Can you believe it’s been two and half years since I’ve been on a holiday? (the Cape to Cape trek late 2017 doesn’t qualify as it was basically six days of agony). Well, never mind the why and wherefore – Euro-Sam is back and off on a month-long adventure through Spain, France and Italy! And in what is surely a test of filial affection, my sister Natasha is along for the ride. While we used to share a room back in the day, we’ve never actually been on holiday together as adults, so whether we are still speaking to each other at the end of this remains to be seen 😉

Anyway, after the usual torturous long-haul flight, we arrived in sunny Barcelona ready for a fiesta. Err… sunny Barcelona? Sorry – that was just how I imagined arriving. It was grey and drizzling and we were so shattered I’m afraid we fell asleep by 7 pm. The next day we blithely ignored the rain and went out anyway, deciding that we’d just spend it inside in all the marvelous shops in the city. Except… it was the National Day of Catalonia so all the shops were closed! OK, so culture it was to be then. The first stop was La Sagrada Familia but being tight-arses of long standing we didn’t fork out for a ticket and contented ourselves to gaze at the outside. I think it’s an understatement to say I haven’t seen anything like it – and that was not even the best of it – Unexpectedly you will come across Gaudi’s all over the city, like Casa Batllo, La Pedrera – all so different and already I’m regretting not spending more time in this city. Alas, after a tapas lunch at Bormuth, Tasha contracted food poisoning and that was pretty much it for the rest of the day.

Next stop: a trip to rural spain where we hope to actually go inside a museum.

Places we went to but didn’t go in because of the queues: La Sagrada Familia, La Pedrera, Picasso Museum (visited the gift shop)

Places we went to and went in because there were no queues: Placa Sant Felip Neri, Parc de la Ciutadella

Lessons learnt: Plan ahead, book online and skip the queues. Save more money for trips of lifetime

Read while you’re here: In Diamond Square by Merce Rodoreda then visit The pigeon girl