Barcelona Day 3

Today was dedicated towards checking out the outlet shopping in Barcelona. We made plans to go to La Roca, which is an upscale shopping outlet similar to Bicester Village in Barcelona (though unfortunately the stores were not as good as the ones in Bicester). We woke up and headed to Catalunya Square and picked up tickets for the bus to La Roca. We then hurried to La Boqueria (again) to get some paninis and fruits to eat on the bus for lunch. Arriving 10 minutes before the bus left, there was already a crowd fighting to get onto the bus. Despite the fact that as advance ticket holders, we were supposed to have priority boarding onto the bus, the lady in charge had no control over the crowd and everyone was shoving their way to the front in hopes of buying discount designer clothing.

Mosh pit for the buses

A second bus eventually arrived, and even though we were near the front of the line, significant pushing and shoving was required to get on. 40 minutes later, we arrived at La Roca. First thing I realized when I first got off the bus was that today is blisteringly hot. Thank god that the bus was air conditioned and the majority of the stores had air conditioning. Mandy ended up buying a jacket from Burberry and I found a shirt to buy at Ralph Lauren. We also had tickets for 50% off a restaurant called OuYeah, which made Spanish omelettes. 50% off included drinks and beer, so I decided to have a few before I left. We decided to try and dodge the crowds and shoving and went to catch the 3pm bus back to Barcelona.

Small Spanish omelette

Slicing away at the poor pig's smoked leg

Picnic time!

Barcelona's Arc de Triomf

 Upon returning to Barcelona, we walked a nearby department store near Catalunya with no success and headed back to the hotel to drop off our goods. On our way back, we stopped by La Boqueria (again!), bought some bread, some expensive Spanish ham and some fruit to have a picnic at a nearby park. We stopped by the hotel, drop off our shopping purchases and headed to the park. We chilled for a little bit, enjoyed the nice weather and walked a little bit to see the Arc de Triomf. We walked around historical district to try and find a candy store and a place to eat dinner. We eventually ended up at El Xempanyet (sp?), a restaurant renown for it's authentic Catalonian tapas and Cavas (a type of sparkling wine). The tapas was quite good and I'm starting to realize that the Spanish love anchovies and charcuterie.

First round of food, with huge crowd behind me

We didn't end up finding the candy store in question, so we ended up going home and catching some Zzz. This vacation is fast coming to an end - only 2 more days in Barcelona! :(