The Catalonia experience is the name of our new adventure in Spain. I have been humbly invited by the Catalonian Tourism board to tour the entire state/region of Catalonia for over a week! The official name of the program is Catalunya which is how it is spelled in the region’s mother tongue, Catalon.
The Catalon region is the northeast region of Spain that borders France and Barcelona happens to be it’s capital. There is a reason I recently the post about giving Barcelona another chance, read more on the Barcelona Travel Blog.
So far we are on day two of the even and I wanted to share the busy schedule that we have visiting some amazing places. We are visiting the Pyrenees, the best restaurant in the world, and even following the steps of Picasso.
We are going to be here for another few days and I even decided to stay a few extra days to fully immerse myself in Barcelona!
We are already on day three of our adventure and now is when we are going to start picking the pace up and heading to the city of Girona.
I was able to visit Girona last year on a visit to a travel conference. This also was the time that I first visited Barcelona and Spain. Ironically I have been spending most of my travels around the world avoiding Europe and visiting off the track places. Although I lived in Italy (island of Sicily in the South) it was just last year that I first stepped foot on mainland Europe.
Here is our itinerary through Catalonia:
Day 1: Barcelona Arrival
Check into the Hotel Chic & Basic and explore Barcelona for a bit. This was a light schedule for us and I ended up doing some shopping. I needed to purchase many things that I forgot for the trip including bathing shorts, towel, and even a shaver! The hotel is excellent and is full of personality. A great choice by the Catalonia Tourism Board.
Day 2:
- Photo Walk around Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter
- Experience Barcelona’s main festival La Merce Festivity
- Going to a FC Barcelona Football (soccer) match
Day 3:
- Visit Santa Caterina Market
- Cooking class with BCN Kitchen
- Visiting El Born Cultural Center & “Mercat de la Princesa”
- Free time to explore Barcelona
Day 4:
- Head to Girona, Costa Brava bright and early
- Guided tour of the city of Girona
- Visit El Cellar de Can Roca (best restaurant in the world)
- Transfer to the city of Sant Feliu de Guíxols
- Visit the art collection of Espai Carmen Thyssen
- Transfer to the beach town of Platja d’Aro
Day 5:
- Sailing excursion in the Mediterranean with “Jolie Biche”
- Head to the Pyrenees at Saldes, Burgueda County
Day 6:
- Option for Trekking Excursion along Picassso’s path
- OR
- Repelling down a mountain Via Ferrata in the mountains of Vallcebre
- A Picasso Art workshop
- Transfer to Sort in the Pyrenees (County of Lleida)
Day 7:
- Visit the “Batlliu de Sort” winery (high mountain wines)
- Rafting activity in Noguera Pallaresa river
- Back to Barcelona!
Day 8 & 9:
- Extra days to explore Barcelona
Wanted to share my travel plans because the Catalonian Tourism Board would be the right people to ask about trip planning. If these are the highlights for an 7/9 day trip then you should definitely look into some of those cities as well. Will update this post later with more of the information on restaurants & hotels.
What a great post, Marcello! It looks like you had a great time in Catalonia! It’s a wonderful place, isn’t it? 🙂 We live in Barcelona and would like to ask you how you have become one of #Catalunyaexperience bloggers. We would really appreciate your advice. Thanks and happy travels! We love your blog!
They contacted me about it…
Sounds like quite the fun adventure and you are covering so much in such a short time! Looks great although it’s a shame the mountain repel and the Picasso trek are an either or deal, would be a difficult choice! Enjoy the rest of your trip!
This looks like a schedule packed to the brim. I think after you come back home you need a month to just revisit through pics and telling everybody how it was. And I bet there are much more things to do there.
It is a fun post! Looks like you had a great time. Watching FC Barcelona play at their home stadium must’ve felt awesome!
I also love Paella! So delicious 🙂 Spain indeed is such a nice place. Marcello, I just really love your blog.
Besides the places and the scenery, would definitely love to watch a Barcelona soccer game live! Thanks for the tips. Looks like you had a great time.
What a tour, hope you enjoyed the Football match in Barcelona!
Your itinerary is very interesting. It seems renting a car is necessary to travel through the whole Catalunya region instead of just staying in Barcelona, if there is no local fixer. I hope you will have time to tell us more about Day 4, 5, and 6.
I visited Barcelona this year. I had a great time! People were actually very kind and always took their time to give me directions. Most of them can speak English. Even the ones who couldn’t speak full sentences of English would say the keywords and point. It worked out perfectly. Catalonian tourism industry is very organized and they do work hard to help tourists.
More soon to come Alice