1. Visit Park Ciutadella
It is absolutely breath-taking, and having not personally discovered this park until my sixth week living in the city, I can say that it is one of Barcelona’s best hidden gems. Also, the Barcelona Zoo is right next door if animals are your cup of tea!
2. Give “Calamares en su tinta” a Try
If you are a fan of seafood, I would highly recommend trying “Calamares en su tinta” (Squid served in it’s own ink)! This dish is especially exotic, zesty, spiced and served with white rice; I tried this dish at Market Hotel: Carrer del Comte Borrell, 68, 08015 Barcelona.
3. Take a Cooking Class
Barcelona Cooking offers classes for large groups of 20+ people and they are located on Las Ramblas. In our cooking session we learned to make Gazpacho (a cold, tomato-based Spanish soup), Tortilla de Patatas (the Spanish omelette), and Paella de Pollo (an amazing Spanish rice-based dish, shown in the process of cooking above).
4. Take a Trip to Costa Brava
I had the privilege of visiting Palamós and surrounding villages in mid-June for a weekend trip with my girlfriend, and it was absolutely gorgeous. Palamós has a very vibrant community of tapas bars, and in the top photo we can be seen standing in front of the port of Palamós from a highly recommendable Bar-Restaurant boat that was at the Eastern-most side of the harbor. There are incredible cove-style beaches all throughout Costa Brava, and I additionally went scuba diving in Lloret de Mar, which offers relatively clear shore and boat-based diving options.
5. Check Out the Raval
In general, you need to visit the neighborhood of Raval. Adjacent to the ever-popular Las Ramblas of Barcelona, Raval is a far less touristy area of the city, introduced to me as a “hipster area” which is strongly reviving. Extremely talented skaters shred in front of MACBA: Museu d’Art Contemporanei de Barcelona (The Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art), and distinct architecture may be fills Raval, as shown in the building above which has been used as both a cathedral and a mosque throughout different eras of Barcelona’s history. I found Raval to be a refreshing exposure to a more locally-routed side of Barcelona, however there were also several streets that contained a number of Middle-Eastern and Asian shops, boutiques, and hair salons.
