- \n
- You can be vegan in Barcelona<\/li>\n
- Coffee is taken seriously in Barcelona<\/li>\n
- Gin and tonics are ACE in Barcelona<\/li>\n
- There are 2 festivals in April in Barcelona<\/li>\n
- Some good eateries I visited in Barcelona<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Enjoy. And credit to my pal who recommended so many of the places and activities below. If you go to Barcelona soon, just yell \u2018LISA\u2019<\/strong> and am sure she\u2019ll be only too happy to come and find you to point you in the right direction.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
VEGAN BARCELONA<\/strong><\/p>\n
Husband and I have been practicing a vegan diet this New Year. He is much stricter than I, I am leaning more towards being a really, really good vegetarian, but nonetheless having a new way of eating adds an increased level of consideration when planning some time away. Google had led him to create a mini shortlist of places to check out but it was only when we rocked up, asked my pal and did some more investigating on foot that we stumbled upon an array of places to line our tums. Here are some:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Teresa Carles<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 by FAR the most interesting vegetarian restaurant I have ever been to and my fave foodie place in Barcelona. The menus are so brilliantly considered. Breakfast menu is served until 2pm daily, lunch menu also kicks in at noon though so if you time it right the choice is awesome. Over two visits I tucked in to La Copa Chia ( chia seeds with almonds, coconut milk and seasoned with fresh fruit), the pizza (artichokes, pistachios, mushrooms), a bit of the husband\u2019s lasagna and a muffin. Drinks wise, I glugged down their \u2018Virus Killer\u2019 juice (lemon, pear, ginger, honey). Utterly delicious and every mouthful felt like the chefs were truly caring for you and making you that bit more nourished.<\/li>\n
- Blue Project Caf\u00e9<\/strong><\/a> – \u201c…is a gastronomic space that incorporates an ecological philosophy and socioeconomic ethics\u201d. Indeed. Whilst you can sit down and eat, the day we stumbled upon this we were in need of a little snack so I had a chocolate cookie.<\/li>\n
- Veritas Supermarket<\/strong><\/a> – a supermarket well stocked in vegan, vegetarian and other alternative diet ingredients.<\/li>\n
- The Markets<\/strong> \u2013 in general, markets like Mercat de la Boqueria<\/strong> on La Rambla have a few choices of stalls where you can buy fresh juices (I had Watermelon and it was wonderful) and fruit. Boqueria also had one vegetarian stall that also sold freshly prepared vegan options. I had a vegan paella takeaway and the dish was a huge mound of scrumptious food, including falafel. \u20ac10.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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COFFEE IN BARCELONA<\/strong><\/p>\n
Before Barcelona I was a coffee fan. Post Barcelona I\u2019m a GOOD coffee fan.<\/p>\n
Over our 4 days, we got into a way of life in the district of El Born<\/strong> where we were staying. We\u2019d wake and our first stop would be El Magnifico<\/strong><\/a> just moments away from our apartment. Recommended to us by my pal, we were warned that we might get told off if seen tipping sugar into our coffee. It ruins it. This is high grade stuff you know. And we did. Husband asked firstly for soya milk (first scowl), then\u2026.oh god\u2026.caramel syrup. The guy serving us point blank refused. And this made me like El Magnifico even more. It\u2019s a coffee establishment wholly concerned with making and selling really good coffee. Simple. And their morals lead to a shiny reputation. There is always a queue. A few seats in and just outside the shop allow for one or two (usually oldies with their espressos) to stop a while. But generally you are in and out. No messing.<\/p>\n
The coffee manages to be almost sweet without any added artificial help and it certainly puts a more spritely spring in your step.<\/p>\n
Yes, El Magnifico was visited by us daily.<\/p>\n
We really wanted to try Nomad<\/strong><\/a> too but it was closed when we decided to.<\/p>\n
The one other place we tried was Satan\u2019s Coffee Corner<\/strong> <\/a>\u00a0<\/span>in the Raval<\/strong> area. Confused at first as the place is situated in a bike shop, the set up is very modest yet boasts a Starbucks sign that they’ve tinkered with to read \u2018SATAN\u2019 instead. One barista behind the counter, a minimal menu and a couple of places to sit. This place doesn’t do soya milk, so husband went for an ice black coffee and myself a hot one.<\/p>\n
We watched as the barista measured the ingredients with focus and happiness, almost overjoyed when we placed our order. Really excited about making coffee. My husband asked questions and he was able to sharply answer. Like what the optimum temperature the water should be so as not to ruin a hot coffee.<\/p>\n
Maybe because it was a black coffee, but this one seemingly blew my face off.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\nTHAT’S JUST THE TONIC<\/strong><\/p>\n
Not one to willingly opt for a G&T back home, there\u2019s something about being away and again hearing one or two peer recommendations that sways you.<\/p>\n
Served in large globe glasses, the gin and tonics here are just swell and really refreshing after a day pounding the streets.<\/p>\n
We tried our first out in Collage Bar<\/a> <\/strong>(really cool, small and with a fab graffit\/art mural wall just outside that is linked to the bar). I opted for the fruity one with strawberries floating around. Our second was in the Gracia<\/strong> area at a bar called Woody<\/strong>. We let the barman decide a range of different Gins to use and the results were just yum.<\/p>\n
My Barca pal recently had her own Gin and Tonic designed for her in Barcelona \u2013 read all about that here<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\nFESTIVALS \u2013 BUT HOLD THE WELLIES<\/strong><\/p>\n
Who knew that in April over a long weekend we\u2019d find ourselves at 2 festivals?<\/p>\n
First up was the Earth Day<\/strong> <\/a>festival in Parc de La Ciutadella<\/strong> \u201c…A celebration of citizens, activists, non-profit organizations, artists and musical performers from different places, all concerned about the environment\u201d.<\/em> Now of course, this played right into our animal loving, vegan\/vegetarian hands. We darted from stall to stall trying culinary delights for hours. We got there around 11am and it was sleepy. Come 2pm the place was buzzing. Groups of like-minded people had set up camp, were singing and dancing and encouraging everyone passing them to do the same. It was free, innocent and riveting.<\/p>\n
And second up\u2026was the April Festival<\/strong> just out of town. \u201cFeria de abril<\/strong> is a weeklong flamenco festival that follows in the aftermath of the city’s mega Easter celebrations. At this top event in April, you lucky things can expect a showcase of all things Spanish with horse riders, fun fairs and good times galore! You’ll find this in the Parc del Forum<\/strong> in the Diagonal Mar<\/strong> area of Barcelona. Other highlights include paella dishes that are the size of a small car and a Ferris wheel, offering some of the best views over the city.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
It. Is. Mental. The site is lined with tents that we think represented different regions of Spain that housed rows of tables and chairs, a bar each and a stage where older ladies dolled up in their finest flamenco<\/strong> dresses dance.<\/p>\n
My husband summed it up perfectly; \u201cwe’ve crashed a Spanish wedding\u201d. It honestly felt like that too. Looking around, we were definitely the only tourists. Others got it. We were bemused. But we had wine, shimmied around awkwardly and\u2026left.<\/p>\n
A fab experience. Real Spain. True traditions.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\nFOOD AND DRINKS<\/strong><\/p>\n
By no means an extensive list, here are some other places we ventured and you might consider if you have a few days in sunny Barca.<\/p>\n
- \n
- 7 PORTES<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0– having been around since 1836, it remains one of the most loved and prestigious restaurants in Barcelona. There was a queue when we got there at 10.00pm (we hadn’t booked) but we were soon seated after around 15 minutes. If you go, take a good peek around as each seat here has a little gold plaque behind it with a name etched in of people of note who have visited. I was sat in the sit of the big lady herself, Monserrat Caballe. The food was expertly created and full in portion size and the addition of a pianist charming. A treat of a night out.<\/li>\n
- HOTEL 1898<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0– yes a hotel, but we didn\u2019t sleep here. At my pals instruction, we headed here one evening (prior to the 8.40pm sunset) for one thing only, rooftop drinks. We went to the lift, pressed 7 and up we whizzed. Rose wine, evening sun and a mighty fine view of Barcelona.<\/li>\n
- HOFMANN PASTRIES<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u2013 award winning pastries, croissants, muffins and breads. I opted for the raspberry croissant (this day I was vegetarian) on our way to Earth Day. It oozed raspberry gloop from the centre. Luscious.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
To escape the April showers of the UK, my first mini-break of 2014 saw me take a 2 hour flight to the city of Barcelona. Ok, I admit it. I had done little research or prep prior to this trip. I hadn\u2019t packed a pocket guide. Hadn\u2019t scoured travel blogs. Hadn\u2019t even searched #barcelona on Instagram. Shame on me. And to add insult to injury to my dear \u2018Barca\u2019, it was a toss up between here and Venice for this long weekend. The final decision to book Barcelona was based on one thing alone. The desperate and pining \u2018oohs\u2019 and \u2018ahhs\u2019 of friends whenever I mentioned the possibility of a trip. Now, I had the added bonus of realising an ex-colleague of mine has lived in Barcelona for a year. Upon arrival, she winged over her mega list of things to see, do, eat, drink. It was a hefty sign that she loves it in this city. And was better than any official guide I could have purchased. You know there\u2019s a beach and lots of historic buildings to sightsee at (which you absolutely must check out\u2026don\u2019t forget to go see the geese that live at Barcelona Cathedral too), so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1163,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[256],"tags":[50,53,76,83,98,101,108,109,116,135,195,202,204,206,208,217,219,220],"class_list":["post-554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life-2","tag-barcelona","tag-beach","tag-coffee","tag-culture","tag-earth-day","tag-el-born","tag-espana","tag-europe","tag-festival-2","tag-holiday","tag-spain-2","tag-tapas","tag-tourism","tag-travel","tag-travel-review","tag-vacation","tag-vegan","tag-vegetarian"],"yoast_head":"\n
A LONG APRIL WEEKEND IN BARCELONA - Vicky Gooden<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.vickygooden.com\/index.php\/2014\/04\/28\/a-five-point-guide-to-a-long-april-weekend-in-barcelona-spain\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A LONG APRIL WEEKEND IN BARCELONA - Vicky Gooden\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"To escape the April showers of the UK, my first mini-break of 2014 saw me take a 2 hour flight to the city of Barcelona. Ok, I admit it. I had done little research or prep prior to this trip. I hadn\u2019t packed a pocket guide. Hadn\u2019t scoured travel blogs. Hadn\u2019t even searched #barcelona on Instagram. Shame on me. And to add insult to injury to my dear \u2018Barca\u2019, it was a toss up between here and Venice for this long weekend. The final decision to book Barcelona was based on one thing alone. The desperate and pining \u2018oohs\u2019 and \u2018ahhs\u2019 of friends whenever I mentioned the possibility of a trip. Now, I had the added bonus of realising an ex-colleague of mine has lived in Barcelona for a year. Upon arrival, she winged over her mega list of things to see, do, eat, drink. It was a hefty sign that she loves it in this city. And was better than any official guide I could have purchased. 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Ok, I admit it. I had done little research or prep prior to this trip. I hadn\u2019t packed a pocket guide. Hadn\u2019t scoured travel blogs. Hadn\u2019t even searched #barcelona on Instagram. Shame on me. And to add insult to injury to my dear \u2018Barca\u2019, it was a toss up between here and Venice for this long weekend. The final decision to book Barcelona was based on one thing alone. The desperate and pining \u2018oohs\u2019 and \u2018ahhs\u2019 of friends whenever I mentioned the possibility of a trip. Now, I had the added bonus of realising an ex-colleague of mine has lived in Barcelona for a year. Upon arrival, she winged over her mega list of things to see, do, eat, drink. It was a hefty sign that she loves it in this city. And was better than any official guide I could have purchased. You know there\u2019s a beach and lots of historic buildings to sightsee at (which you absolutely must check out\u2026don\u2019t forget to go see the geese that live at Barcelona Cathedral too), so […]","og_url":"http:\/\/www.vickygooden.com\/index.php\/2014\/04\/28\/a-five-point-guide-to-a-long-april-weekend-in-barcelona-spain\/","og_site_name":"Vicky Gooden","article_published_time":"2014-04-28T20:36:50+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-08-07T09:22:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":397,"url":"http:\/\/www.vickygooden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/barcaheader-1024x397.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"vickygooden","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"vickygooden","Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/www.vickygooden.com\/index.php\/2014\/04\/28\/a-five-point-guide-to-a-long-april-weekend-in-barcelona-spain\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.vickygooden.com\/index.php\/2014\/04\/28\/a-five-point-guide-to-a-long-april-weekend-in-barcelona-spain\/"},"author":{"name":"vickygooden","@id":"http:\/\/www.vickygooden.com\/#\/schema\/person\/55f0fefd1362b05c0a7ab8f5563b8c54"},"headline":"A LONG APRIL WEEKEND IN BARCELONA","datePublished":"2014-04-28T20:36:50+00:00","dateModified":"2018-08-07T09:22:23+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.vickygooden.com\/index.php\/2014\/04\/28\/a-five-point-guide-to-a-long-april-weekend-in-barcelona-spain\/"},"wordCount":1692,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.vickygooden.com\/index.php\/2014\/04\/28\/a-five-point-guide-to-a-long-april-weekend-in-barcelona-spain\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.vickygooden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/barcaheader.png?fit=1942%2C752","keywords":["barcelona","beach","coffee","culture","earth day","el born","espana","Europe","festival","holiday","spain","tapas","tourism","travel","travel review","vacation","vegan","vegetarian"],"articleSection":["LIFESTYLE"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["http:\/\/www.vickygooden.com\/index.php\/2014\/04\/28\/a-five-point-guide-to-a-long-april-weekend-in-barcelona-spain\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.vickygooden.com\/index.php\/2014\/04\/28\/a-five-point-guide-to-a-long-april-weekend-in-barcelona-spain\/","url":"http:\/\/www.vickygooden.com\/index.php\/2014\/04\/28\/a-five-point-guide-to-a-long-april-weekend-in-barcelona-spain\/","name":"A LONG APRIL WEEKEND IN BARCELONA - 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Bye bye mummy's overnight case. That now belongs to the small person. \u00a0 For the longer version and perhaps some tips, read on. \u00a0 Earlier in the month hubs and I ventured\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "PARENTHOOD"","block_context":{"text":"PARENTHOOD","link":"http:\/\/www.vickygooden.com\/index.php\/category\/parenthood\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.vickygooden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/10.jpg?fit=1200%2C490&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.vickygooden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/10.jpg?fit=1200%2C490&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.vickygooden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/10.jpg?fit=1200%2C490&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.vickygooden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/10.jpg?fit=1200%2C490&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.vickygooden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/10.jpg?fit=1200%2C490&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1040,"url":"http:\/\/www.vickygooden.com\/index.php\/2017\/01\/02\/2017-the-year-of-the-squirrel\/","url_meta":{"origin":554,"position":1},"title":"2017; The year of the…Squirrel?","author":"vickygooden","date":"January 2, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Well that may be a fib - first of the year, good start. BUT I am channeling squirrels for 2017. Why you ask? For my recent work Christmas do the theme was \u2018Christmas Party Animals\u2019 and after a quick browse on Etsy for animally attire I landed on a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "LIFESTYLE"","block_context":{"text":"LIFESTYLE","link":"http:\/\/www.vickygooden.com\/index.php\/category\/life-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.vickygooden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/NYC-Squirrel-crop.jpg?fit=1200%2C658&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.vickygooden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/NYC-Squirrel-crop.jpg?fit=1200%2C658&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.vickygooden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/NYC-Squirrel-crop.jpg?fit=1200%2C658&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.vickygooden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/NYC-Squirrel-crop.jpg?fit=1200%2C658&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.vickygooden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/NYC-Squirrel-crop.jpg?fit=1200%2C658&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":24,"url":"http:\/\/www.vickygooden.com\/index.php\/2012\/07\/08\/to-celebrate-ou-9\/","url_meta":{"origin":554,"position":2},"title":"CROATIA","author":"vickygooden","date":"July 8, 2012","format":"aside","excerpt":"To celebrate our first wedding anniversary, my husband and I decided upon a\u00a0weeks trip to Croatia. We have been asked many \u00a0times as to why we chose this\u00a0destination and in all honesty, it's not that clear. My parents had had little\u00a0experience of Split and Dubrovnik as part of a European\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "LIFESTYLE"","block_context":{"text":"LIFESTYLE","link":"http:\/\/www.vickygooden.com\/index.php\/category\/life-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.vickygooden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/layer-3.jpg?fit=1200%2C437&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.vickygooden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/layer-3.jpg?fit=1200%2C437&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.vickygooden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/layer-3.jpg?fit=1200%2C437&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.vickygooden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/layer-3.jpg?fit=1200%2C437&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.vickygooden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/layer-3.jpg?fit=1200%2C437&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1231,"url":"http:\/\/www.vickygooden.com\/index.php\/2017\/01\/03\/new-years-in-suffolk-aka-staycations-rule\/","url_meta":{"origin":554,"position":3},"title":"New Years in Suffolk…AKA staycations RULE!","author":"vickygooden","date":"January 3, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 I get bored easily, so I am told. Change my mind a lot. If we were to remarry (eachother obvs) I'd have a totally different dress and theme. If (when) we finally move house to my dreamy period property I would decorate it vastly different to our current place.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "LIFESTYLE"","block_context":{"text":"LIFESTYLE","link":"http:\/\/www.vickygooden.com\/index.php\/category\/life-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.vickygooden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/header.png?fit=1032%2C508&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.vickygooden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/header.png?fit=1032%2C508&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.vickygooden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/header.png?fit=1032%2C508&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.vickygooden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/header.png?fit=1032%2C508&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":622,"url":"http:\/\/www.vickygooden.com\/index.php\/2014\/08\/31\/klavze-28-slovenia\/","url_meta":{"origin":554,"position":4},"title":"KLAVZE 28 – SLOVENIA","author":"vickygooden","date":"August 31, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0 After just shy of a week exploring Venice followed by Rovinj (Croatia), husband and I set about the last leg of our 2014 summer holiday adventure. And this leg was spectacular. A bit of background if I may. At the beginning of the year I wrote a life\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "LIFESTYLE"","block_context":{"text":"LIFESTYLE","link":"http:\/\/www.vickygooden.com\/index.php\/category\/life-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.vickygooden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/slovheader.png?fit=1104%2C490&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.vickygooden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/slovheader.png?fit=1104%2C490&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.vickygooden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/slovheader.png?fit=1104%2C490&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.vickygooden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/slovheader.png?fit=1104%2C490&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.vickygooden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/slovheader.png?fit=1104%2C490&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":290,"url":"http:\/\/www.vickygooden.com\/index.php\/2013\/07\/09\/place-the-island-of-porquerolles-france\/","url_meta":{"origin":554,"position":5},"title":"PORQUEROLLES – FRANCE","author":"vickygooden","date":"July 9, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"For our second wedding anniversary, husband and I headed off to the South of France for a 10 night break. Porquerolles came on to my radar via my obsession with travel pics on Instagram. I follow a fair few world travel accounts and on one non-eventful and probably overcast English\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "LIFESTYLE"","block_context":{"text":"LIFESTYLE","link":"http:\/\/www.vickygooden.com\/index.php\/category\/life-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.vickygooden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/ile-de-porquerolles.jpg?fit=1140%2C394&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.vickygooden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/ile-de-porquerolles.jpg?fit=1140%2C394&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.vickygooden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/ile-de-porquerolles.jpg?fit=1140%2C394&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.vickygooden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/ile-de-porquerolles.jpg?fit=1140%2C394&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.vickygooden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/ile-de-porquerolles.jpg?fit=1140%2C394&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vickygooden.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vickygooden.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vickygooden.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vickygooden.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vickygooden.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.vickygooden.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1164,"href":"http:\/\/www.vickygooden.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554\/revisions\/1164"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vickygooden.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vickygooden.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vickygooden.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vickygooden.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} - HOTEL 1898<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0– yes a hotel, but we didn\u2019t sleep here. At my pals instruction, we headed here one evening (prior to the 8.40pm sunset) for one thing only, rooftop drinks. We went to the lift, pressed 7 and up we whizzed. Rose wine, evening sun and a mighty fine view of Barcelona.<\/li>\n
- Blue Project Caf\u00e9<\/strong><\/a> – \u201c…is a gastronomic space that incorporates an ecological philosophy and socioeconomic ethics\u201d. Indeed. Whilst you can sit down and eat, the day we stumbled upon this we were in need of a little snack so I had a chocolate cookie.<\/li>\n
- Teresa Carles<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 by FAR the most interesting vegetarian restaurant I have ever been to and my fave foodie place in Barcelona. The menus are so brilliantly considered. Breakfast menu is served until 2pm daily, lunch menu also kicks in at noon though so if you time it right the choice is awesome. Over two visits I tucked in to La Copa Chia ( chia seeds with almonds, coconut milk and seasoned with fresh fruit), the pizza (artichokes, pistachios, mushrooms), a bit of the husband\u2019s lasagna and a muffin. Drinks wise, I glugged down their \u2018Virus Killer\u2019 juice (lemon, pear, ginger, honey). Utterly delicious and every mouthful felt like the chefs were truly caring for you and making you that bit more nourished.<\/li>\n