Buckle in because this a long and photo filled post! We left out of Chicago the evening following our wedding so we had a whirlwind of a weekend. We landed in Madrid at 7:30 am local time. Once we got our rental car, we got on the road to Valencia. We made a stop in the town of Cuenca. We explored a little by food to check out the Hanging Houses and then got back into the car and on the road. We made it to Valencia by early afternoon and admittedly needed a nap. After resting we headed outside to explore the beach and area surrounding our hotel. While out and about we also decided we needed dinner. We ended up eating at the restaurant at our hotel and had our first paella. While in Valencia we stayed at the Hotel Boutique Balandret. It was a charming little hotel right on the beach with the friendliest staff. The next morning we checked out and hopped back in the car. We made our way to Barcelona and made a stop for lunch in Peniscola. We chose from the menu del dia, or menu of the day, and had so much food at lunch! We both started with fish, fried small fish for me and grilled sardines for Wyatt. Four our main courses, I had steak and Wyatt had more fish. We were too full to even entertain the dessert. We made a quick stop to look at the gorgeous beach and hopped back into the car to continue our journey to Barcelona. Once we arrived to Barcelona, we checked into our hotel. We stayed at ABaC while in Barcelona and it was our favorite hotel of the entire trip. The staff was all friendly and helpful. The room was gorgeous and our overall experience there was great! After we got settled a bit, we walked to a nearby ramen shop and had dinner.
On our first full day in Barcelona, we packed in a lot of things. We started our day by meeting a local photographer, Kiss and Chips, for a session in Parc Güell. Miriam was delightful and we got some great pictures. I'll post those in a separate post later. But we definitely would recommend Miriam if you ever find yourself in Barcelona and have a need for a photographer. We walked from the park to the Sagrada Familla. Wyatt and I were both in awe of the cathedral. It is just so magnificent and it's hard to believe that Gaudi had this vision so long ago! Once our tour of the cathedral was complete, we began our way to the Gothic Quarter. We stopped for lunch at Fred y Elsa on the way. We both got pastrami sandwiches and shared a selection of cheeses. We finished off our lunch with a café americano. We wandered around the Gothic Quarter for quite some time before we finally made it back to our hotel. We changed and got read for our dinner reservations at ABaC. The restaurant is a 3 star Michelin restaurant. I was feeling a little under the weather but managed to hold out through our 4 1/2 hour dinner. The staff was all lovely and we just adored our servers. Look for a guest post soon from Wyatt on our all our fancy dinners from the honeymoon.
The next day we allowed ourselves to sleep in and get a later start. We returned to the Gothic Quarter and grabbed some tapas for a light lunch and walked around the Ramblas and then returned to our hotel to get ready for an early dinner. We had reservations at Enigma. If you are a fan of the Netflix show, Chef's Table, the season 5 episode number 4 was about Albert Adria. He is the chef and proprietor of the restaurant group that owns Enigma. It was an amazing experience and I am so glad we did it. There were something like 41 courses and it was all so good. We definitely stepped out of our comfort zone and tried things we never even dreamed of trying but it was a good experience. I ate barnacle, rabbit brain, sea urchin, sea anemone, and so much more that I had never thought to try on my own.
Stayed tuned for more on our honeymoon soon!
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