If you're only in the city for a short period of time, you may mistakenly assume you have a choice to make: Parties or Picasso?
Why? Because Barcelona has a split personality. On the one hand, you have the works of Gaudi, some great galleries and inspiring natural surrounds. Everything a 'Lets get up at 6:am and see everything we possibly can , Darling' traveller needs. But as you stride purposefully from the hostel doors in the pre-dawn light, you'll notice a different species of tourist, the kind that migrates to Barcelona for one of the best night scenes in Europe. The bars open early and close at around 2:30am. Time to go home? No way. The clubs are just kicking off. A good night out in this city will see you back to the hostel just in time for breakfast.
So how does one taste both sides of Barcelona's 'Jekyll and Hyde'? How is it possible to absorb Picasso's many moods along with the ridiculous quantities of alcohol a Barcelona Bar-crawl inevitably inflicts? One word:
Siesta.
Here's an example itinerary:
6:00 am Out the doors for a quick jaunt up Montjuic to get a view of the city as it slumbers in the morning sun.
8:00 Breakfast at the hostel.
10:00 Picasso Museum
12:00pm Packed Lunch and Coffee at Park Guell
2:30 SIESTA! (Keep it between 1 and 2 hours, or you'll wake up feeling stoned)
5:00 Walk the streets of the Barri Gotic
7:00 Tapas
8:30 Flamenco at Tarantos
9:30 Shisha Pipe and coffee at La Concha
10:30 Mojito at Ambar
11:30 Absinthe at Bar Marsella
1:00am Whichever club takes your fancy
4:00 Back to the hostel. Five hours sleep.
9:00 Breakfast
Take the siesta out of the equation, and you might make it through the night, but it'll take you at least another day to recover. Follow the local example, and you'll soon adapt to the demands of this schizophrenic city.
Just as it would be a shame to miss out on a tour through the Sagrada Familia, it is tragic that so many leave without having visited even one of Barcelona's brilliant bars and clubs. Question your idea of travel. Museums and and walking tours provide a sense of a city's history, but it is often the nightlife which reveals most about its youth; its future.
HelloBCN Hostel - the hostel of hostels in Barcelona!
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Thank-you, and happy travels from all of us here at helloBCN hostel, Barcelona.
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