It's because there a beach: From landlocked highland in Africa to Barcelona

Why we went to Barcelona? Because there is a beach. Though our first target is seafood, beach is another destination especially kids.

When we had lunch at El Cangrejo Loco at Port Olympic, kids were staring at beach and waves coming and going.

So we stepped in white sand beach.

As our son rushed to seashore, my wife dragged trolly (baggy) and headed for beach.

My son grew up in Tanzania between 3-month and 2-year old, but he doesn't remember what we enjoyed there. He was really excited and screamed like anything when waves come around.

He got wet and took off his shirt.

18-month daughter also had a lot of fun.

We all enjoyed the beach since 2002 in Dar es Salaam.

Tapas is here at Sagardi in Barcelona

Sagardi would be one of the famous destination in Barcelona if you want to enjoy tapas with cava or wines.

Actually it was recommended by our brother in law who used to travel all around Europe. It was early evening, around 4pm, kids were not so hungry but my wife and I were a bit thirsty and wanted to have some snacks. And we were walking nearly Sagardi and so we jumped in.

Once you step in Sagardi, you may say wow unless you used to visit such a bar during your stay in Barcelona. It just looks beautiful and even if you are not so hungry to taste some tapas you may choose some.

Of course with cava.

And my wife also take cava, too.

And my son enjoy chilled water.

Kids can play around in this area as only pedestrians are there. Even if kids chase around each other, there are no bikes and cars threaten them.

 Once kids started playing, they can make friends with other kids around. What a wonderful world this is.

You can find its review at TripAdvisor.

Wine and Cava tasting in Barcelona

We were so lucky. When we were in Barcelona, there was wine and cava tasting event in the middle of town.

You buy a coupon and drink as you like. there were close to 100 shops serving wine, cava, cheese, snacks, sweets, etc.

Though we didn't see much tourists, there must be some business persons looking for nice wines and cavas here. At each shop there are list of wines with its price. But price does not indicate how much Euro you have to pay. It's number of coupon you have to pay.

And I discussed with my wife where to go what to taste.

My son enjoyed pizza.

Nice salami with cava tastes really great.

After spending all coupons, again we bought some and continued drinking..

Kids also enjoy continuing eating snacks and foods.

My wife and I were drunken but enjoyed a lot. There were so many different taste of cava. That's something we really enjoyed.

Locally famous churro near Picasso Museum: Churreria Granja Ruz

If you have a chance to visit Picasso Museum in Barcelona, you would better drop at this small cafe.

It was about 9 am on Thursday, it was bank holiday. Before getting Picasso Museum we dropped here to have a snack in the morning.

It comes like this with chocolate.

It was not so sweet unless you dip it in chocolate. Not only kids but also adults can enjoy this a lot. You can find its review on TripAdvisor, too.

Kids enjoy zoo all the time, but the one in Barcelona was really good place to visit

We went to Zoo de Barcelona on the second day of our stay in Barcelona. 

It was a beautiful zoo, so different from those in Japan. I do not mean zoos in Japan are not beautiful, but the arrangement here in Barcelona was really well made.

For instance, we can see Komodo Dragon. It is not in a nasty cage of course, but there is a big nature like room. In one location, there is a sand and trees. In the other, there is water pool and different types of trees. There are different windows from where we can observe the dragon. There was only one Komodo Dragon but you can see it somewhere depending on moods of the Komodo Dragon.

Like other zoos, glasses are well utilized to secure a fair view for kids. It looks very simple and beautifully arranged.  

Not only watching around animals, there are many attractions and play garden where kids can enjoy.

What surprised us was peacocks. They are reply waling around in the park and when my 18-month daughter was eating some baskets, they almost chased us.

And my son enjoyed waling with a peacock side by side.

And nice dolphin park is there.

 Walking around the park itself would be a good exercise for parents and kids can eat a lot after enjoying a lot.

Bars and restaurant we enjoyed in Barcelona

This post may not be so interesting for many of you because you might be enjoying similar nice cuisines. But family like us living in landlocked country in Africa such seafoods are pricelessly important.

Spain is famous for paella. During our a week-long stay, we enjoyed different tastes of paella a couple of times. Though I couldn't take good pictures, it looks and tastes great.

We went to famous restaurant called Ristorante Loidi on Passeig de Gracia, very close to Casa Mila, Casa Batllo and Casa Amatller designed by Gaudi. This is in the middle of tourist spots and you can find so many tourists at this restaurant. 

Seafood paella at famous Ristorante Loidi

Not to mention tastes of different dishes, but staff are so friendly and kind to kids. My son walked around to see roosters, and one staff took one roster out of water and showed it to him. Likewise, our kids enjoyed not only foods but also atmosphere and friendly attractions by staff.

The other restaurant where we enjoyed paella is Les Quinze Nits. We went there Sunday night. There is a long queue in front of it, but as it was said it was really cheap and reasonable. 

Long queue at Les Quinze Nits

Les Quinze Nits is located in the middle of Les Rambles near metro station called Liceu. As it is open even on Sunday night, there are so many tourists enjoying their dinner there.

One of the great entertainment was Mercado de La Boqueria, Boqueria market!! We enjoyed seafoods and bought some souvenirs for ourselves. It was so lively and many tourists are all around.

Friendly shopkeepers

Though it was difficult to walk around with baby trolly (baggy), it was worth to visit and even kids can enjoy.