This morning was interesting. After what seemed a long travel day yesterday, we slept in… 9 am. Yesterday we had a great time wandering nearby our hotel and found a good tapas place. This morning we found a great cafe that we had coffee and croissants at. today was or food tour.
At a glance
- Destination: Barcelona, Gothic Quarter
- Best for: Tapas
- Getting around: Walking, metro
- Visited: August 2026
Getting there and getting around
Our hotel is in the Sagrada area. We hopped on the metro (Encants) and came down to La Rambla region. There’s lots of metro options around. Walking around the gothic area is your best bet. Be prepared to get lost but that’s when things get fun. Get lost and have fun, that’s when you get to experience what the area has to offer.
Best things to do
Tapas Tour
We did a Tapas tour today in the gothic area. It was a great tour not only for the tapas but the people and the fantastic day. We started the day at a local coffee place and caught the metro into the gothic quarter; a trip that took about 15-20 minutes. Calgary really needs to learn how to do a better job with their rapid transit.
We met up with 20 other people – fellow Canadians, Americans, a Brit, and a Spaniard. We hit 4 different locations and had a mix of tapas, wine, tapas, vermut, paella, wine, and then house made sangria. It was a great mix. We ended up exchanging contact info with the other Canadians and the Brit.
After the tour, we wandered around the waterfront and discovered that the Barcelona sun was incredibly hot so we found shade in a small square and sat for a while. We ended up meeting the Brit and her local friend for some drinks which turned into more drinks in multiple plazas and then a tapas bar.
We said good bye to both of them after and hung out at a cafe and drank sangria and had a cheese sandwich. Doesn’t sound like much but it tasted great and soaked up the sangria. We caught the metro home which took a whole 14 minutes (seriously Calgary, get it together).
It’s now 11:30pm and we are both done with people, heat and enjoying a cold cervesa on our balcony before bed.
Where to eat and drink
Any place with tapas is a good place to stop. We hit a few great small places – Bar Mono for a vermut and sandwich in the morning, Sersi for tapas with the girls, and two other places I didn’t catch the name of.
Final thoughts
The gothic quarter was great to wander around. Lots of amazing architecture and old buildings and very old cathedrals (some dating back to 1400’s). It’s also close to the cruise ship terminal so I would look at when cruises come in and avoid those days (we forgot and so there was a large cruise that unloaded so it was busy on La Rambla). Tomorrow we head back for a Gaudi tour.
Justyn Perry
Justyn shares first-hand travel stories, honest recommendations and the practical details that make a journey easier to plan.
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