minute walk from our hotel -- perfect in helping us burn some calories from all the unhealthy breakfasts that we just had :)

On our way to check out the Gothic Quarter, we just couldn't help but stop by the beautiful Catedral de la Santa Cruz y Santa Eulalia also known as the Barcelona Cathedral. It was a big church built in the 13th to 15th century with a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful neo-classical Gothic facade. Our arrival was just on time with the start of the mass. We had a very good opportunity to attend the mass, since we weren't able to do so on our anniversary day, and to witness the Spanish way of doing it. The mass lasted for 30minutes only in a very quiet and solemn manner, it was so peaceful -- you can already hear the sound of your breath. Really amazing!

The mass was held in a secluded small area in one corner of the huge church. Majority of the space inside church is being used to exhibit the images for patrons and tourists to check out -- my favorite being the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

After the mass, we head on to look for the Picasso Museum and the Gothic Quarter. The latter is the centre of the old city of Barcelona, one of the most preserved medieval district in the world. The small narrow streets make it inevitable for you to get lost and we had a hard time looking for the museum and finding our way out to the main street. Thanks again to the Filipinos we met, the young and well-spirited cook (and his cousin) in a small wok food shop who treated us with a huge box of stir fried noodles! Oh, we are drowned in too much kindness of our kababayans here :)

After sharing stories, we hurriedly went back to our hotel to meet my Spaniard colleague from work. A good thing about working in a multinational country is that you have friends all over the world! We spent some time talking and found out from him that the Barcelona football team will be playing tonight! Hubby got excited but I don't think we have much time.

Later that evening, hubby and I strolled along the well-lighted streets, savoring the cold and lovely night like young lovers, to check out the night life in Barcelona. We didn't walk too much and settled in a cozy small bar two blocks away from our hotel, where we had young vibrant and beautiful teenagers sitting next to our table. We are staying at the Eixample District and it's safer (as they say) compared to other touristy area in the city. It was almost 11PM and when we arrived at the bar, and surprisingly the Asian looking guy asked: Dinner? Well apparently, meal time in Barcelona is a little later than what we are used to back at home: brekky is at 7ish (even later on weekends), lunch is at 2ish and dinner is at 10ish :)

We only have one more day before heading home to my cutie-patootie and we've got to make the most out of our couple-time, because when we reach home .... it's gonna be Liapot time again :)