After five days in Dubrovnik, we continued our 40th birthday celebrations in Barcelona. A change from the laid back slower paced city, Barcelona was a mecca of shopping, amazing restaurants, and night life. We hit a few tourist sites, the first being the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia. It was extraordinary. The immense beauty of the inside including the stained glass, the umbrella crucifix at the alter, architectural ceiling, and the intricate outside facade, makes this my favorite church in the world. We also visited Park Guell, a park designed by Antoni Gaudi, with vibrant colored mosaic tiles and curved architecture. Of course, no visit to Barcelona is complete without visiting La Boqueria, Barcelona's oldest market, a foodie's paradise. Unfortunately we were not able to get tickets to the Picasso Museum as it was too late in the day, however, I did manage to purchase two amazing prints at the gift shop which I had framed and now hangs in my dining room.
Though I'm not much of a shopper, something about being with your best friends and spending hours in one shop makes you miraculously become a shopper. We did some shopping in La Rambla as well as Passeig de Gracia, a luxury shopping street. Let's just say, we all did some damage on our credit cards. On the bright side, that means more points to travel, girl math.
On our girls trips, we always leave room for some R&R at the spa. I usually pick the spa and make reservations for the group; I am a spa afficianado afterall and at the time of the trip I still had my spa business. In Barcelona I chose Aire Ancient Baths. The treatments at the spa were in a communal room which was different than the traditional one treatment room per person. Though at first it was strange and everyone was a bit shy, once the therapist started the massage, all our apprehensions melted away. After the treatment, there were many different pools for patrons to experience. The ambiance at the spa was relaxing, intimate, and. sultry. Sultry is not usually a word to describe spas, but the low amber lighting and old stone walls really contributed to this distinct ambiance. During our stay in Barcelona, I also took a little "me" time and had a facial at Cowshed, which is a cute shabby chic spa that I have been wanting to try for some time. They have 11 spas in Europe but only 2 in the United States.
All the restaurants we went to in Barcelona was amazing but the two that were stellar were Tickets and Canete. Tickets was listed as one of the "World's 50 Best" restaurants in 2021, and served about 20 artistic tapas, prix fixe. The experience was simply stunning, with dish after dish a work of art almost too beautiful to eat. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, the restaurant has permanently closed. Canete is a traditional Spanish tapas bar focused on local fresh ingredients. I love that the cover on the menu says "F*ck your diet" because truly if there ever was a time, this would be it.
If we didn't need another reason to celebrate, besides a milestone birthday, one of our besties on the trip was getting married! Of course we had to include a bachelorette night out for her. In secret, we started putting together the perfect outfit and veil (purchased in La Rambla) and surprised her before our dinner at Canete. She was a good sport and wore what we chose and successfully completed all items on her task list - wink wink. The evening was full of emotion as we recounted our decades long friendship where we witnessed the highest of highs and lowest of lows. There were many tears shed, and the ongoing joke was every party seated at the table next to us left, probably because they wanted to have a fun or a romantic dinner and then there was us crying up a storm. After dinner, we dried our eyes and headed to W hotel where we danced the night away.
After ten days of celebrating, it was time to head home to our husbands and littles. I'm not sure if we will ever get ten days together again anytime soon, but I do know that it was one of the best ten days of travel with friends and that there were too many bottled memories to count.
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