Our summer breaks are sacred. We have limited time to relax and we are waiting 3 seasons to reach warmest months in Europe, so… to have really nice vacation is a top priority for me. We’re already too old to go camping and too tired of nasty, dirty and overcrowded beaches here in Bulgaria, so the last couple of years we’re always traveling abroad at least twice during the summer.
After more than 10 years in Greece, for our first 2017 summer vacation abroad we choose to check Spanish Mediterranean. I looked all over the offers I was able to find, but all of them were for one and the same location and I didn’t like it at all. Plus the hotels were really awful. After careful consideration, a lot of trip advisers and wonder, we have picked up Santa Susana – small village near Barcelona. It seemed nice and on an hour and half distance from Barcelona where we have never been. So, I was having the opportunity to mix my travel and summer break appetite and have it both at once.
I booked a lovely (pretty expensive) (shame on me) hotel through booking.com and I can tell you something – it was worth it. It was clean, room big enough for 4 just for the 2 of us, nice breakfast, good coffee, friendly staff and located right in front of the beach and to the main street. It was also on 3 minutes walking distance to the train station.
Now, let’s get back to Spain.
Let me tell you something for that place in mid June – it’s hot! Like really, really hot! It felt like August in Greece! I was literally melting most of the time, drank like 10 tons of water per day and (I’m not kidding) my foots burnt from the hot asphalt. In case you’re going to the beach – great. But in case you’re going to Barcelona only and you want to have long walks through the city – go earlier. Like in March, maybe April. I don’t even want to know what it feels like in August there, but save yourself and don’t go there in the hottest months.
We took long uncomfortable (for me) 4 hours flight to Barcelona and landed there in the afternoon. I was still on the half way to reach the train next to the airport and I was already sweating. It was hard for me to understand Spanish timetables and signs (some of them I couldn’t find in English) but however, after couple of obstacles, we reached Santa Susana at 10 PM. Yep, not exactly what I was thinking while I was booking that trip 🙂 However, we were hungry, sweaty and tired to death, so we had short dinner into the hotel and drunk beers on the balcony till the end.
Our days in Santa Susana were perfect – weather was great, food was nice, everything was fine except the language barrier we faced from time to time. We have tasted tapas, paella, sea foods, a lot of other types of Spanish food plus pizza, sweets and everything that will gain you +5 kilos on the way back. There aren’t so many places you could visit in Santa Susana, as it is a typical Spanish resort – beaches, restaurants, bars, shops and a lot of ice-cream. Barcelona on the other hand is something else…
We visited Barcelona in one of the days during our vacation when the weather forecast was like ‘it will be hot, but there should be 2 clouds into the sky that day’. (by the way I didn’t notice even small sign of a cloud over the sky that day…) I have checked couple of things I wanted to see prior our trip, so I needed only orientation support. Therefore Daniel was appointed to be the navigator 🙂 He done it pretty well, and we didn’t reach only one of the planned destinations because we didn’t have enough time. (and we didn’t have enough time because of the Spanish railways – we reached Barca hour and half later than planned…)
Having in mind that South Europe is not exactly my place, I have to tell you that Barcelona pleased me and I felt really nice there. No matter that Spain is not ‘my country’ I really enjoyed my time walking through the city, saw a lot of significant places and buildings, and had the pleasure to loose my bag in Hard Rock Cafe. (when I got back there to check if they have found it – well, they had, and they were really, really nice to me. I wont forget that! Thank you, people, you’re great!)
For just a day in Barcelona we had the chance to check Sagrada Familia (of course!), Plaza de Cataluna, Park Guell, Passeig de Gracia and Casa Mila and Casa Batlló, Las Ramblas (Barcelona’s Main Boulevard) and Barri Gòtic (the Gothic Quarter). Unfortunately, we didn’t have time for La Barceloneta, National Art Museum of Catalonia and Tibidabo. Not to mention Montjuïc castle (you know I love castles…). But next time I hope I’ll have time for that as well, as those are lovely places and should be visited!
Notes for Spain:
- try to visit Barcelona during low- or mid-season months, otherwise it will be crowded and will be too hot
- try local food, especially tapas and paella, and seafoods!
- and spend at least couple of days in Barcelona, not just one!
Week later we landed back to Sofia as usual – poor and depressed. But as usual – it was worth it.
See you on the next tour! 🙂