[13D10N - Incentive Trip: Spain & Portugal] 3D2N at Barcelona
I followed Baby to his company incentive trip 2024 - 13D10N Spain & Portugal. It been a super long hiatus since we went on a tour package to explore a country. We went on this trip without any expectations, and we didn’t even read about the itinerary at all though we were given some information on our programme prior our departure. Our plan was to just visit Spain & Portugal and enjoy Spanish & Portuguese food and the culture since this was our first time visiting these 2 countries.
In total, we stayed at 7 different hotels, as the tour package included a visit to Barcelona, Valencia, Granada, Seville, Lisbon, Salamanca and Madrid!
Our flight to Barcelona was by Qatar Airways with a stop at Doha Hamad International Airport.
After about 8hrs and 24mins of flying, we touched down at Doha around 2348hrs. We are about 5hours ahead in Singapore than Doha. Due to my connecting flight about 2+ hours away, we decided to have our walk around the airport.
My 2nd leg of the journey to Barcelona Josep Tarradellas Airport was about 6+ hours. After what felt like an eternity, I felt pretty restless on the plane seat. However, I was delighted to see that the seat-screen map was showing our destination was close!
We landed at BCN Airport at about 0650am local time. Do note Spain is around 7 hours behind us in Singapore, hence we sort of earned a half a day there!
After clearing the customs, the tour leader gathered all of us before bringing us to our chartered tour bus to start our sightseeing tour in Barcelona. Oh well, this is what you need to expect if you are with a tour. Resting and OTOT is a luxury, so do make sure you make full use of it!
First stop, we visited the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, and we took many random photos outside the building!
Next, we walked to Montjuic Hill for more photo-taking!
Lunch was provided, and the tour driver brought us to a tapas restaurant to enjoy our 3-course Tapas Starter lunch.
After lunch, our tour continued to Casa Batlló and Casa Milà. The entrance of these two places were not part of the tour, so we didn’t go in, but we only took photos against the buildings.
Although the tour package included shopping areas like Las Ramblas and Plaza Catalonia, it was a shame that we arrived on Sunday, as most of the shops in Spain are closed on Sunday. Therefore, we only went to the souvenir’s shops. We spent some rest time at Faborit while waiting for the tour bus to bring us to the hotel for our check-in.
It was almost 5pm, time to check into the hotel for our 2 nights stay. It took about 20mins by bus to reach AC Hotel Som by Marriott.
Our room looked pretty decent, and thankfully, it was clean and spacious. Once we settled down with our luggage, we got changed and we were ready to explore some nearby supermarkets and restaurants.
We settled our first self-paid dinner in Spain with Baby’s colleagues at Restaurant Milagros. The eatery place was only 10mins walking distance from our hotel.
We started with Sangria - an alcoholic beverage originating in Spain and Portugal. It consists of red wine and cut-fruits, often with other ingredients or spirits.
We ordered Seafood Paella, Crispy patatas served with Spicy Sauce, Jamón (Cured Ham), Croquettes, Calamares Fritos, Berenjenas con Miel (Fried Eggplant with Honey), Octopus a feira and Tacos for sharing.
The damage was reasonable, and we had a delightful Spanish Tapas dinner! We walked back to our hotel after our meal, and we rested a while before our shower.
We headed straight to bed after our long day of sightseeing and the long flight the night before. We wanted to charge up our energy levels in order to explore the lovely city of Barcelona the very next day, but jet-lag was seriously no joke. Our body alarm woke me up at around 3am in the morning which was literally 10am in Singapore. I tried to sleep as our tour leader had set our morning call at 745am for us, in order to for us to prepare ourselves for breakfast as our meeting time was at 9am for our city tour. The adjustment of the irregular sleeping hours took me 2 days to get used to the EU timings. OMG! How siaaaaaa, the return leg to SG was going to be dreadful!
Our room stay was inclusive of breakfast, and we headed down to the café to enjoy a breakfast buffet.
Next on our itinerary was shopping time at La Roca Village! - Outlet-styled malls, which was located in the idyllic Mediterranean, and just 40 minutes away from Barcelona.
I picked up a Gucci Horsebit 1955 Medium-size Bag which I felt was pretty cost-value to purchase in Spain.
Whether you are in Spain or in any other parts of Europe, do try to look for an outlet! I would highly recommend a visit to the outlet if time permits. Maybe you can hunt down a discounted version of the designer item that you’re lusting for! A deal is still a deal!
As lunch was on our own, we settled it at Restaurant Pasarela - Mediterranean eatery place which is located within the premises of La Roca Village.
Some of our tour mates suggested to the tour leader that they wanted to go Las Ramblas to visit the Hermès boutique, so we followed along and the tour driver dropped us there. As for the rest, the tour leader brought them to do more shopping at one of the shopping malls at Plaza Catalonia, and then followed the bus back to the hotel.
After our Hermès visit, we did more shopping at Primark, since this was the last night in Barcelona. We needed to do more shopping and enjoyed more tapas in Barcelona.
We walked to our dinner place after we did our shopping, as we had made a dinner reservation at 9pm at Alegoría Restaurante Barcelona.
Pimientos de Padrón - They are green peppers which are fried in olive oil and served with a deep sprinkling of salt. They surprised me as taste was generally sweet and mild.
The Squid ink Seafood Paella was exquisite.
Octopus a Feira
Crema Catalana
Stay
tuned for my next blogpost, as we left Barcelona and travelled to another city
of Spain - Valencià.
Comments