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.

Camp Nou: special place for many footballers in the world

During our stay in Barcelona, there was a game of La Liga at Camp Nou.

I bought a tickets at Barcelona Official Homepage about a week before the game. It was really difficult to find seats in a consecutive row. According to the information, most seats of Camp Nou are bought by members of Socio, club members, as annual seats. So you have to wait for socio members to sell those seats before the game (there is a system for Socio members to release seats). If you check available seats on Official Site, some seats are taken and released from time to time.

Online ticket

Ticket I bought at stadium entrance

While I was browsing for sometime, I found 2 seats side by side with another seat right behind them. So without hesitation, I bought those 3 seats for 4 of us. Our 2 kids are 4-year old and 18-month. I expected that my daughter, 18-month, might be exempted from buying a seat, because she cannot watch the game sitting by herself.

On the day of the game, when we try to enter the stadium, gatekeeper said he can't allow us to enter with 3 tickets for 4 people. He said above 8-month, even babies need tickets at the same price!!

So I rushed out again and got one more ticket at the entrance of stadium. What do you think of this?

Anyway, the game was great. Atmosphere is so lovely. Audiences around us are mostly member of socio and chanting a lot. Unfortunately our favorite Messi had terrible injury and went out of the field in 10 minutes, we have enjoyed watching the game.

What impressed us is also people around. As we sat in a different row, father with his son told us he can change seats with us so that we sit on the same row all together. He was a member of Socio and having a ID like member's card. He raised his voice to chant and cheer up the team and players. With the help of him, we really had a nice time at Camp Nou.

There are some tips for those who go there and watch the game.

1. Baby trolly (baggy)

You can drop it near entrance gate number 5. There is an office to collect some big items which it is difficult to bring in the stadium. Though most people, staff and security, do not know where to drop, there is a such a friendly arrangement for family visitors.

2. Traffic

We used Metro line 3. on our way back, there are so many people at the station and could not pass through easily with a trolly (baggy). So for those with small kids, you had better take enough time before going to the station or need to think about alternative transport.

3. Seat booking

Except major game, such as Classico or game against other big teams, you can find seats even a few days before the game. To have a seat in the same row, booking seats a few days or hour before the game might be one option. But no one know when seats are sold out....

4. Sunscreen/cap or hat
Camp Nou doesn't have good shades unless you take your seats at main stand behind players' bench. So if your game is not in the night, you have to face sunshines during the almost entire game. You definitely need cap or hat to watch game comfortably and also had better put sunscreen unless you want to catch nice suntan.

Enjoying Antoni Gaudi in Barcelona

Barcelona is famous for many architectures of Antoni Gaudi.

The one you can enjoy the most with your kids is Guel Park. It seems like Disney World!!

Though it is difficult to pass some areas with your trolly (baggy) for a baby, it's really enjoyable with your kids to walk around.

You can play hide and seek here and there, if you want.

Taking many pictures with famous sculptures and architectures.

At the top of the part, you can enjoy a overview of city of Barcelona. And you will realize how big the Sagrada Familia is!

It is such a wonderful place as if you were in wonderland.

It may take an hour or two to go around and carefully watch around architectures and sculptures in the park. There are many entry points of the park. If you want to save time, it would be better to get entrance tickets online or nearby metro station so that instead of making a long queue you can instantly enjoy walking in the park.

The Sagrada Familia is one of the most famous architecture of Gaudi. It is still under construction as you know.

For the tourists like us with kids, having a close look at it from the park next to it might be good enough.. We did not get in there. But kids play a lot in the park next to Sagrada Familia so we had enough time to take pictures.

And there are apartments designed by Gaudi in the middle of town. There are many tourists around. Like other European cities, it is really wonderful to have such historical architectures all around city.

Though kids actually don't know what it is, you can enjoy architectures of Antoni Gaudi with your kids.

Vacation in Barcelona: Wonderful place to visit with your family

End of September 2015, I had a short summer vacation in Barcelona, Spain. It was a really incredible experience.

This time, we found our accommodation via Airbnb for the first time.

It was cozy apartment close to center of downtown. There were metro stations (2 different lines) nearby and a bus stop which is convenient to go to beach area.

For visitors like us, traveling from Africa, landlocked country, atmosphere and foods are great entertainment and refreshment. Our kids had so much fun of walking and playing around. There are many parks where kids can play, which you can rarely find in Africa.

Besides, surprisingly such a park is located in front of famous tourist spot. Sagrada Familia!!

For those who loves football and soccer, Barcelona might be a good destination. You can enjoy stadium tour of Camp Nou, the largest football stadium in Europe!

And we also watched game of La Liga. El Tridente!

I will summarize recommendations on trip to Barcelona in the following posts for some times.