May, 2025 Barcelona and Mallorca, Spain

Sat May 10 - Sun May 11

🌤 Weather: Good travel weather

🛪 Travel Day

Saturday night: an 8 1/2-hour flight departing at 7:00 PM from O'Hare, arriving Sunday at 10:30 AM in Barcelona (7 hours ahead of Chicago).

Lunch and LaRambla Ave

We taxied to our Airbnb in the heart of the Gothic Quarter (just off La Rambla, in Plaza Reial). After dropping off our luggage at the Airbnb, we relaxed with sangrias and tapas (chicken and mushroom croquettes, squid, jamón ibérico) at Bar Tomate. With time to spare before our 3 PM check-in, we took a walk down La Rambla to the docks. Once checked in, we took serious naps (neither of us had slept on the overnight flight).

Flamingo Dance at Palau De Musica

In the evening we took a taxi to Palau De Musica and enjoyed Gran Gala Flamanco . The dancers and guitarist where excellent.

Returning to Plaza Reial at midnight, the place was still bustling on a Sunday evening. We had sangrias and tapas (cheese, mushrooms, and octopus) for a late-night dinner.

Monday, May 12

🌤 Weather: 70, partly cloudy

Slept In

Exhausted from the overnight flight and time change, we slept in! I didn’t wake up until 4 PM (a tactical mistake for adjusting to the time change... oh well). We had "breakfast" just steps from our front door at Café Artisa (cappuccinos and omelettes).

Gothic Quarter

We spent the late afternoon and early evening exploring the Gothic Quarter. The quarter is a maze of narrow streets and alleys (mostly pedestrian), old buildings, churches, and so many people! It was a lot of fun. A must-see (and eat) is the amazing Mercat de la Boqueria— an enormous outdoor food market with "the most beautiful food I have ever seen" (Kathryn). After our feet grew tired, we stopped for beers and some people-watching at Café Zurich.

Finally, back at our Plaza Reial, we had dinner at Rei de Copas—beers and tapas (cheese, smothered potatoes, oxtail). The weather was so fantastic that all our meals have been outdoors!

Tuesday, May 13

🌤 Weather: 70, partly cloudy

Breakfast at Café Artisa (once again, cappuccinos and omelettes).

Gaudi Walking Tour

Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926) was a Catalan architect and designer from Spain, known as the greatest exponent of Catalan Modernisme. You can read more about him here: Antoni Guadi.

After breakfast, we stopped at Mercat de la Boqueria to pick up sandwiches on our way to the meeting place for the Complete Gaudi Tour: Casa Batllo, Park Guell & Sagrada Familia. The meeting place was in front of the Gaudí-designed Casa Batlló and Casa Amatller family mansions. The tour was excellent, starting at the mansions, then moving to one of Gaudí's early works, Casa de Vicens. We then visited the fanciful Park Güell, and finally, the centerpiece of Barcelona: the Sagrada Familia, which he spent 40 years designing and building.

Casa Batllo and Amattler

Casa De Vicens

Park Guell

Sagrada Familia

After our tour, we taxied back to the plaza and had another outdoor dinner at Lambos Mundos (I had a not-too-tasty "hamburger," and Kathryn had quite tasty shrimp and potato tapas).

Wednesday, May 14

🌤 Weather: Mid 70s, partly cloudy.

Montserrat & Cogwheel Train, Gourmet Wine Tasting & Tapas/Lunch

Our breakfast place was closed today so we had a quick coffee and croissant across the street before taking a taxi to the bus station to catch the tour: Montserrat & Cogwheel Train, Gourmet Wine Tasting & Tapas/Lunch. We took a 20-minute bus ride to the cogwheel train, which took us about halfway up the mountain. In a mountain cave, locals found a "Black Virgin Mary statue" that was rumored to have healing powers. The Cardinal in Barcelona attempted to take the statue to his cathedral in the city, but at each step, the statue grew heavier and heavier. The Cardinal finally decided to build a church, monastery, and school on the mountain. We toured the church and surrounding area, amazed at the amount of effort it must have taken to build everything in the remote mountains. After some touring, we had time to ourselves to enjoy the day before heading to our next destination.

Montserrat

Lunch and Wine Tasting

Back on the bus, we descended the mountain for a 25-minute ride to a winery that was established in 954 (over 1,000 years ago!).

Lunch consisted of zucchini soup, baked chicken, and asparagus, accompanied by both red and white wines. Delicious! After lunch, we toured the vineyard and enjoyed a wine tasting—one white and two reds—followed by about an hour to relax with another glass of wine before the one-hour bus ride back to the city. It was a nice day.

Thursday, May 15

🌤 Weather: Same

🛪 Travel Day

We said goodbye to Barcelona and took a short, 50-minute flight to the Spanish island of Mallorca (also known as Majorka). We rented a car and drove to our Airbnb in Port de Sóller, up in the mountains. Arriving four hours before our check-in time, we got lucky and met the cleaning woman. She had finished the lower floor with the bedrooms and let us in so we could relax while she finished cleaning the upper floor.

After the busy days in Barcelona, it was time to relax in our Mediterranean mountain island villa! Later in the afternoon, we went into Sóller and did some grocery shopping. Dinner was simple bread, cheese, grapes and wine at the bnb.

Views from the balcony

Friday, May 16

🌤 Weather: Same!

Full on Relaxation!

Today, we just hung out at the BnB. We enjoyed the balcony, the patio, and everything else we loved about this place. We couldn’t help but take some pictures of our "villa" (two floors, two bedrooms, two baths, a balcony, a patio, lots of space!).

Morning View

Airbnb

Saturday, May 17

☀ Weather: 80, sunny, light breeze

Port De Soller

Another relaxing day in Port De Soller. After a lazy start we took a walk down to the Port early in the afternoon. Stopped at the small marine museum and a couple of outlooks with nice views of the Sea. Then, walked around the port and found a great spot for a late lunch.

Sunday, May 18

🌤 Weather: 80 partly cloudy

A Hike!

Just a short distance from our BnB was a short, steep hike part way up the mountain. It was a nice hike with great views of the Sea.

Dinner

In the evening we walked down to the restaurant Nautilus (recommended by our host). Unfortunately, you need reservations! Luckily, just a block away was the Bikini Island Mountain Hotel that had available outdoor seating for dinner.

Sunset

After dinner on our short walk back to the BnB we stopped to watch the sunset. A nice end to our last evening in Mallorca.

Monday, May 19

☀ Weather: 70s, light breeze

🛪 Travel Day

Time to say goodbye to Mallorca! We drove back to Palma and took the short flight back to Barcelona. Since we're leaving tomorrow to return home, we booked the Airport Hotel Barcelona, just a few minutes from the airport. Nice, but no villa!

We relaxed by the pool, had a late lunch, and just hung out at the hotel.

Tuesday, May 20

☀ Weather: Good travel weather in Barcelona but stormy, rainy and 40s in Chicago.

🛪 Travel Day

It was a long but uneventful flight. Luckily, even with the poor weather in Chicago, our flight was on time. Eight hours and 45 minutes later, we touched down at O'Hare. Gaining back the 7 hours from the time difference, we arrived home at 3:30 in the afternoon.

Home Sweet Home

Summary

• ✅Barcelona-is a great destination. Lot's to see and do, great food, very walkable and tons of energy.
• ✅Staying in the Gothic Quarter- the Airbnb was OK but the location was perfect.
• ✅Palau De La Musica- a must see. The Gran Gala Flamenco show was great.
• ✅Gaudi Walking Tour- A Gaudi full emersion. Nice Tour.
• ✅Montserrat and Winery Tour- Another good tour with lots to see on the mountain and lucnh/wine tasting at a 125 year old winery.
• ✅Mallorca- A mountain island in the Mediterranean Sea! What's not to love.
• ✅Port De Soller-Palma is busy and noisy, even the town of Soller up in the mountains is too. Highly recommend staying in Port De Soller.
• ✅Port De Soller Airbnb-5 star all the way. It was our Mediterranean Island Mountain Villa Getaway. Highly recommended.
• ✅Outdoor Dining-The weather was so great throughout our whole trip that all our meals (except for lunch at the winery) were outside in the fresh air. Outstanding!
• ✅Overall-A trip combining the vibrant city of Barcelona and the Mediterranean Sea island mountain Oasis of Mallorca made for a memorable trip!