Barcelona: Visit the MESSIah

The Gist: Barcelona is an amazing city and a must visit in Europe. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of my trip and will definitely have to go there again. For more details read on below.

The Background

I am originally from India and pursued an undergraduate degree near my hometown, in Bengaluru. However for the master’s degree, I knew that I wanted to step out of the country for better opportunities. I decided against North America due to ideological differences and Europe seemed a great choice. I knew the moment I decided to emigrate, I had to watch Messi play at FC Barcelona. I was awestruck with his game since 2012 and was sure that I could not miss the chance to watch a match at Camp Nou. Even before leaving India I had an eye on visiting Spain to see my footballing idol play. I got this opportunity in February of 2020, right before COVID hit Europe thoroughly and I took it.

The Preparation

I had booked a ticket to the game before finding a flight to Barcelona in early December which made it quite economical. I had also reserved a spot at an AirBNB but had no idea where it was or anything about Barcelona. It was quite a new experience for me to explore cities in Europe. Although I was not new to travel (I had mostly travelled through south India), travelling in Europe was scary because of how expensive it could get. I used to metro to travel around Barcelona on my trip.

The Stay

I would definitely recommend visiting Barcelona because of how well designed the city it. It is also littered with the amazing architecture of Gaudí. I was lucky enough to book my stay close to the Sagrada Familia and also it has become the butt of the joke for it completion, it is still a must see. The duality if the two sides of the cathedral is amazing. I visited other works of Gaudi such as Casa Milà and Park Güell which were also very interesting. The highlight of the trip for me though was Camp Nou because of my excitement and I scarcely noticed how ninety minute passed. The match was against Eibar and Messi scored four goals. You can find the highlights here. Coming from the Netherlands, the good food was also very welcome. I enjoyed earning Tortillas de Patatas, Calcots, Paella, a green chilly dish whose name I shamefully forgot and Patatas Bravas. I also enjoyed many dishes at La Boqueira, a must visit for the foodie. I could not enjoy tapas due to time constraints but I have promised myself to visit Barcelona again. I definitely missed many more sights because I wanted to enjoy a quiet day in my travels and try to live as a Barcelonian. If you think I should have visited a place that I missed please do reach out to me using the links in the footer.