Barcelona Day 5: Castle and Harbor

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Late Monday morning, we took a cab up to the very top of Montjuic, where we admired the sweeping views of the Mediterranean and the vast city of Barcelona from the vantage point of the castle, which served as a lookout tower (guards could send signals down to the city with daytime flags or nighttime fire if an enemy ship approached), prison, and execution site over the years. We wandered through the tiered plazas of the Jardins del Mirador with more great mosaics, dry fountains, switchback gardens, and forested paths downhill to the Teleferic del Port cable car. It carried us across the expansive port with its yachts and cruise ships and down to the sliver of beach. 

We lingered at a beachfront bar, where I waded in the sea before cooling off with cava sangria (my new favorite drink), a mojito, and white wine. Locals used the beach as their gym, running sprints in the sand and doing pullups on the bars. We hopped over to a restaurant next to the W Barcelona for more wine, tapas (squid, ham and chicken croquettes, peppers, and rolled crunchy chicken tinga tacos), and a burger with fries. I collapsed into a swing seat in the hotel lobby to people watch while the others poked into the gift shop. We taxied back uptown for some farewell chocolate and wine on the balcony before calling it a night.

We were pros the following morning, packing up and walking confidently back to our Aerobus stop by the Placa Catalunya, where the waiting bus whisked us back to El Prat airport. As I wrap this up, our plane is waiting to pull into our arrival gate. Apparently that three-hour delay earlier was just the amount of time I needed to finish my account of our travels. This was not just a trip, but a truly refreshing and inspiring vacation. Time to spend doing what I love–exploring a foreign city and writing about my journey–makes for the best vacation of all.



Read the full series here:

Spend More Time Doing What You Love (in Barcelona!)

Day 1: Streets and Shops

Day 2: Architecture and Tapas

Day 3: Mountain and Vineyard

Day 4: Art and Opera

Day 5: Castle and Harbor

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