Barcelona, Spain (September 15, 2025)
Woo. Feel that heat! Coming off the plane that’s the first thing that both Violet and I notice as we enter Barcelona. We grab the bus and then the metro and within 30 minutes we are standing in front of the place we’re staying for a week right in downtown Barcelona.
Shoutout to Homestay for finding us a wonderful apartment right in the middle of where we want to be. And further props to Kayak for introducing us to Homestay. As you can imagine, booking flights, trains and hotels for stays around the world is a lot. Kayak has helped cut to the essentials and made much of this trip possible. (And no, they are not sponsoring me to say that).
Violet is ready for more time at the beach, but along the way …
We’re staying close to everything, so we walk towards the beach, but along the way we stop and admire a number of things including these incredible trees. Violet points them out to me.
Fat at the trunk, they seem to be storing water to support the growth of the tree itself, but the have grown natural spikes supposedly to keep off animals and yet they have the most beautiful flowers blooming. All the things. Offense, defense, beauty, and sustainability. This tree is adapting to its environment in impressive ways. We had to pause and admire it.
Speaking of admiring, the street art in Barcelona is incredible. The first few illustrations stopped us in our tracks. And given my long conversations with Sally Mahamdeh these last few days about her doctors as parents living in Palestine, the “Free Gaza” and “Stop War” pleas have a much deeper, personal and more significant meaning for me.
The World Trade Center of Barcelona reminds me of San Francisco. The boardwalk combined with the tall buildings overlooking the water and the incredible food all come together to make this one fantastic space. It turns out that we got turned around and the beach we wanted to go to required us to take a ferry, so why not? Today, we were in a car being driven to the airport and have since taken a car, plane, bus, train and now a ferry. Many modes of transportation. This is our ferry:
Rainbow ferry boat taking us to the beach
Once on the other side, the first thing we saw was a coffee shop selling various ice-cream confectionaries and one that we’d never seen before. Violet and I both bought it in Elena’s honor. It’s her absolute favorite candy (now as an ice-cream bar):
I mean honestly, they are messing with perfection, but it was still pretty good. If they had the chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich, I would have gone that route, but my curiosity got the best of me for this one and I wanted to try it. I mean, traveling the world is all about trying new things, right?
The beach was worth the wait. Beautiful as far as the eye could see and surprisingly crowded. I mean, it’s a Monday, right? September 15th if I have the date correct. Isn’t everyone back to school and work now? Apparently not. That, or there are a ton of tourists hanging out in what’s called the “shoulder season” — that’s after the peak tourism time, but still a great time to see the city.
After a nice swim, Violet and I walked the shore of the beach. So many people sunbathing. Even a few dogs that were playing in the water with their owners. Lots of groups hanging out and enjoying the weather, just like us. I mean, it was a fully beautiful day. What’s not to love?
The only thing missing? Tapas. Lucily, there’s an amazing Tapas restaurant right next door to where we are staying.
Quintessential Barcelona, Spain. Bill, Violet and Tapas.
Right. Need the Tapas in the background. Take two.
Okay, Violet is hungry. I need to stop this or she’s going to see ME as the food.
Isn’t this exquisite? It’s like a Sushi Boat but for Spanish Tapas. Glorious!
Did you think it was only one level? Nah, there’s two! It keeps getting better!!!
So yeah, Violet and I are going to enjoy our time in Barcelona. We are staying in a wonderful apartment in the middle of the heart of the city next to some amazing restaurants and really close to the ocean. Haven’t figured out the nightlife … yet. And we just got here. Tomorrow we chill, relax and enjoy our down time while we make a plan for the rest of the week. Great first day in Barcelona.
