I’ve always wanted to visit Barcelona and finally went with my younger sister in March 2010.  Although we see each other a lot, it was wonderful to remember that my sister is not just a great mum, she’s also great fun! 

It more than lived up to my dreams, although I did expect it to be sunnier!  It actually snowed for the first time in 50 years when we arrived in Barcelona! 

I’d read a lot about safety in Barcelona, apparently there have been some problems with street crime and I’d been warned not to talk to strangers, walk around with a guide book in the middle of the street, etc. Well we did everything we weren’t supposed to!  Two minutes after stepping out of the train station (Sants Estacio) I was looking on my map for the hotel, as the snow was falling fast and making it impossible to read.  Suddenly an umbrella appeared over my head and a very sweet Spanish woman was asking in excellent English where we were trying to go.  She pointed us in the right direction and laughingly said “Welcome to Barcelona” - maybe it was the snow, but as we walked to the hotel, people were laughing and calling out to us “Welcome to Barcelona!”

Everywhere people apologised for their poor English - still a million times better than my Spanish.

Looking for a restaurant in Barcelona would normally be a no brainer, but, what with the buses snowed off, the tourist areas were deserted, and we had a very cold walk around El Raval and Barceloneta before we headed up to Jaume I and a little road called Carrer de la Argenteria, where we finally found a lot of cute, little tapas places - including Taller de Tapas where we finally got something to eat!

In only 4 days (3 nights) we saw a lot of Barcelona, including a great excursion up to Mount Tibidabo, but the stand out for me was La Pedrera.

But above and beyond that, the high point of the trip for me was the spa that we visited - Rituels d’Orient.  We indulged in a hammam, a gommage scrub, which we had on 2 stone tablets in the hammam (and yes it did feel a bit like a human sacrifice) and then we both had long, luxurious massages before chilling out on a pile of cushions, drinking mint tea and then rolling back to our hotel to collapse.

Barcelona is full of art, natural beauty, great shopping, excellent food and wonderful treats, it’s easy to get to and the people there couldn’t have been more warm and friendly.  Highly recommended.