El Bodegon - Barcelona, Spain.

First meal in Barcelona at El Bodegon. I suspected that this was a restaurant chain but I found out later on that it was not. I thought so because of the setting of the restaurant but we were so hungry and everything looked so good on the menu. So, we settled for this restaurant as J literally couldn't wait any longer to eat. I'm glad we did because I only managed to see the reviews after dining there and the reviews were very good.

We wanted good tapas. Although the regular tapas in Spain was not the nice little gourmet tapas that we were used to outside of Spain, everything was lovely except for the Spicy Fried Potatoes with Chipotle Mayo. It was really just chips drowning in mayo...

I wasn't lying right???? 😂😂😂

Okay here's a snippet of the menu, in case you find yourself about to dine here.

We ended up ordering only tapas as we didn't want to ruin our appetites for dinner. (We ruined our appetites for dinner.)

One of the best Iberian ham I've ever tasted.

Can never resist ordering any squid and octopus dishes. So greasy...so good.

I know I've mentioned this before but as we grew older, we found the joy in eating good food. It doesn't have to be expensive. It just gotta be worth the calories we are intaking.

These days I would literally be sulking if I had a bad meal. Such a brat. I know.

Chisstora sausages. Some damn good sausages. But everything was in such a big portion that we ended up doggy bagging some of it and take it back to the hotel before heading out again.

We did not regret it because we were so full from this meal, we couldn't eat dinner. By the time we were done sightseeing and back in the hotel, we were starving and ate the rest of it.

Man, them fried potatoes I was complaining about earlier was so goooood.

Mr. Husband.

400 hams were hung on the ceiling!

Service was good here. I would say overall it was a good experience. Mainly because of the good and very yummy Iberian Ham.

J love eating ham so I ended up having the opportunity to try different ones too. And the reason I thought this was good was because it doesn't leave that porky aftertaste. Just super smooth and tasty.

We managed to taste other ones during this trip and yup, none was better than this even though we probably paid more for the others.

Man vs. Ham.

Find out more here: El Bodegon - Tripadvisor

Address: Torrent de l'Olla, 38, 08012 Barcelona, Spain
Phone Number: +34 933 48 28 54

Where to stay in Barcelona: Aparthotel Mariano Cubi

So many travel post to write and so little time! 2016 is nothing short of amazing. We ate at a lot of good places as well as travelled loads. I think 9 countries for me and 10 for him. Oh yeah, we also got married last Feb! 😁

I might have to work my way backwards for my memory power sake. Which is poor, which is also why I took photos of everything. Thank god for good camera mobile phones (although I really need a better one for travelling). So year 9 countries with multiple places to review.

Where are my manners??? Happy New Year guys!!! I do realize that I don't have a strong following because of my lack of updates but for those who stumbled upon my blog, welcome! And know that I make fake resolutions every year to update this blog regularly. 😦 I take it very seriously but I have to juggle a full time job and being a full time wife/mom to Dug and all my Netflix series.

The struggle is real.

Instead of rambling on and making excuses, I am just going to blog abt our latest trip!

 Barcelona, Spain! 

This was our final trip of 2016. We did a lot of city breaks last year and I think what I learned from that is that I need a good mix of both nature/scenic holiday and city breaks. By the time we went to Barcelona, I was all city out. 

That doesn't mean we didn't have fun though! The weather was milder than the UK but it wasn't warm warm. I quite like it as the last 2 times I went to Barcelona, it was hot. Toooo hot in fact and I didn't explore it like I did with my hubs.

We stayed in Aparthotel Mariano Cubi. I recommend it to a certain extend as it forces you to explore both directions away from the hotel to the closest 2 subway stations which are complete opposites. One side towards Fortuna is more ghetto while the other side towards Diagonal was much more upper class. 

We booked via booking.com and they said that it was very accessible to the subway. I can say that it is not if you have huge luggage. It is at least 15-20 mins walk. That's long with luggage.

Source: Google

I didn't take photos of the outside of the hotel.

Upon arrival, the service on the front desk was good. In fact, the service was good throughout our stay.

I think the only issue I had was the distance from the subway. 15-20 mins walk is not an issue as I walk a lot in UK anyway. It was just that I didn't expect that distance when we arrived.

The lobby. We didn't go for their breakfast because we wanted to explore local eateries as we always do whenever we go on a city break.

This was really welcoming. They gave us a handwritten note, champagne and chocolates to start our trip. That was a very nice touch.

Fooled around with my new selfie stick but something wrong with my front camera..or so I thought at that time.

When the trip was over, I found out that it was my screen protector that caused the cloudy effect. Ffs.

So we used his phone..which was better. I would normally argue that Samsung Note series has better camera but not that day. 

Not. That. Day.

Cape life. 

I can't find it after our holiday. I wonder if J secretly threw it away since I kept banging on about being Batman...

Outside view of our balcony.

Would I recommend others to stay here? Yes. But make sure you are not travelling with a big luggage if you are taking public transportation.

We only had a hand carry and it wasn't so bad but being a traveller, you need to consider all possible obstacles. It wasn't Summer so it is definitely bearable but comes Summer, that walk would be a tough one with big luggage.

Get a taxi from the airport. We did that on the way home.

"Address: Carrer Mariano Cubi, 62-64, 08006, Barcelona, Spain

Phone: +34 932099699"

Barcelona Colourful Market - Literally!

So we hung out in Barcelona before going back to the UK and explored the place quite thoroughly this time!



Took the train to the City Center where we stopped at Catalunya or you could alternatively stop at Liceu. The high street is so long, before you finish a quarter of it you'll be dying for a drink.

And we went for good old Starbucks!

But that was a huge mistake. Well not really a mistake, but we could have gotten something even better!

Cos when we walk and walk and walk, and then....

We saw the market place!


I was like,"YAY!!!" A market place can really reflect a lot on the culture of a place.


Nuts and dried fruits are quite popular here. But there're something even better....

Fruit juices in various blends and it's so cheap as well! We seem to think that Spanish people got nice glowing skin because they eat loads of fruits and vegetables!

And they've definitely got a sweet tooth!


Stores like this are everywhere in the market place. Gummies.


Chuppa Chups bigger than my head.

Another highlight is the Marzipans. Which is so much cheaper than what we got in Italy.


We didn't buy more but I guess different price different quality? We paid 66 euros for two small boxes but apparently according to the locals in Florence, it's like the "branded" marzipans. So I guess, it's still worth it?

No la, not for us. It's just a gift to the family. Too sweet for my likings!

And Spanish people really know how to get businesses!

They placed a fork with every packet of fruits they sold so that it's convenient for tourists to have their fruits to quench their thirst while walking around.


Waxed meat and cheese!


Look at the market place, all fruits and sweets!


And then more waxed meat and cheeses!


This butcher placed cute moo moos for people to look at the brighter side of sloshing cows?

You can tell, every stall owner take pride in their stall and take the market business very seriously.

This is the egg stall. Damn nice right!


Market bar.


Passionfruit! God, they looked yummy!


And then fruits we are used to, papayas and dragon fruits!


Well, you're in Spain. Sangria is a must! If you don't wanna order it in restaurants when you're having a meal then just go ahead and order a cup of sangria here. You've got to try all the local stuff man! Even if you don't drink!


I took a picture of this cos I love mushrooms and they have different types!


Nostalgic.



Okay the lesson of this post is that, you should walk till you reached the market place which is somewhere in the middle of that long street before getting drinks.


Starbucks, not for holidays!

Costa Brava & Barcelona, London

Thankfully, Costa Brava is such a beautiful place that I managed to see past the fact that I lived in a sucky hotel.

The views around the cliffs were magnificent and they have the most beautiful sunset ever. I've never seen a sea so blue and the sky so red before.

It was almost magical. The sand were soft and white but I suspect it is artificial. Who cares though, it's beautiful.

I walked around a lot and snapped loads of photos.

The time difference is 1 hour ahead of UK so, it didn't really affect me too much. I enjoyed hanging out at their coffee houses having cakes and teas chatting and enjoying the different culture.

People in Spain, in my opinion, does not discriminate other races (well, at least not those I encountered) and are really friendly and courteous even though they might not be fluent in English enough to communicate. It's definitely something very positive about this country.

I have to mention again that I love their paela and I still miss it every now and then but La Tasca's paela is just so crap, so I might have to wait for the next time I visit Spain again.

The hotel I lived in was literally right in front of the central bus station in Lloret de Mar so I hopped onto the bus to Barcelona, which is an hour ride.

I got up late, so I kind of wastes half a day when I arrived at Barcelona. But I managed to squeeze in a visit to the Chocolate Factory and the famous Aquarium in Barcelona.

At the Chocolate factory you get to see statues and models made out of chocolates and how chocolates were produced. The tickets were super cute too, they were chocolate bars.

The Aquarium is famously known for the glass tunnel where you can see the fishes and sharks swimming over you when you stand on the revolving flooring. It was awesome and worth every penny to be able to see all those rare fishes and sharks. The sharks were HUGE and the pictures does not do them justice.

The day ended with some waffles, hotdogs and a ride back to Lloret de Mar.

I would totally do it again!

The only thing I regret is that I didn't manage to see Barcelona enough.