Barcelona

Barcelona is a beautiful seaside city. We rented bikes and rode around the pier, then throughout the Gothic Quarter. The only downside to Barcelona was that it was insanely HOT while we were there. 

The Mercato St Joseph La Boqueria was one of my favorite markets in all of Europe. They had everything from fruits, vegetables, meats, seafood, candy, tapas and the most delicious juices. 

Michael's favorite juice was fresh coconut juice (not the coconut water, but the milk squeezed from the meat of the coconut) and I really liked the pineapple and coconut combo. They were SO yummy!

Super cute egg stand. 

And my favorite lunchtime booth, where I would get chorizo empanadas. 

We walked around the Encants Vells flea market. 

We hid out in Nike for a while enjoying their a/c. 

Before traveling to Barcelona I had never heard of Antoni Gaudi. But you cannot visit this city without seeing his architectural influence everywhere. He was a Catalan architect during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 

This is the entrance to Park Guell. Gaudi designed both these building near the front of the park. There were also really neat mosaics, columns, and bridges in the park. 

The Sagrada Familia is a Catholic church designed by Gaudi. They started building it in 1882, and still have NOT finished. The projected completion date is 2030. 

The inside was beautiful and very different than any other cathedral we saw.

Casa Mila. A building designed by Gaudi. 

Casa Batllo. Another amazing Gaudi building. 

Barcelona has one of the best urban beaches in Europe. It was a nice beach but very crowded. 

Barcelona is a great city and we would love to visit it again (when the weather is cooler).

Madrid

We loved Madrid. We were only there for a couple of days, but we enjoyed every second of it. Here are the highlights.

Plaza Mayor

The Royal Palace is the official residence of the Spanish royal family, but I guess they don't actually live there. The palace was built during the mid 18th century is 1,450,000 sq ft and has 3,418 rooms. It is the largest palace in Europe by floor area. That is huge! I feel bad for the janitors. 

This is the Mercado De San Miguel. A wonderful little market we went to a few times :)

Here's the inside of the market. It had a ton of little booths selling all kinds of tapas, lots of fresh seafood, desserts, fruit, etc. 

 This little appetizer was toasted bread with a creamy homemade cheese, olive oil, bacon, and fresh herbs. I completely agreed with the cheese to bread ratio. It was delicious! 

This was one of our favorites! They had little hot dogs made with gourmet sausages. I got the chorizo one and Michael got the black truffle sausage. Mmm...

And lastly, you can't go to Madrid without eating Churros and chocolate sauce. I am definitely NOT a fan of plain churros. They're too dry. But combining them with delicious, chocolate sauce was incredible!

Lisbon

Lisbon, Portugal is one of our favorite cities we have visited in Europe this summer. Our airbnb apartment happened to be right in the Bairro Alto neighborhood which is the place to be for nightlife. While Michael and I like to watch Seinfeld at night, the people near our apartment liked to party it up. Our first night there we were walking to the apartment, rolling our carry-on bags up the cobblestone hill and got approached twice to buy some pot :) We just laughed and said "No, thank you." And that wasn't the only offer while we were there. 

We visited all of the main sites and really fell in love with the city.

We spent lots of time walking around Rua Augusta, a main shopping street in the center of the city.

National Theatre D. Maria II

 

The Discoveries Monument that celebrates Portuguese exploration.

The Famous Pasteis de Belem where a nun first invented the pasteis de nata (little custard tart) in the 19th century.

We loved those little pastries and ate some every day. They were so yummy!

Jeronimos Monastery

The monastery is huge.

The courtyard in the monastery was gorgeous.

Belem Tower. Built in 1515, as a fortress to guard the entrance to Lisbon's harbor. 

Boom

 

Tight squeeze. 

Maritime Museum. 

The famous Tram 28. A vintage, yellow electric tram that still plugs along throughout the city center.

St. George's castle.

A gorgeous view of the city from the castle. Lisbon was such a beautiful city, right on the water front. The food was delicious and the people were friendly. Wish we could have stayed longer.

Florence and Tuscany

Our time in Florence was much too short. We were only there for 2 nights and just got a glimpse of the incredible city and tuscan countryside. Of course we first browsed the amazing Mercato Centrale and San Lorenzo market. The market had everything from fresh and dried fruits, cheese, oils, meats, bread, and pasta. We bought fruit and some homemade pasta to cook for sunday dinner. 

At the San Lorenzo market I was on a hunt to find the perfect Italian leather purse while Michael was searching for the perfect briefcase. In the end, we were both so picky and particular that we never found our dream bags. Maybe next time. 

The beautiful Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore in Piazza del Duomo. 

 One of the coolest things we did while in Italy was going on a scooter tour that took us riding all through Tuscany. The landscape was just stunning.

 We even visited San Gimignano, a small walled medieval hill town in Tuscany. 

Here's my illegal photo I snuck with my iPhone. I don't know why they won't let you take pictures of marble, especially when there is no flash. Michelangelo's David was amazing to see in person. 

Florence is definitely on our list of cities we want to visit again. While we're so happy we got to visit, we definitely did not get enough of it in 2 days. Florence, we'll meet again soon.