Barcelona Day 4: Delicious Food

On day 4, I was rudely awakened by Drew who had already gone to the gym and wanted to hurry up and get our free breakfast at the hotel before all of the "good stuff" was gone. Mind you, there was nothing bad about breakfast at the hotel but it was a regular continental breakfast - nothing to write home about. I would have much preferred to get breakfast elsewhere but he wanted to take advantage of his SPG Platinum status to get free breakfast. Lovely.

I definitely went back to sleep immediately after we finished eating. By the time I woke up, I was craving a sandwich. I really wanted to try Foc i Oli, a hamburger joint that's currently rated #14 out of 8,303 restaurants in Barcelona on Trip Advisor. It was only slightly out of our way to Park Güell, which is where we had planned on spending the beautiful day.

After walking to the restaurant from Universtat Station, we had to wait outside to be seated because the place was tiny and only had room for roughly 10-12 people to sit down at once. Luckily, there were only two people ahead of us in line. We were seated at the bar-stools in the front window where we got to watch other couples making out on the street in front of us. I've never seen so much PDA in my life!

Drew and I both ordered "el Chivito" which is described on the menu as a sandwich with thin slices of steak, ham, bacon, mayo, salad dressing, gouda cheese, red pepper, fresh tomatoes and caramelized onions on brioche bread. We also ordered the homemade fries. They were both amazing!

After lunch, we hopped back on the metro and headed to Park Güell. I've never seen so many steep hills and stairs in my life! A half hour later, we finally got to the ticket counter only to find out that the next entry time wasn't until 4 hours later. Talk about poor planning on our part! However, instead of sulking, we decided to purchase tickets in advance for Saturday morning before we had to switch hotels. At least we got some extra exercise in!

these were about 1/10 of the steps in all!

By the time we woke up, it was almost 9 PM. Drew claimed he wasn't hungry but I still wanted to go out. I convinced him to go to El Nacional which was on the list of places I wanted to visit. It's a very touristy complex with four restaurants and four bars, kind of similar to Mario Batali's Eataly, minus the markets. We opted for La Taperia and I thoroughly enjoyed every last moment of it. At first, I was a little worried because instead of ordering off the menu for tapas, you had to raise your hand when you heard a waiter calling out the item they were circling the restaurant with...and what if they didn't call out enough items that we wanted!? Gladly, we ended up getting everything I had my eye on except for any of the paella dishes...which was fine because I would have been too full anyway. We ordered the pan con tomate, the acorn-fed iberian shoulder ham, the iberian ham croquettes, patatas bravas, and the thin chorizo simmered in cider. I finished my meal off with Crema Catalana but of course Drew was being no fun and only had a few bites of my dessert. Everything was delicious and I was surprised that the bill came to only roughly €59 including a few glasses of beer and wine.

 

Once we figured out how to obtain our check and pay (which I still don't get how this works in Spain...does someone want to explain this to me? At every single place we went to, we waited and waited for the check though the service was good otherwise. Eventually, if we couldn't get someone's attention we would just go up to the counter to pay), we headed to the cocktail bar where I ordered the L'Aperitiu and Drew ordered El Nacional, which they lit a stick of cinnamon on fire over. I loved my drink but then I ordered El Sorbeto which was a little too strong and cold for my liking. I should have known not to order a frozen drink with a sore tooth.

By the time we were good and liquored up, the Metro had stopped running for the night. I have something against paying for cabs so I convinced Drew to walk back to our hotel which was probably about a 50 minute walk. Little did he know I duped him into taking the more scenic route so we could see the Arc de Triomf on our way back. It only made our trip 0.18 miles longer but I'm sure he still would have complained if he had known. Also, we just so happened to stumble on the Casino he wanted to check out. It took us 10 minutes to get in with paper copies of our IDs and only 5 minutes to put €10 into a slot machine and "win" €6. I was happy because we then had euro change for tips...whoop whoop!

Barcelona Day 3: Escape from Possible Peril to Gorgeous Views

Despite still being jet-lagged, we woke up bright and early so we could have breakfast before heading off to meet up for the Montserrat, Food & Wine Tour we booked. We got there at what we thought was an hour early only to find out we arrived an hour....plus a day early! Drew and I can't still agree on whose fault it was, mine or his. Regardless, Castle Experience was more than accommodating and was able to fit us on the tour that day so we didn't need to wake up extra early again the following morning.

Sidenote...have I mentioned how efficient the Metro system in Barcelona is? We never had to wait for more than 2 minutes and 45 seconds for the next metro train to arrive and the countdowns displayed were always 100% accurate. If we had been in Boston or New York, we might have arrived to the tour departure location a day late! I was truly amazed...I didn't even think it was possible for a public transportation system to run so smoothly.

Anyways, while waiting for the tour bus to arrive, I noticed a guy wearing all black clothing carrying something that looked like a kettle-bell with a wire sticking sticking out of it; almost what I would expect a bomb to look like. He walked over to a trash can right behind Las Ramblas, put it on the ground, turned around, walked away and starting playing with his cell phone. I immediately pointed it out to Drew and one of the tour guides but was unable to find a police officer after several minutes of frantically searching for one. I did see a few other people starting to examine the object so when the tour bus was ready to leave, I hopped aboard as fast as I could.

Once on the bus, I started to feel guilty that I didn't stick around until I could find an officer. However, I was praying that the tour guide was correct in that he didn't think it was anything to worry about. I also hoped that someone else would find an officer to report it to.

After what seemed like the longest one hour bus ride of my life, we arrived at the Montserrat Monastery and our tour guide spent an hour or so explaining the history of the site, showed us around and brought us into the Monastery. I'm typically not one to be impressed by religious sites but the inside was gorgeous. It almost reminded me of Hogwarts in a way.

When services were ready to start, we went back outside and were given a few hours of free time to spend how we wished. Drew and I decided to take the Funicular further up the mountain. Once at the top, we hiked up even further and I have never seen more breathtaking views in my life!

 

 

We took the funicular back down to the Monastery once we were done exploring and headed to the gift shop...because who doesn't love shopping!? I wanted to buy a few things so we got into a short line that ended up being for a liquor tasting that was just starting rather than the check out line. What perfect timing! For $2.50 each, we were able to try 4 liquors including the Catalan Creme, which is what they're known for.

At 1:30, everyone met to get back onto the tour bus and head to our next location: Oller del Mas Vineyards. We were served a delicious Catalan-style lunch at their restaurant which included bread with ham, salad, patatas bravas, fish with a tomato salsa, chicken with a buerre blanc and pinenut sauce, wine and fresh fruit.

 

After taking our time with lunch and chatting with other couples, we headed into the vineyards to hear about how their wine is made. I was happy to learn that we could pick a few grapes off the vine to taste. They were so small yet so sweet and tasty! We then made our way into a small castle on the estate to learn even more about the wine making process and sat down for a wine and cheese tasting. I typically prefer sweeter wines so I wasn't crazy about the wines served. Out of the three provided, I preferred the most expensive...go figure. I couldn't even tell you what it was. However, I did learn one interesting fact: If you hold your hand underneath a glass of wine and can see the color of your fingernails through it, it's considered a light-bodied wine. If you only see the shadow of your fingernails, it's considered medium-bodied and if you can't see your fingernails at all, it's a full-bodied wine.

 

We returned to Barcelona at around 7 pm and I was glad to see that the mysterious object near the trash can was no longer there and that nothing had happened. Phew! After stopping in a few stores, we headed back to the hotel to wash up. Drew was still hungry because he didn't enjoy the food as much as I did on our tour (only because he refuses to eat dark-meat chicken)...but I only wanted dessert, per usual. We did a lot of walking that day and were pretty tired so we chose the only place near our hotel that had both good looking dinner and dessert: Madeleine mon Amour. I know...who eats at a French place in Spain!?

Drew still claims it was the best meal he had on our trip. He ordered the smoked salmon with green salad...while I had the Crème brûlée, lemon meringue and peach with mascarpone madeleines which were absolutely divine. Sweet dreams!

Barcelona Day 2: A Few Gross Things

On the second day of our trip, (or first if you don't count time sleeping as a day), we decided to head to Las Ramblas and the accompanying area to explore. I'll have to admit that I was a little afraid after what had happened there a month prior but there were police vans blocking off the entrances to cars and plenty of officers all over the place which made me feel more secure. It's so sad that people can't go anywhere without feeling safe anymore. I really don't understand why we can't just call a worldwide truce and end all of this BS! Granted, I know it's not that simple but all of these terrible things need to stop happening.

Our first stop was to El Corté Ingles which is Barcelona's only department store. It was like a Nordstrom combined with a Sears combined with a pharmacy combined with a Williams-Sonoma combined with a supermarket. They had everything you could imagine. It was almost too overwhelming in that I had no idea what to buy and only ended up buying the one thing I forgot to pack: makeup remover wipes. How lame.

Next, we headed towards Las Ramblas. After looking at the flowers left for the victims at the opening of the street and mourning for the loss of lives, we mustered up our courage to look around. We headed towards La Boqueria to look around and saw everything from sheeps' heads to delicious juices. However, as it was almost lunchtime we decided to find somewhere to sit down and eat.

 

When we did our research to find good restaurants in advance, we didn't really think to check which neighborhoods they were in. Big mistake when you don't have 4G/LTE turned on. I heard that Plaça Reial was a cute, picturesque square with a ton of restaurants and that they were better than the restaurants right on Las Ramblas. We headed there but had no idea which restaurants were good and ended up being lured into Roma Reial. They were offering an appetizer, an entree, a dessert and sangria for only €13.50 per person. Big mistake. I ordered paella for my appetizer, which tasted okay....until I realized there was a mussel beard tossed in with the rice...so gross! The prawn was not de-veined either. I'm not sure if it's normal for places in Spain to not clean their seafood well but we didn't come across that issue anywhere else. The service was also extremely slow. Come to find out, the restaurant only had 2.5 stars on Trip Advisor. Lesson Learned: Research restaurants in the area we are headed before leaving the room.

 

After eating lunch, we headed back to the room and took another long nap. By dinner time, we were still pretty full and a little grossed out so we just wanted to grab something small. After spending a half hour browsing, we came across Las Muns which serves various Spanish inspired empanadas.

It wasn't the type of place I pictured myself eating at while in Spain but it was pretty good.

Barcelona Day 1: And We're Off!

For the past year or so, there have been some amazing deals on flights. One day while I was browsing Facebook, I saw an article about Delta/Air France having some international flights on sale. When I saw round-trip tickets to Barcelona on sale for less than $450, I jumped at the chance and booked a trip that night.

Leading up to the trip, I was a bit nervous. Normally, I have everything planned out before even booking a trip but this time, I barely even knew anything about Barcelona other than that a few friends had visited and loved it. The more I researched, the more nervous I got...would I get pick-pocketed? Is it safe after everything that's been going on in Europe? Would I like the food? Could I sit through a plane ride for that long?

I had never been on a plane for longer than 5 hours which was my biggest worry. For one, I have a fear of airplane restrooms and try to avoid them at all costs. Secondly, as some of you may know, I have fibromyalgia so sitting anywhere for more than an hour hurts like a motherf******! I asked my doctor for some medication to put me to sleep on the flight and they prescribed Xanax to me...go figure!? Unfortunately, between that and the pain medication I had for a toothache, I still couldn't fall asleep. Luckily, the pain meds helped a little and Air France had screens on the back of every seat with some good options for tv shows and movies. I ended up watching the whole first season of Big Little Lies and the flight went a lot smoother than expected.

Drew had a bunch of SPG points from a work trip he took last year and we decided to use those to stay at the Four Points Sheraton Diagonal for the first 5 nights and then The W for the last 2. The Four Points met my not-so-high expectations but it was perfect for what we needed it for. It was a 10 minute walk to the Glòries stop on the L1 Metro line, which is only 4 stops away from the Catalunya stop (one of the main hubs next to Las Ramblas and great shopping). There were also some great restaurants on Rambla del Poblenou, right next to the hotel and a shopping mall (Glòries) down the street on the way to the Glòries station. The hotel room was a clean, basic, no-frills room. We decided to do the majority of our site-seeing during our time there so there was no need to stay anywhere nicer. My only complaints were that there was no shelf in the shower to put toiletries on and no pull-out vanity mirror in the bathroom. To be fair, they did have shampoo and body wash dispensers on the wall...but I'm sure I'm not the only one that prefers to use my own stuff.

Anyways, as soon as we got to the Four Points, we showered and took a long nap. Needless to say, we pretty much wasted the day due to jet-lag. We only made it out in time for dinner at Mika Milan, which was a 2 minute walk away. We ordered 3 tapas: the goat cheese croquettes in a guava reduction, the Spanish omelette and the prawns in a plantain nest with guacamole. Okay, so maybe it wasn't the most authentic meal, but it sure was delicious.

¡Hasta luego!

Cabo Adventures: Outdoor Adventure

Did I ever think I'd be able to convince Drew to go zip-lining? Hell no! I couldn't even convince him to go ATVing which is how this all started out...

I wanted to go ATVing. Drew thought it would be too dangerous. He said he would maybe consider it if I could find a reputable looking company with the wider two-person ATVs that also have roll bars. Challenge accepted!

A lot of the highly rated companies charge $180-250 per person for 4 hours of ATVing. I thought that was too expensive and frankly, I would get bored sitting in an ATV for that long. I thought the Outdoor Adventure from Cabo Adventures sounded perfect: $129 for a 3.5 hour tour including transportation, zip-lining and then ATVing at the end. The only problem...how was I going to convince Drew not only to go ATVing but now to go zip-lining too?

It took a lot of begging. A lot. For months. Does that make me a bad girlfriend? Maybe; but, he usually ends up enjoying most of the things I force him into...

On the morning of our excursion, Cabo Adventures picked us up at the Dolphin Center across from our hotel again. They took us roughly an hour away to a mountain in/near Miraflores. On the way, our bus driver stopped short for a "roadrunner!" I never even knew such things existed in real life! Shortly after, we saw wild cows crossing the street. Possibly one of the highlights of my life. I love a good photo op!

At base camp, the 5 crew members outfitted everyone with gear and then we boarded a jeep-like vehicle and headed up the mountain. If it made one false move, we would have gone tumbling down...but again, I'm sure they knew what they were doing.

 

Photo Cred: Cabo Adventures

We did a few regular zip-lines before trekking across the commando bridge. So far, Drew was keeping up so I was happy. Next up, came the pendulum swing which was basically swinging from a rope over a canyon. I am beyond shocked that Drew actually went through with it. I thought for sure he would back out. He claims he didn't know what we were doing until he was up there and at that point it was too late to back out.

 Photo Cred: Cabo Adventures

Photo Cred: Cabo Adventures

After the pendulum swing, we were given the option to do a regular zip-line across or propel down a rock wall and climb back up a rope ladder. I opted for the latter (no pun intended) while Drew chose the regular zip line. I kind of didn't blame him. Propelling left room for user error and I'll admit, it was a bit nerve wrecking.

 

Photo Cred: Cabo Adventures

Last but not least was the Superman. We had to lie on our stomachs and travel 60 mph over mountain and desert for roughly two minutes. Drew almost backed out on this one too but it ended up being his favorite.

Now that zip-lining was out of the way, it was on to ATVing and I was the one that ended up being afraid. Drew was driving our ATV like a maniac and was upset that the people in front of us weren't going faster. Thank god it only lasted for 15-20 minutes or so. The one thing I was worried about when booking was that we'd have to wear used bandanas over our mouths but surprisingly they gave each of us a brand new one that we could take home as a souvenir. They also dusted us off with pressurized air and then brought us over to a snack area to have some authentic homemade quesadillas and hibiscus water.

 Photo Cred: Cabo Adventures

The crew on the tour, Fredy, Pablo, Ladis, David and the photographer were all amazing. They made sure we were completely safe at all times. Fredy was hilarious and got a kick out of my name being Julie so he kept calling us Romeo and Juliet. We did end up spending an additional $130 for a photo book, USB drive with photos, a metal print and two larger prints. Due to safety reasons, we weren't allowed to bring cameras on the excursion itself and we definitely wanted something to remember the day by. However, looking back, we probably should have just purchased the USB as it contained all of our pictures and videos. Unfortunately, we only have videos of the Pendulum Swing and Superman Zip-line rather than photos and Blogger doesn't let you upload them in good quality.

I am still so amazed at how amazing of a company Cabo Adventures is. They thought of everything and even had water stations after each zip-line because it was so hot and dry in the desert. If you like adventure, I couldn't recommend them enough!

Cabo Adventures: Luxury Day Sailing

Our first excursion in Cabo was Luxury Day Sailing with Cabo Adventures. They picked us up at The Dolphin Center right across from our hotel and brought us to the Marina in Cabo San Lucas where we had a little time to explore before boarding our yacht along with about 5 other couples.

As soon we we boarded, we were asked to take a seat and were given a mimosa. After a few minutes, we reached El Arco where we stopped to take pictures and listen to our tour guide give us the background of the area. What a gorgeous view!

Once we departed El Arco, we were given what I thought was our lunch: tortilla chips, guacamole, salsa and grilled shrimp. I was shocked when not long after they served us another tray of food consisting of grilled chicken caesar salad, pasta salad, ceviche, tomatoes stuffed with tuna, a dinner roll and fruit salad. There was also an open bar for the entire 4 hour trip. Granted, I didn't want to use the restroom on the ship so I held myself to 2 or 3 drinks.

After lunch, we arrived at Playa Santa Maria where we were allowed to get off the boat and go swimming for 40 minutes or so. It took me a few minutes to get into the water because I was of afraid of encountering a shark. Mind you, the same tour company does have a whale shark encounter. The sharks are described as gentle but it still took all my courage to take the plunge, even after our guide assured me I wouldn't see any. Drew was the only one that stayed on the ship...you would at least think he'd be able to take a decent picture of me, but nope...he has no idea how to use the camera he bought me for my birthday.

 Me checking for sharks before hopping in

I did see fish in the water which kind of freaked me out...not gonna lie. I love seeing animals, from afar. They were beautiful fish. I was a little disappointed that we ran out of time and I didn't get to try the stand paddle board but I guess it gives me something to try on another trip.

On the way back to the Marina, we all got a surprise we weren't ready for. The sail went up and our boat coasted almost completely sideways for a good 30-45 minutes. I thought for sure the boat was going to tip over so I was holding on for dear life. I know how to swim but I was afraid the boat would topple on top of us and I didn't even want to know what Drew was thinking. Another passenger yelled out, "Hey, I thought this was supposed to be a luxury cruise!!!?"

 

I'm sure the captain knew what he was doing, but wow! What a scare. Surely, something I'll never forget. Despite how scary it was, it was also super fun. I'm just not sure Drew will trust me anymore...

Once the sea calmed down a bit and we were back to smoother sailing, I spotted a few seals which I was super excited about.

Overall, the trip was amazing and definitely worth the $109 per person price tag. I can't believe all that was included for that price: transportation, food, drink, 4 hours of boating and site-seeing, snorkling and SUP (even if I didn't get to try). My only complaint was that I did end up having to use the restroom on the boat but they made us take our shoes off before boarding and the floor in the bathroom was a little sticky. EWWWW. I immediately rinsed my feet off in the ocean. TRUST.

MexiCanIGoBack?

For some reason, I've always been drawn to Mexico. I suppose it's easy to see why with all of the beautiful beaches and delicious food. However, the thing I love the most is that it's so rich in culture. That's why it's no surprise that I wanted to go back even though I have a lot of other countries on my travel bucket list that I have yet to visit.

In the past, Drew and I have stayed at the adult-only Hyatt Zilara properties in both Cancun, Mexico and Montego Bay, Jamaica. They are the only all inclusive resorts we've been to but based off what others have said and what I have read, the service and food are a lot better than most. However, I was a little torn when deciding which hotel to book in Cabo. On one hand, I love that food and drinks are unlimited at all-inclusives. On the other hand, we really wanted to experience local, authentic food but weren't sure we'd still want to if food was already paid for at our resort. Also, Cabo only has the kid-friendly Hyatt Ziva. As much as I love kids, I admit it was very peaceful and luxurious without them at the Zilara properties. Despite the downfalls of staying at the Hyatt, we decided to book there regardless because of the two free nights from the Hyatt Credit Card sign up bonus we had.

The hotel was pretty good overall but we were really spoiled by the Zilara properties so I kept comparing it back to those. The downsides: no alcohol in the minibar, no tortilla chips & guac or alcohol in the 24-hour deli, fewer breakfast and lunch options, poor nightly entertainment, no turn-down amenity, no chaise lounge on our balcony and not as great of a view for the price. Although we could see the ocean from our room, our main view was of the pool. Lastly, there were two big weddings on our last night which led to a bit of chaos and the restaurants being under-staffed. (p.s. I would not advise having a large wedding ceremony at the hotel unless you want to see kids running around and bikini clad women while walking down the aisle!)

view from our room

The resort had 7 restaurants, 6 bars, a snack bar, a coffee bar and a 24 hour deli. The only breakfast options were the buffet, the coffee bar and room service. I would have loved if at least one of the a la carte restaurants were open to serve specialty egg dishes, pancakes, french toast, etc. We ate at Coco Loco for lunch almost every single day. They had tacos, burgers and fries, chips & guac and ceviche. They were all really good but I must admit, I did get sick of the food by the end. I believe there was only one other restaurant open for lunch each day.

Tacos al Pastor and Fish Tacos at Coco Loco's

We tried every restaurant for dinner and all were delicious, except for Dozo on the last night. We had teppanyaki there another night which was awesome but our dinner on the last night was mediocre at best and the food was cold by the time it arrived. Some of the dishes that stood out above the rest were the Duck Magret at Bon Vivant, El Molcajete at El Molino and El Arroz Negro at El Cortijo.

Duck Magret at Bon Vivant

Molcajete at El Molino

El Arroz Negro at El Cortijo

My favorite part of each day was talking with the staff. On two separate mornings, we went for the hotel-led walk on the beach. We were the only guests to show up on both mornings so it gave me a chance to brush up on my Spanish and learn about what it's like to live in Cabo. We also spent a lot of time talking with Eduardo in loss prevention who went out of his way to make us feel welcome. We chatted about everything from food and cooking to Mexico and the US.

horses on one of our morning walks

Eduardo, Myself, Drew and Juan

Although it was expensive, we opted for a 50 minute couples massage at the on-site spa, Zen. It made me feel a little better when I saw a sign in the spa saying that the price included gratuities. However, we still tipped an extra 15%. The all inclusive resorts are usually inclusive of gratuities but I personally feel that the staff deserves more. The massage felt amazing after our previous day's outdoor adventure, which I'll touch more on below.

Zen Spa

One of my other favorite things at the hotel were the coffee drinks they made before dinner time outside of the Piano Bar. The bartender poured flaming vodka over coffee, Kahlua, and Brandy or Whiskey and then topped it with whipped cream and a cherry. The drinks packed a punch and were out of this world!

Location wise, the hotel itself was within walking distance to a supermarket and mall, which didn't really have much. I was sure to stock up on Mexican Vanilla Extract while in the supermarket. In the other direction, there was small, more upscale shopping plaza called Plaza del Pescador.

The hotel was also right across the street from The Dolphin Center, which is owned by Cabo Adventures, an amazing tour company. The center serves as a pick up location for many of their tours which I would highly recommend, especially considering Hyatt Ziva is roughly 1/2 hour from Cabo San Lucas. I'll go into more detail on their Luxury Day Sailing and Outdoor Adventure in upcoming posts.

On one of our last days, we took a 5-10 minute cab ride to downtown San Jose del Cabo to do some site-seeing and shopping. The area was a lot smaller than I expected so we were done in less than an hour. I kind of regret not checking out one of the restaurants there.

If we had never stayed at the Hyatt Zilara Cancun, I would rave about Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos in a heartbeat. It's just hard for me to say it was amazing since we have. However, I can't emphasize enough how amazing the staff was at both properties. I would definitely recommend the hotel to families with children but if you're looking for something romantic or like to party, it's probably not the best choice. I'm sure we'll still end up going to other Hyatt Zilara properties as they open in new locations...I'm eyeing you, Dominican Republic!