Barcelona is a beautiful city, fun, vibrant and full of tourists. I really like Barcelona, it is very celiac friendly and most places have great signs about allergens and lots of gluten free options.
As opposed to Japan, gluten free options are everywhere from fast food to bakeries and restaurants. And the food is great.
Arriving in Barcelona on the other hand was not so great, our flight from Chicago was delayed by an hour and a half and the United Airlines staff at the gate were extremely rude, to the people standing in line and on the announcements about being late. After we finally took off, meals were served, I don’t expect much from airline food, but on this flight there was nothing even to expect. Plain and simple – no gluten free meal at all, nothing whatsoever in what was served. Luckily, I travel with food as I have no expectations. But for any other celiac, flying for 9 hours hungry would have been a problem, sometimes we can buy something to eat at the airport, unfortunately all food places close around 8pm, most of the international flights around us left later and with our delayed flight there was no where to get food for anyone, not just those with food allergies.
Customs in Barcelona was not fun either, only 5 counters were open and it took almost an hour and a half to go through a very long line. The only good thing was that by the time we were done with customs, our suitcases were already waiting for us. We booked a taxi ahead of time and when we saw our delay leaving, we notified the company to let them know. Our driver was a little impatient and kept texting us that he needed to leave. I replied back with updates about our customs situation, and really did not like the constant texting, especially when he knew that our flight was delayed. Leaving the airport with him was like a scene from the fast and the furious, he drove so fast that it was scary and this is for me, who as my husband claims has a lead leg.
Barcelona is working on the streets and updating pavements, everywhere you go there is some construction going on, traffic is jammed and very slow.
Our hotel was in the Gothic center, Hotel Colonial, and I must say it’s location is excellent. Walking distance to everywhere. Even breakfast for a gluten free non pork eater was excellent, with fresh coffee and vegetables. The only issue my family members had with the hotel was the busy street, even at night you can hear everything from outside. I must say that being hard of hearing was a great benefit. We booked the hotel directly and it was cheaper than all the booking sites and their customer service was excellent. Staff was very helpful and eager to help. Rooms are clean and big, towels are human sized and not the tiny ones I am used to in the USA. The hotel provided us with free water bottles on the first day and had fruit in the lobby. Rooms have a mini fridge and there is a small grocery store on every corner plus a coffee shop everywhere.
We booked a tour for Park Gruell ahead of time and also booked the Hop on/off bus ahead of time. I recommend reserving everything ahead, the park was already crowded for our tour at 10.30 and from speaking to the tour guide it gets even busier later in the day. Despite still being early in the tourist season even the hop on/off bus was full and we had to wait for a couple of buses until our party of 9 could travel together.
Barcelona is a great city for walking and I do recommend good walking shoes.
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