Carnival Pride Europe Cruise Review: Day 4 – Barcelonafeatured

I have many flaws, but if I had to say which one annoys my family the most, it’s my blind optimism that we can cram everything into a single day no matter what the circumstances (well, that or my belief that everything is “just 15 minutes away”). I don’t even know why — I’m just always subconsciously convinced there’s a way where there’s a will and if nothing else, I’ve got a lot of that.

Our final full day in Barcelona had a lot left to check off the list: I wanted to go to the Sagrada Familia or Parque Guell. Stephanie wanted to see the Gothic Quarter or go up to Tibidabo. We did none of those things, and we still had an incredible day.

We were up a little later — jet lag always gets me down — but early enough to get in a quick breakfast downstairs at the hotel. The offerings were plentiful and we enjoyed them with a cup of coffee as we plotted out our day.

One thing I had on my list was a quick stop at the Louis Vuitton on the Passeig de Gracia. See, I wanted to do a Paris On Your Own tour for our day in Le Havre to do a little (lot) of shopping, and Stephanie adamantly did not want to spend our day shopping in Paris when we could explore other parts of France. There was a bag I really had my eye on the past few months and the price difference between buying it at home or buying it in Paris was massive — with sales tax at home, this bag was nearly $3,000. With the VAT refund and the naturally lower prices on LV in France, it was just around $1,600 — that’s nearly half off. A quick Google search informed me that the prices for Louis Vuitton are the same in Spain as they are in France, so I decided to buy my bag here so we could do other things while we were in France. So we headed out to the store, which had a line already forming 20 minutes before the store even opened (like a formal one, with a velvet rope and everything!). The store opened at 10:30 AM sharp and we were promptly helped by a lovely sales associate who found me the exact bag I was looking for and got me checked out and boxed up so we could get on with the rest of our day.

I ran my new purchase back to the room while Stephanie and Mom went to grab some drinks at McDonalds. The Passeig de Gracia McDonalds with a patio view of Casa Batlló? :: chefs kiss :: The McD’s in Europe sure have some incredible views!

While we hydrated, Stephanie pre-purchased tickets for the Hop On Hop Off bus. There are two big companies, I think, in Barcelona. They’re pretty comparable in terms of routes, price and general business and I honestly don’t even remember which one we booked with. There was a pick up point right up the street by the Mandarin Oriental and we hopped on the first bus that came by and spent the next few hours riding around the city, taking in it’s unique beauty from the open air deck up top on a wonderfully beautiful day. It honestly doesn’t get much better.

Once we did the full loop, we hopped off, made another stop at McDonalds for some water bottles and McFlurries and hopped right back on the next line. Over the course of the day, we felt like we’d seen it all — from the big Gaudí sites to the FBC Barcelona stadium to the financial district, the sweeping views off Montjuïc and even the cruise terminal! We saw the unique architecture in each neighborhood, we noted all the fun cafes and shops we’d never visited before and we soaked in each and every moment. After the past few years, I’ll never take anything for granted and the opportunity to just be surrounded by such rich culture and beauty is something I want to be fully present in so I can remember it forever.

After a full ride around both lines, we hopped off near Las Ramblas. We made a quick visit to Primark (quick being that it was so chaotic inside that we quickly turned around and left) and then to a nearby Carrefour for shampoo, conditioner and liquid hand soap to bring on the ship (never use the stuff they give provide in the shower — it’ll strip your hair!). I’ve seen Las Ramblas busy but I’ve never seen it quite as busy as it was when we were there, so we got out as quickly as we could. Busy isn’t my thing anymore.

We decided that it was just so nice out that we wanted to do one more loop on the bus. We grabbed seats on the opposite side than what we sat on the first time we rode and enjoyed the new vantage points and views.

The buses stop running some time around 7:00 PM. They don’t kick you off but once they reach a certain stop (in this case, Plaza Catalunya), it’s everyone off. We were going to take a bus back to Eixample, but it was only a six block walk and the public transit buses were slow and crowded so we decided to walk. It was such a beautiful evening and we even found some unexpected spots to check out as we were walking!

Stephanie had found us this Italian restaurant on Apple Maps and we were starving for dinner. It was just a block and a half from the hotel so we headed there in our walk back. In most of Spain, many restaurants will close between lunch and dinner, reopening around 8 or 8:30 at night. Tourist-y type spots will open earlier for foreign travelers who are used to earlier meal times, but when we’re here in Spain, I look out for the spots that reopen late in the evening since they seem to be the most authentic. The spot Stephanie found us was called Trattoria Bella Italia and from the outside, it didn’t look like much other than a pizza pickup window. On the inside, it was this home-y Italian bistro that felt so warm and welcoming. Our server was an American ex-pat from Detroit and we loved hearing her suggestions. Every single one of them was spot on, from the wine that was (per serving) literally cheaper than water and soda, to the incredible antipasti board that was just filled to the edges with meats and cheeses and fried pizza dough stuffed with ricotta and the most tender, flavorful meatballs. It could have been a meal on it’s own! Everything else we ate was incredible, too, but man, I’ll be dreaming about that board until the next time we come back and can try it again!

We didn’t make it back to the hotel until nearly 10:00 PM and we were all cramming to pack everything back up for our transfer to the ship in the morning. In hindsight, I wish I had chosen a later check in time than 9:30 AM because I needed some hard sleep but, as they say, places to go, people to meet and ships to board! It’d been a long 16 years since the last time we had sailed on the Carnival Pride and I just couldn’t wait to become reacquainted.