stivi
Well-Known Member
Barcelona weekend review (natascha’s 25th birthday present)
Well…I have to begin a bit earlier…a year earlier to be exact. in September 2005, I was in Ibiza (alone), partying hard, having a good time and I wasn’t in Switzerland for natascha’s birthday. I had asked her before if she would mind if I’d be abroad on her birthday and she said she wouldn’t. I only noticed afterwards in fact she really was pissed that I wasn’t around then.
For this year, I knew I shouldn’t make the same mistake again. And it was her 25th birthday which is a bit more special than the 24th I think. But the problem was: on her birthday (September 20th, a Wednesday), she worked till late so the only thing we did then was having dinner with the family. That was nice but nothing special. On the weekend after her b-day, natascha had reserved a table in a cool lounge-club in zurich where she celebrated her b-day in style with her friends. I had to work this day (and evening!) so I only arrived some time past midnight and was very tired. But at least I already knew then I’m having a surprise for her…
I told her we’re doing something, we might be going somewhere and during the last week, I wrote her a text or an e-mail each day with an item she had to bring for the weekend…very basic stuff…clothes, shoes, her ID-card,…nothing she could relate to a certain destination.
So, last Friday night, after she had finished work I told her to drive to my place. We ate something quite late and then soon went to bed…
Saturday, September 30
The alarm clock got us up at 6am. She was like “what the heck are we doing at this time?”. I didn’t really give her an answer, I just made coffee for us and then off we went. With my car, we drove to Geneva. She realised we’re driving to the airport, but still she didn’t have any idea about where we’re going. Only when we checked in our baggage she saw BARCELONA on our boarding passes and she really was happy about the destination I had chosen.
Flight to Barcelona then, and arrival at noon time. Took the bus into town and checked in at the hotel I had booked (balmes, bit north of plaça de catalunya). Soon we got hungry and we found this cerveceria catalana, close to the hotel we stayed. I liked this place, even though it was very, very busy! There were lots of tourists, but I think there were also some locals. We enjoyed many various tapas and vino blanco – a good way to start off a weekend in Barcelona!
In the afternoon, we went downtown, did a bit of shopping for both of us and walked down les rambles until we arrived at the harbour area. I had been to Barcelona back in 1998 and I remembered the maremagnum area where we sat for a while. Then we went back to our hotel for a quiet hour.
In the evening, we jumped on a bus that took us to the barri gotic. There, we had dinner at restaurante PLA, recommended by silvia. What can I say? WOW! Such a nice restaurant, hidden in a small street in the middle of the barri gotic! We began with seafood-risotto (para mi) and a salad (natascha)..and then: Silvia, you were right – their tuna really belongs to the best I’ve ever eaten! We both had their (quite famous) tuna and loved it! And the restaurant is so nice, as well as the people are! We also had a good bottle of vino tinto (ribera del duero) and really enjoyed it there! Thanks again sil for the tip – definitely a great place for a romantic dinner!!!!
Originally, we had planned to go out that night…david guetta was to play at pacha and other options were to check out either catwalk by the sea or la terrazza up at the montjuic area. But after such a long day with mucho, mucho walking and such a good dinner, we both got tired and decided to go back to the hotel and straight to bed…but still, we didn’t forget about clubbing… ;-)
Sunday, October 1
We got up really early, took a cold shower, had a quick breakfast at the hotel and found a taxi that drove us to SOUVENIR. Souvenir is the afterhours of matinée group in Barcelona. the club is located in an old warehouse in an industrial area, from outside you don’t see nothing but an old building…but once you get inside, it’s wicked! Damn strong sound system, good lighting and even some lasers, and many video screens. We arrived there at 9am and the party was in full swing. So were we, when we soon got into this afterhour-vibe. The music was typical matinée style and we both loved it. The dj also threw the “overbooking studio rework” of lemonade market’s “9 moons”. A track I love at the moment and will forever remind me of Ibiza 2006. we had a great few hours partying there and left some time past noon. Souvenir is definitely the best afterhour party I’ve experienced outside Ibiza!
There was even a free bus service that brought us back into town after souvenir. Quick change of clothes (and a shower) at the hotel and then we were back off. First we had a snack somewhere on rambla catalunya (chicken satay for me, same with salmon for natascha) and then walked on top of the montjuic where we enjoyed the panorama (and the nice weather – it was about 27degrees C and pure sunny weather all through the weekend!). later, we took the cable-car to the barceloneta and walked down the beach, which was very crowded as it was late Sunday afternoon. We got hungry some time and arrived at the area with the huge fish – and that’s exactly where we stayed for a few hours. Another tip I got from silvia was a restaurant called agua, which we found there…but just as we arrived, they closed. So we did the really wise thing and booked a table for lunchtime next day. This still didn’t solve our problems at the moment, we were still hungry. So we walked onwards and found this lounge restaurant called carpe diem lounge club, just next door to agua. Well…first, we were a bit sceptical because we thought it might be very very very posh (and maybe a bit pretending?), but then we asked for a table because it still looked VERY nice. We were very lucky – first they told us, they have a table for two and then, when we walked towards said table, the waiter asked us if we would prefer to be on one of these cosy loungebeds there are…which we preferred, of course. So we got this nice loungebed. I guess we just arrived at the right time, other loungebeds were either occupied or reserved…many people arrived and asked for one but only got normal tables. So we really felt lucky and ordered a bottle of rioja and food…we started with smoked salmon with fresh cheese and then I had a green curry with shrimps while natascha munched rice-noodles, also with shrimps. Both was fantastic and we enjoyed it to the max…being there, warm weather and cool evening vibe, good food and delicious wine..and this comfy bed. Wow!
We stayed there till it got dark and went back to the hotel later. Again, straight to bed as we were tired from this active and beautiful day!
Monday, October 2
Slept till about 9am, had breakfast, checked out and went back to sightseeing and shopping in town…finally bought some new shirts J (a pity we don’t have desigual in Switzerland). Early in the afternoon, we found ourselves back at the barceloneta and on the terrace of restaurante AGUA, where we had our farewell-lunch. Very good food (again!) and a delicious white albariño wine! I started with a tomato salad with goat cheese, natascha with a melon soup with jamon. Then I had lobster (woooow!) and natascha “cigalas” (I guess that’s codfish). All was very tasty and the restaurant is so cool! The only negative thing I could say about agua: the service that day wasn’t really good. Arrogant in a way and not as friendly as I expected (after the super-friendly waiters at pla and carpe diem). But still, great place to eat!!!
Left agua then, hurried back to the hotel to catch our bags, took the bus back to the airport and just made it to check-in on time…flew back in the evening and that was it!
I HAVE TO GO BACK SOON. I love this city!
I’ll put up some pix later…
Saludos
Stivi
Well…I have to begin a bit earlier…a year earlier to be exact. in September 2005, I was in Ibiza (alone), partying hard, having a good time and I wasn’t in Switzerland for natascha’s birthday. I had asked her before if she would mind if I’d be abroad on her birthday and she said she wouldn’t. I only noticed afterwards in fact she really was pissed that I wasn’t around then.
For this year, I knew I shouldn’t make the same mistake again. And it was her 25th birthday which is a bit more special than the 24th I think. But the problem was: on her birthday (September 20th, a Wednesday), she worked till late so the only thing we did then was having dinner with the family. That was nice but nothing special. On the weekend after her b-day, natascha had reserved a table in a cool lounge-club in zurich where she celebrated her b-day in style with her friends. I had to work this day (and evening!) so I only arrived some time past midnight and was very tired. But at least I already knew then I’m having a surprise for her…
I told her we’re doing something, we might be going somewhere and during the last week, I wrote her a text or an e-mail each day with an item she had to bring for the weekend…very basic stuff…clothes, shoes, her ID-card,…nothing she could relate to a certain destination.
So, last Friday night, after she had finished work I told her to drive to my place. We ate something quite late and then soon went to bed…
Saturday, September 30
The alarm clock got us up at 6am. She was like “what the heck are we doing at this time?”. I didn’t really give her an answer, I just made coffee for us and then off we went. With my car, we drove to Geneva. She realised we’re driving to the airport, but still she didn’t have any idea about where we’re going. Only when we checked in our baggage she saw BARCELONA on our boarding passes and she really was happy about the destination I had chosen.
Flight to Barcelona then, and arrival at noon time. Took the bus into town and checked in at the hotel I had booked (balmes, bit north of plaça de catalunya). Soon we got hungry and we found this cerveceria catalana, close to the hotel we stayed. I liked this place, even though it was very, very busy! There were lots of tourists, but I think there were also some locals. We enjoyed many various tapas and vino blanco – a good way to start off a weekend in Barcelona!
In the afternoon, we went downtown, did a bit of shopping for both of us and walked down les rambles until we arrived at the harbour area. I had been to Barcelona back in 1998 and I remembered the maremagnum area where we sat for a while. Then we went back to our hotel for a quiet hour.
In the evening, we jumped on a bus that took us to the barri gotic. There, we had dinner at restaurante PLA, recommended by silvia. What can I say? WOW! Such a nice restaurant, hidden in a small street in the middle of the barri gotic! We began with seafood-risotto (para mi) and a salad (natascha)..and then: Silvia, you were right – their tuna really belongs to the best I’ve ever eaten! We both had their (quite famous) tuna and loved it! And the restaurant is so nice, as well as the people are! We also had a good bottle of vino tinto (ribera del duero) and really enjoyed it there! Thanks again sil for the tip – definitely a great place for a romantic dinner!!!!
Originally, we had planned to go out that night…david guetta was to play at pacha and other options were to check out either catwalk by the sea or la terrazza up at the montjuic area. But after such a long day with mucho, mucho walking and such a good dinner, we both got tired and decided to go back to the hotel and straight to bed…but still, we didn’t forget about clubbing… ;-)
Sunday, October 1
We got up really early, took a cold shower, had a quick breakfast at the hotel and found a taxi that drove us to SOUVENIR. Souvenir is the afterhours of matinée group in Barcelona. the club is located in an old warehouse in an industrial area, from outside you don’t see nothing but an old building…but once you get inside, it’s wicked! Damn strong sound system, good lighting and even some lasers, and many video screens. We arrived there at 9am and the party was in full swing. So were we, when we soon got into this afterhour-vibe. The music was typical matinée style and we both loved it. The dj also threw the “overbooking studio rework” of lemonade market’s “9 moons”. A track I love at the moment and will forever remind me of Ibiza 2006. we had a great few hours partying there and left some time past noon. Souvenir is definitely the best afterhour party I’ve experienced outside Ibiza!
There was even a free bus service that brought us back into town after souvenir. Quick change of clothes (and a shower) at the hotel and then we were back off. First we had a snack somewhere on rambla catalunya (chicken satay for me, same with salmon for natascha) and then walked on top of the montjuic where we enjoyed the panorama (and the nice weather – it was about 27degrees C and pure sunny weather all through the weekend!). later, we took the cable-car to the barceloneta and walked down the beach, which was very crowded as it was late Sunday afternoon. We got hungry some time and arrived at the area with the huge fish – and that’s exactly where we stayed for a few hours. Another tip I got from silvia was a restaurant called agua, which we found there…but just as we arrived, they closed. So we did the really wise thing and booked a table for lunchtime next day. This still didn’t solve our problems at the moment, we were still hungry. So we walked onwards and found this lounge restaurant called carpe diem lounge club, just next door to agua. Well…first, we were a bit sceptical because we thought it might be very very very posh (and maybe a bit pretending?), but then we asked for a table because it still looked VERY nice. We were very lucky – first they told us, they have a table for two and then, when we walked towards said table, the waiter asked us if we would prefer to be on one of these cosy loungebeds there are…which we preferred, of course. So we got this nice loungebed. I guess we just arrived at the right time, other loungebeds were either occupied or reserved…many people arrived and asked for one but only got normal tables. So we really felt lucky and ordered a bottle of rioja and food…we started with smoked salmon with fresh cheese and then I had a green curry with shrimps while natascha munched rice-noodles, also with shrimps. Both was fantastic and we enjoyed it to the max…being there, warm weather and cool evening vibe, good food and delicious wine..and this comfy bed. Wow!
We stayed there till it got dark and went back to the hotel later. Again, straight to bed as we were tired from this active and beautiful day!
Monday, October 2
Slept till about 9am, had breakfast, checked out and went back to sightseeing and shopping in town…finally bought some new shirts J (a pity we don’t have desigual in Switzerland). Early in the afternoon, we found ourselves back at the barceloneta and on the terrace of restaurante AGUA, where we had our farewell-lunch. Very good food (again!) and a delicious white albariño wine! I started with a tomato salad with goat cheese, natascha with a melon soup with jamon. Then I had lobster (woooow!) and natascha “cigalas” (I guess that’s codfish). All was very tasty and the restaurant is so cool! The only negative thing I could say about agua: the service that day wasn’t really good. Arrogant in a way and not as friendly as I expected (after the super-friendly waiters at pla and carpe diem). But still, great place to eat!!!
Left agua then, hurried back to the hotel to catch our bags, took the bus back to the airport and just made it to check-in on time…flew back in the evening and that was it!
I HAVE TO GO BACK SOON. I love this city!
I’ll put up some pix later…
Saludos
Stivi
! 
happened so quick as well they are really "professional" i sorted him out with a loan anwyay and we didn't let it ruin our Paddys Day it was some session,the locals too came out in their droves to celebrate Paddys Day the best day of the year.
)
