Landing in Barcelona and I’m confused. I wake to hear the plane landing gear clanking open. I open the window and I see ocean. Ocean? Where are we? I don’t remember googling Barcelona images and saying ocean! Ooops, I guess that was my mistake. I didn’t Google Barcelona images to see the first image is the oceanfront. Oh well, it’s a pleasant surprise and the plane lands without a hitch. I’m excited to see the Formula One posters for the Spanish Grand Prix throughout the airport. We take a picture with the Hamilton poster, and then head on over to our hotel.

Driving into the city, I suddenly become aware of how much Barcelona reminds me of Los Angeles. Both cities have airports at the beach front. Both cities have low level concrete plaster buildings mid-level glass and steel high-rises backgrounds. Both cities being a vast expanse of space at the foot of small foothills. And both cities head into town via a freeway system.

But that’s pretty much where the similarities end. As we exit the expressway, and land on the streets of Barcelona, I see the streets teeming with life. Everybody’s out and about, but then again this is a highly commercial area with lots of shopping. But I also see it is uniquely designed buildings, lots of architecture here. Not just brick and mortar but glass and steel, with curves and bends in odd angles. And then to the left I see what looks like something left over from  the Logan‘s run movie. But seems to be an apartment complex with plenty of foliage hanging off the balcony is so much so that it’s 50% nature, 50% man. That’s reminiscent of some of the newer high-rises going into New York at this point.

Stepping into our Hilton hotel, the hotel is full of architectural and artistic design. For a mid-level travel hotel, this place is pretty whimsical in its design. A 40-foot Jacopo Foggini acrylic sculpture hangs from the center atrium over the bar like a beautiful kelp forest. This is pretty awesome and makes me wonder what the rest of the city is like. For our first dinner, I wanted to check out the neat looking restaurant next door. I noticed Piscolabis when we pulled in, so we stop there for first dinner. The food is fantastic, simple and inexpensive, thank God for tapas. This lets us try all sorts of dishes. The waiter looks at us like we’re Americans, “Go ahead, order everything.” We start off with a couple of appetizers. My favorite was the croquette. I just love those things. We order a trio of proteins, steak, chicken and seafood. The octopus came with pancetta so thinly sliced, we didn’t even notice at first glance. But it was the perfect accompaniment to the tentacles. If this is the what the rest of our trip is going to be like, we are going to be in foodie and design heaven.

Day Two in Barcelona starts at the W Hotel. Oh great. We meet up with the Marriott Rewards team to take us to the track. We get nifty little swag bags, and then I get to meet Daniel Ricciardo! What, a real live F1 driver in my presence! Holy cow this is cool. We joke a bit and then he’s off to get his qualifying on. That was awesome!

The pool area is spectacular. Oh if I only had the points to stay here! Well the entire hotel is classic W. Smooth design with a colorful edge. That evening, we return to have dinner at The Cotton House Hotel. This old cotton factory was home and design center to the Guell family in the late 1800-early 1900’s. Now it’s one of the most chic hotels in town. This was the Mercedes AMG Formula One racing teams dinner with an engineer event. As the cab pulled up to the hotel, it didn’t look like much, a pretty bland façade with windows and a door did not evoke the most welcoming of packages. But step through the doors and you are swept into a world of high end luxury. The bar invites you to have a proper cocktail and behave in only the most appropriate of manners. I feel so grown up now.

Day Three is the race, damn that Lewis Hamilton! The race is awesome, our seats are 10 rows from the main straight. One minute, hundreds of people are milling about, the next minute everyone is gone and the cars are off on the formation lap. Hamilton pulls the grid back into formation, the red lights are on, the engine revs are up, the light goes out, and they are off. Sitting here in the grandstand I’m in shock! It’s literally a two second ordeal, as in one second the cars are there, and the next second they are gone, baby, gone! Just awesome to see. Nancy is happy Hamilton wins, and so we head back to the bus. Back in town, we make a non-scheduled stop to drop off a passenger to be closer to his hotel. The passenger had an early flight and the Marriott Rewards team was gracious enough to accommodate him. At that stop, I look up and see the sign that lights a fire in Nancy’s eyes, CASINO! Casino Barcelona beckons us to play some slots and see what kind of trouble we can have. The good thing was that as we approached, I could see the sail of the W Hotel in the distance, so I figured it would be a nice walk for us back. We hop out and spend an hour or so at the casino, and while Nancy is playing the slots, I’m checking the location of the nearest paella restaurant that was on her list. Well well well! It turns out Xiringuito Escribà it’s an easy 10 minute walk down the beach. Perfect! We leave the casino, €47-euros richer, which is plenty to pay for dinner tonight, and head down the beach. As we walk, there is a striking resemblance to our own Santa Monica beach back home. People out playing beach but volleyball, a crowded little marina right next to the casino, a group of happy-go-lucky people dancing and singing, all sorts of unique designs where the concrete boardwalk flows like a ribbon up-and-down the sandy beach. We passed several monuments to sailing and reach Xiringuito Escribà. We go in and have a wonderful dinner in a fun, friendly relaxing environment and I’m introduced to Norwegian snow lobster. About the size of a large prawn, they are sooooo sweet and absolutely delicious! A bottle of Sangria and I’m in heaven.  We start to head back to the W, Google maps says a 40 minute walk, and at first I start looking for a cab, but what thell, we’re in Barcelona so let’s see what we can see. Bingo! When we get back to the casino, we stop at the Arts Hotel. This is another lovely, high-end luxury hotel where the interior is a photographers dream. I start snapping pictures. I notice a tall gentleman in black jacket, must be here for one of the events. Oops, is this Barcelona security? Well, it turns out it is. But unlike American security this guy is the most polite, private security guard ever. I’m taking pictures I realize what he’s thinking I walk over to say hello. He responds, “Hello are you a guest of the hotel?” I respond that I’m just waiting for my wife to come out of the restroom, or as you say water closet. Wait, this is Barcelona do you guys actually say water closet? “No,” he responds, “we just call it a restroom or Banho.” We talk about my hundreds upon hundreds of posts on Instagram and he likes my photos. But he explains the situation, that this is a hotel for dignitaries so if anybody is taking pictures, they need identification. Oh boy!  Nancy finally comes out and we go over to the front desk and they scan my drivers license. We exchange a few more pleasantries and we are quickly on our way. Of course as I take the elevator back down to the lobby level, and snap, one more picture of the Calla Lilies in vases. Very nice.

We continue our walk down the boardwalk here and pass through a mishmash of all boarded up out of business buildings and new, high-end retail shops. What really impresses me are the little cafés along the beach. Seems like every couple hundred meters, there’s a little 15 to 20 person café on the sand. How nice is this to just sit out during a wonderful Barcelona summers afternoon sipping a cold beer and having some paella or croquettes of some sort. Maybe next time. We finally reached the W Hotel stopping for drinks and at this point it’s time to call a cab and head home.

Day Four in Barcelona starts with breakfast in the dining room again. But this time, we have no race, so it’s sit back and relax time. Translation: Crank up the Cava and pastries. We step out on our first adventure into daytime Barcelona. We walk up the main drag, Avinguda Diagonal. Little shopping spots dot the landscape so we indulge. We walk around browse the shops. It’s time to start picking up gifts and souvenirs. The first souvenir stop is for me. I pick up a polo shirt from United Colors of Benetton. I remember this place from the 80’s. Exciting colors and the diverse models in their ads, I think this is going to make the perfect Barcelona shirt for me. OK, time for a beer. We stop at the first little stand at the top of the stairs in the courtyard. It always amazes me how incredible Panini sandwiches taste when I am in foreign country. I don’t know if it’s exhilaration of being on travel or if there’s actually something about the freshness of the food? Maybe a little bit of both? But for sure, this Estrella is Damm good. We head out to continue up the Avinguda Diagonal and arrive at the Parc de Cervantes. We wonder around the inside for a couple minutes, lovely park but lets see the city, so we head out. Next stop is El Cortes Ingles. Walking to the stores we feel at home. Coach, Prada, and Burberry all the high-end goodies are here, but in a much more laid back, easy open feeling space. I turn and spot a beautiful navy suit for a mere €199. This would make an awesome souvenir! Again! So I pick up a David Hill made in Spain. At last I have my Spanish suit. We continue walking south, and hit Starbucks for a juice. Oh look, another El Cortes! Wow, ok we walk in, and this time, Nancy picks up her Spanish jacket at Sfera, and some goodies for her sister. Shopping is done! And perfect timing, as we head back to the hotel to change for dinner.

Tonight we dine at the Javier de las Meulas’ Speakeasy, a Dry Martini restaurant. Our friends Tayo and Mark told us about this place, and we are excited about checking it out. The website looks interesting, so off we go. The entry to the Speakeasy is just a normal bar. At first I thought we were in the wrong establishment. Then the waiter gives us the nod, leads us through the service door, down the hall, past the kitchen, past the boxes, down another passageway and back into the clandestine dinner area. We are surrounded by an enormous amount of alcohol, all hidden away from the prohibition police, and that makes the dining even more fun. Not that you really need, because the food is fantastic. Chateaubriand and Souffle Potatoes, oh this is heavenly. After dinner, we are led out the secret passage to the side door and we’re back on the street. Beautiful! Let’s walk home.

Day Five hits us, we’re on our way home tomorrow! And we’ve barely scratched the surface of this incredible city. So back downstairs for breakfast, our eating is becoming more refined. Instead of just gorging ourselves with any and everything we come across, we select the finer selections of famous Serrano ham and indulge in multiple glasses of champagne. Today is going to be all about us, shopping, sightseeing, and acting like tourists. We start the day with a hop-on bus tour. First stop we come across is the Gaudi house. Famous architect Antonio Gaudi‘s famous architectural house museum. The place is Ground Zero for Barcelona art and architecture. The house looks like something out of a fairytale. Trying to explain it doesn’t quite do it justice. How do you describe dreaminess? I guess if I were a poet I would know how to, but I’m not, so back on the bus and let’s see more Barcelona. Driving through Barcelona it has everything a bustling European city has: Narrow streets, historical buildings, people milling about, or sitting at curb side cafes. But no other European city compares to the amount of architectural wonder that Barcelona house. Driving past nameless buildings I am just astonished at the amount of design the city has. From Gaudi’s Casa Milà and his dripping, drooping lines, to the Castell dels Tres Dragons, with its medieval-Moorish topped pillars. The city still represents its stature as a cross roads stop between Europe and Africa, with influences from all sides evident everywhere. But now its time to eat…again. We hop off the bus at our first stop at an area called Las Ramblas. This is nothing more than a median with a couple little tourist stops and shops along the way and alfresco dining along the center island. But the one eatery that catches our attention is a menu board with an image black ink black squid ink paella. We just got our paella fix two nights ago, but black Squid ink.? Who can say no to something as exotic as that. And it comes out, black paella against a royal blue tablecloth makes the perfect contrast for picture taking. Coincidence? I don’t think so, this is all by design. If this were a simple white tablecloth, the plate would be too dark and picture would be too contrast. This is perfect. Tasty and visually stunning. We hop back onto the bus catching it at a stop just under the statue of Christopher Columbus overseeing the harbor entryway. This is next door to the Maritime Museum, a marina full of yachts and enough public artwork to make a New York gallery blush. Witness the Roy Lichenstein “El Cap de Barcelona” watching over the harbor.

The bus picks us up again, and we click away at pictures of classic buildings and elegant scenery. The bus begins winding up a narrow road and takes us into the Fort Majic park. This park sits on a hill top above Barcelona allowing you to look down at the city. The first thing I think, this is like the Hollywood hills in Los Angeles. But even more beautiful. A top the park are the Olympic stadium from 1984 when the Barcelona Summer Olympics were here. This leads to a huge avenue that leads to two tall towers that remind me of Venice Italy. And interestingly enough, they’re called the Venetian Towers. The towers are the entryway to the Avinguda Princessa that leads up to the park. Turns out we came the opposite direction. But we get off at this stop because across the street is Arenas de Barcelona. This was Barcelona’s oldest bullfighting arena, but since Barcelona stopped bullfighting back in 2011, it has been reimagined as a shopping center. Upstairs are international restaurants to please the foodie in anyone: Italian, Chinese, Spanish, Iberian, Mediterranean, Japanese. Something for everyone. But the best part of the walking track along the top that provide a 360 degree view of the city. And on a clear day, what a gorgeous view it is.

We head back onto the bus and drive back through Barcelona and head north west to the Barcelona financial district. The Torre Agbar, the main design center, and so many others are outstanding architectural wonders. Some of them are truly architectural and fascination, others use play fall colors to entering the senses. But nothing brings it all together like Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia. This church is a staple of Barcelona and Gaudi designs. The exterior is quite wonderful as I’ve seen dozens and dozens of pictures of the building before, but getting up close and seeing the figures on the building is just wonderful. And the fact that its still under construction, this beautiful gothic building with the cranes sticking out of its head. It’s as artistic as it is ironic.

Unfortunately we’ve arrived later in the afternoon, and tickets are sold out for the interior. So yes, we traveled all way to Barcelona and did not get inside the building. By this point we’re so exhausted of sightsee it’s almost a relief to be honest. So we just sit down at the little café across the street from the church in the park, and have a nice cool refreshing Estrella beer. Just as we finish the last sip the bus pulls up and takes us home. We start asking ourselves where we going to dine tonight, I tell Nancy, “Let’s dine in tonight and enjoy those juicy garlic prawns, your grilled octopus and sangria!” I know, there were so many places right around the corner we could’ve gone, but the food here look just as inviting as any of them, so we enjoyed every fork full of this last meal. Guess we’ll just have to come back and check out the rest of the neighborhood.

The next morning we rise and begin packing up to say farewell to Barcelona. This have has been just an incredible visit to an incredible city. So much to drink, eat and see here, 5 days is just not enough.  Ciao Barcelona, grathias.