The Mallorys in Kyiv: Beautiful Barcelona

I know it has been a couple of weeks since I blogged, but it was for good reason. We were eating and drinking our way around Barcelona, Spain. And it was amazing. While the weather wasn't as bright and sunny as we had hoped, we happened to be there during two huge food and wine festivals which more than made up for the lack of beach weather. Because honestly, isn't it more fun to taste regional cheese and meat and deep fried delicious fare than to wrestle two little ones into sunscreen submission every two hours??? Here is our Barcelona story in pictures......

We had a 6:30 am flight but the girls were troopers and we made it to the airport exactly as planned.

This one seemed perfectly happy to wake up at 5 am and hop in a taxi. And the timing was actually perfect because she nursed and slept the entire flight.

The sunrise as we boarded our plane was breathtakingly beautiful.

The benefit of a super early flight is that you have the entire day to enjoy your destination city. And enjoy we did.

The park next to our apartment had this little pond with row boats.

These two had a fun little ride.

While these two watched from the bank.

This park, parc de las ciutadella, is Barcelona's largest green space and it was just a couple of blocks from our apartment.

We hung out here for a long time, letting Susannah chase bubbles and run off her morning energy.

She never hesitates......even if she is the smallest kid or she doesn't understand a word the others are saying.....she just jumps right into the fun.

And watching her is pure joy.

The blue sky, the green trees, the beautiful setting, and this little girl's smile.......

it was definitely the perfect start to our vacation.

Checking out the big elephant statue.

After the park, we headed back to our apartment to get checked in and have some lunch in the neighborhood. This was SA's first restaurant high chair and she was a big fan. And I must say, Susannah, Peter and I were big fans of the tapas. Delicious.

After our late, leisurely lunch, we meant to go upstairs to our apartment for a quick rest before heading back out for a stroll by the harbor. Thanks to our 4:30 am wake time, the quick rest turned into dinner, bath and an early bedtime. But we were up bright and early the next morning and ready to explore.

Our apartment was in "The Born" neighborhood, which is very chic and full of pedestrian streets lined with boutiques, restaurants, and ice cream shops. Notice the flags hanging from the balconies. Barcelona considers itself to be Catalonian, not Spanish and they are intensely proud of this identity. The Catalonian flags are everywhere and the city's official language is Catalan.

We didn't make it inside this chocolate museum, but we admired it from the outside. ;)

These little fountains are everywhere throughout the city and are actual working fresh water sources. People fill their water bottles from them.

This indoor market was just blocks from our apartment.

Peter and my most vivid memory of our last trip to Barcelona was the beautiful produce markets that have little breakfast diners inside. So this was the obvious way for us to start day #2.

All the fruit stands inside the market sell juices that are freshly squeezed from their produce. It was just as delicious as I remember. (Fun fact: the last time I took a picture like this, Susannah was in my womb.)

After our market trip, we had a quick stop at this playground.

Then we took a very long walk to Barcelona's most famous sight,

The overwhelming and unfinished Sagrada Familia.

It was packed, chaotic (both the crowds and the architecture), and unforgettable.

It was unlike any church I've ever seen. I found it to be beautiful, but in a haunting, almost disturbing sort of way.

The colors were vivid and surreal.

Definitely worth the visit, but it wasn't my favorite. Surprisingly, Peter was a much bigger fan than me.

After a stop at the playground outside the Basilica, we hopped on the metro for a quick ride back to our neighborhood for another delicious lunch of tapas. (Yes, this is the same restaurant as the day before. We tried a couple of others, but this one had a high chair and we wanted to order some things that we hadn't tried the day before anyway. We joked that our goal was to exhaust the entire menu by the end of our trip.)

That afternoon we took the short stroll to the beach. It was windy and cloudy, but that didn't stop Susannah from having a ball.

She LOVES the beach.

On our way home from the beach, we hit up a food and wine festival that was happening outside the market where we had breakfast. SA loved riding in the Ergo during this trip. (probably because she found it hilarious to stick her fingers in my mouth and try to rip my earrings from my ears.)

Susannah and Peter were both fans of the Spanish sausage.

And Peter and I have decided that, insert dramatic pause here, we may prefer Spanish wine to French wine. I feel like a traitor typing that, but it is true. It's just as delicious without any of the pretension.

When SA wasn't in the Ergo or the stroller, this was her ride.

She loves her Daddy.

Now that we have two kiddos, we try to rent apartments that are as central as possible so that we can easily return home throughout the day for potty breaks, nursing breaks, or just plain old relaxation breaks.

Luckily, during our breaks, this was our view from the little balcony off our apartment's living room.

Not too shabby, right?

It was perfect because even when we were at home, we felt like we were still enjoying the city.

Day 3 was supposed to be spent at the beach, but the weather still wasn't cooperating, so we headed over to the park to let Susannah play on the playground. We noticed white tents being set up on the main drag of the park, so we went over to investigate. And found another festival. This one in honor of Earth Day, which meant all sorts of delicious organic foods and drinks. (And face painting of course.)

She picked the princess design.

It matched her outfit perfectly. ;)

She was so proud.

Barcelona's much smaller Arc de Triomphe.

Peter bought some amazing Catalonian cheese.

Pretty nice backdrop for a festival, right?

One of our favorite things about traveling is the unexpected treats that were never a part of the planned itinerary. Earth Day is a perfect example of that.

Back to the apartment for a little downtime. (Please notice those sweet little feet.)

And then off to the beach for a seafood lunch.

And finally.....the sun reappeared!!

We strolled along the long and impressive beachfront promenade until Sarah Avery was soundly asleep in the stroller and then we chose a spot for lunch.

We chose this spot because we are suckers for free champagne which is what this restaurant was handing out as we walked by. They also lured us in with their offer of a kid's menu.

It turned out to be an awesome choice. Beautiful views, great service, and colored pencils to keep Susannah happy while Peter and I ate.

We had sushi to start and then this black rice paella that is one of my all-time favorite dishes on the planet.

Of course, SA woke up the second that the waiter put down our main course.

After lunch we hit the beach. SA was pretty appalled by the feel of sand between her toes. She was not a fan. Not even a little bit.

But Susannah had enough love and excitement for all of us.

We have a couple of other beach trips planned for the summer and I have a feeling this one is going to have a blast.

One section of the beach promenade features a big work-out area that reminded me of muscle beach in Venice. But right next to it is a playground so we hung out there for a while.

On our last day, we checked out the much more traditional church that was just around the corner from our apartment.

Santa Maria del Mar was built in the 1300's and was very beautiful.

We only had a second to check it out because we were trying to get SA to take a nap. I wish we could have stayed longer. Definitely preferred this church over the Sagrada Familia.

Next we headed back over to the indoor market for a Spanish omelet breakfast. This market isn't very touristy so everybody else at this little diner was Catalan......a mix of senior citizens and young service workers, the one thing they all had in common was that they were drinking wine or beer with their breakfast.......at 9 am. Peter and I decided that was the reason they all needed a siesta by mid-day. ;)

After breakfast, we headed back to the park for the last big item on our itinerary, the Barcelona Zoo.

It didn't disappoint and we enjoyed beautiful clear blue skies all morning.

We checked out the rhinos first.

Susannah was intrigued and a little frightened by this big komodo dragon.

We had a great view of the giraffe's having their breakfast.

Susannah liked this guy.

She also had fun ~~terrorizing~~ befriending all of the peacocks.

We checked out the huge tortoises

and the sea lions.

And got a great up close view of the gorillas.

Love this shot.

I don't think SA really knew what was going on.

The children's zoo featured pony rides, which were probably the highlight of the day.

Susannah was so excited.

And loved her pony, Rusty.

Daddy was excited too.

After that it was time to pet the goats.

These pictures made me laugh and cry at the same time because they are practically identical

to these. Except that Susannah is so grown up now.

But she is just as much of an animal lover as she was then.

So much so, that she even likes to pretend to be one. ;)

We spent our last afternoon with one last taste of tapas and wine. (Sarah Avery sent us off with a bang by kicking the table and breaking a glass water bottle on the ground. Luckily, the waiter was super gracious which helped quell my utter humiliation. In fact, everybody we encountered during our stay was warm, friendly, and very kind to the girls.)