paella | Travels, Adventures, and Leisure

Started off the second day going to grab coffee around the Sol area. Details found here:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2022/07/27/syra-coffee/

Then grabbed a light lunch around the the same area. Details found here:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2022/07/26/restaurante-gloria-bendita-madrid/

Since we ate lunch outside, we noticed there were bird scooters across the street from us. Totally took advantage of that and headed towards a nearby park called Parque del Retiro. The scooters were a great way to get around and see the area (basically you go on the roads with them, but can still act like a pedestrian if you need to).

The park was a bit like Golden Gate park, but smaller. First place we stopped by was the Palacio de Cristal. Not a very functional a place (it’s clear all throughout, and only had one piece of artwork). After, went to a water park area called Embarcadero de El Retiro, which has a famous horse monument, Monumento a Alfonso XII. There was also a workout section of the park that had tennis courts, and various outdoor workout equipment.

In one section of the park there were wild life sized animals (humans inside) and a pikachu! Was not expecting that.

After the park, stopped by a church that was at the north entrance of the park called the Church of San Manuel and San Benito (not really a tourist church, but it was there), and Bang and Olufsen (played with a 24000 euro TV set up. It had an LG G2 oled attached to it, with simulated Atmos speakers. Cool kart about it is that it could move up and down).

Afterwards, we headed north to the Elviso area to grab dinner at a Paella place called Restaurante Casa Benigna. Can find those details here:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2022/07/27/restaurante-casa-benigna/

After dinner, we just headed back to our AirBnb, but in style using bird scooters.

Our last full day in Barcelona started off with the best weather we’ve had since arriving (18 degrees!).

We started off by looking for coffee, and we ended up finding a Tim Hortons!

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2018/11/22/tim-hortons-barcelona/

After, we stopped by a paella bar and got some delicious food at St Josep Mercat:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2018/11/22/paella-bar/

From there, we stopped by an ice cream place for dessert:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2018/11/22/hollys-ice-cream/

After dessert, we headed over to Park Güell. Along the way, this part of Barcelona looked pretty different. It was a bit older than the L’Eixample area, and streets were narrower.

At the park we took a bunch of pictures from the non-moment all part of the park. By the time it was our turn to go to the monumental part, the sun was setting, it we got some good pics in (note for future, buy tickets in advance so you can choose a desired time for when to see the monument).

After the Park we went to the Palau de la Música Catalana. We weren’t able to enter the actual music area, but the outside and inside entrance were picture worthy. Also, if we wanted to catch a show, they were playing Beethoven that night.

After the Palau, we grabbed some tapas for dinner at this place:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2018/11/22/la-pepita/

Then after eating, we prepped for a long night of partying.

Personal note, I used XCeed iPhone app to add us to the guest list for various clubs.” (Also used the discotech app to find clubs as well).

We started off by trying to go to Cafe Del Mar. Unfortunately by the time we got there, it was closed, so we tried Eclipse on the 46th floor of the W Hotel, which was a 3 minute taxi ride from Cafe Del Mar.

Eclipse had a nice view, but the DJ was not that good. Also drinks were 14 euros for a mojito. You could see from the view the beach, where you could have an awesome party.

Shortly after we headed to Pacha to check it out, which was a 10 minute taxi ride (Pacha is also near several other clubs). We didn’t arrive on time for the free guest list, but the guest list did allow us to purchase a ticket for 10 euros that includes a drink, so we totally took advantage of that.

Inside Pacha looked like its other clubs (with the cherry and white interior). The DJ played Latin music, but it was electronic dance Latin music, which actually sounded ok.

At almost 2am, we headed to Opium, where we made it for the free guest list. The music was basically top 40 music (not necessarily EDM). The app said it was supposed to be House, Electro and Dance, but clearly that was incorrect. Also, the people at Opium did not look as good as the people in Pacha. But at Opium, they had Shesha for 100 euros all night. Sam was able to get a deal for 70 instead.

At around 5:30am, we left to grab food at Casino Barcelona (haha, this was a lucky guess that they had food). This officially ended our trip in Barcelona.

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2018/11/23/casino-barcelona/

Note: Supermercat’s are open 24/7 and are an excellent source for liquor, and food you can add hot water to!