#47 New Year's Eve with curfew in Barcelona

December 30, 2021 - January 5, 2022: Barcelona

F. After spending a whole day in Castelldefells looking for a relatively cheap option to safely park our van in Barcelona for a week, we drove to a guarded parking lot near the airport. Although it is located outside of Barcelona, it is also outside of the environmental zone, which foreigners are only allowed to enter with permission. Another point is that this parking lot has no height restriction, unlike most parking garages in downtown Barcelona. However, this also meant that we couldn't bring our things to our accommodation in Barcelona by car and had to pack our non-existent suitcases. So we packed all our things for a week's vacation in Barcelona, all the dirty laundry (there was a washing machine in the accommodation), and all our valuables in two large bags and 2 backpacks and handed our van over to the trustworthy receptionist of the parking lot.

We then took the shuttle bus to the airport and then continued by bus to the city. Tip for all Barcelona travelers: Take the train from Terminal 2 instead of the bus, as it is much cheaper. The key to the apartment was conveniently picked up at the accommodation office and then we went to the apartment. It was located on the 9th floor of a building within sight of the Sagrada Famìlia, providing the following view for the next few days.

In the evening, Natascha and Christian also arrived and the reunion was celebrated abundantly in the nearest restaurant with good Spanish food. On New Year's Eve, the four of us explored Barcelona during the day and researched where we could see the best fireworks in Barcelona despite Corona and curfew between 1 and 6 am. It seemed that all fireworks and parties had been canceled, so we decided to have a full meal in a restaurant. Shortly before midnight, we went to the beach and found out that not all fireworks had been canceled. There was still one at Torre Glòries, but it couldn't really be seen from the beach. Luckily, there were also some restaurant owners in the harbor and on the beach who delighted their guests with small fireworks batteries. The Spanish tradition of eating 12 grapes with the 12 chimes of the new year proved to be an extraordinary and absolutely difficult challenge. Eating 12 grapes in 12 seconds was very challenging for me, and I hope that the Spanish tradition keepers will appreciate my efforts and give me plenty of luck for the year 2022. Perhaps the increased difficulty was also due to the fact that we did not buy the extremely small Silvester packs (€3.5 per pack) that contained 12 grapes, but we took the grapes from the branch as usual.

On New Year's Day, after a hearty breakfast, we went to the beach in Badalona. Fortunately, Natascha and Christian left the bad weather in Germany behind, so we could relax in the sun. Many families were also sitting on the beach next to us. Many of them were listening to Christmas music, which surprised me, but Christmas season extends in Spain until January 6, when the three holy kings come with the gifts. Most families have not had their gift-giving yet, so we involuntarily listened to songs like "Baby it's cold outside" by Idina Menzel & Michael Bublé in the sun.

During the rest of our time in Barcelona, we visited Park Güell, took a hike to the Monastery of Montserrat (separate blog entry #48), went shopping, unsuccessfully tried to get booster shots, explored Barcelona, and went to various bars and restaurants to learn more about Spanish cuisine. We thoroughly enjoyed our vacation from traveling. We even managed to cook oven-roasted vegetables in the oven of the Airbnb apartment, which is not possible in our van.

Park Güell is a park designed by Antoni Gaudí and it didn't impress us too much, especially after visiting the Sagrada Família. The buildings were all very beautiful, but the park was quite crowded.

Getting booster shots, or the 3rd vaccination against Covid (as it is called in Spain), is still difficult for us because we don't have a Spanish residency and also because the Spanish distribute the 3rd vaccination based on age. Currently, only people over 50 are being boosted. However, as a foreigner, you have very easy access to Spanish food, so we have tried everything from Patatas to Pinchos to Paella (list is incomplete).

Day 82 - Total tour 4,905 km

---- Subscribe ----

If you would like to subscribe to our blog, you can either sign up with Vakantio and click on subscribe or send us a message and we will put you in our own distribution list. We also appreciate feedback!

Email: querfeld2@gmail.com